She and Her Cat: Everything Flows / Kanojo to Kanojo no Neko: Everything Flows

Review by: John Fragglepuss Evans

Genre: Psychological, Drama, Slice of Life, Short-Form, Pet’s Perspective

First Aired: Winter 2016, 4 short-form episodes

Summary: Kanojo and her cat Daru have been inseparable since she was a child. Now as a college student she must find her own apartment and a part-time job to afford her living situation. As time passes we witness the story between Kanojo and Daru, from the cat’s perspective.

She and Her Cat is a moving story, especially considering it goes from start to finish in less than 30 minutes. Every scene is important and no screen time is wasted. Even though we did not have a lot of time to get to know she and her cat, I feel as though I comprehend the complexity of their relationship. Throughout the series we see the entirety of their companionship, from a rough beginning to the heartbreaking end. I’ll be honest though, maybe it resounded with me more because of my love for my pets. I connected to the characters on so many levels with situations I have been through with my dogs and cats. That ending though…I knew it was coming but that didn’t help me at all!

You might enjoy this if: You love or have loved a pet in your lifetime. If your heart is ice cold towards animals, prepare to have it melted by this heartwarming story. It’s such a quick watch that it’s difficult not to recommend it.

You might not like it if: You want action and characters and all that good stuff. There’s a total of four characters in the series, but mainly only two. There’s no action and mainly dialogue mixed with a beautiful soundtrack.

Similar Series: Usagi Drop, The Cat Returns, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Lovely Muuuuuuuco!, Wakako-zake, Your Name

Note to the Viewer: The original She and Her Cat OVA was released in 1999, directed by Makoto Shinkai, which makes sense because the story’s style has his name written all over it.

AMV – Affinity by Allaire

(This is the AMV that made me curious about this anime. I swear though, it made me weep as much as the series itself. I’m such an easy mark with this.)

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