The protagonist of the movie, Miyo Sasaki, is a school girl who is a bit over the top, her parents are divorced and she doesn't get well with her stepmother but she likes to hide her feelings and pretends that everything for her is fine and good. So she exaggerates on everything, especially with her crush, Kento Hinode, which despises her because of her attitudes. She even receives a nickname "MUGE" (which I forgot the meaning now, but I could even say that she suffers bullying from the school from everyone except her best friend).

So one day at the summer festival a fat calico cat, The Cat Store Owner (shame that he doesn't have a name), asks her if she want to realize a wish and offers a cat faced mask. After this, Miyo gains the ability to transform into a blue eyed white kitten and she uses this opportunity to approach her crush (who like cats) and start a double life as the stray cat Taro.

So, this movie is more about the couple, Miyo and the relationship with her family and Kento than about cats (the protagonist doesn't even like cats, she just acquired the mask so she could be close to her crush because her stepmom has a cat that Miyo affirms that "doesn't like her"). However it has some cute cat moments, telling the best parts without spoiling too much, the movie has a side story with the stepmom's cat, Kinako; a magic cat place, Cat Island (which remembered me the Cat Kingdom from Neko no Ongaeshi) and a really funny/cute scene at the end of the movie with the Cat store owner.

The movie isn't the best one, the animation, art and music is nothing special, but it's funny enough to pass time and even tough the cat was "villain" nothing bad happened to him so it was just a minor detail. I give it 3/5 stars and recommend to watch if you like cats.

My favourite movie, anime, anime movie and the source of inspiration of my current site's name, I also rewatched this year (2024) on my birthday ♥. And according to Ghibli's wiki, the movie also won an award, the Excellence Prize at the 2002 Japan Media Arts Festival and was the top-grossing movie of 2002.

I like this movie so much that I couldn't recommend it more, but since the running time is so short, I don't want to tell much of its story so I wouldn't ruin the experience for anyone, so I'll keep this review short.

First, this movie is for all ages; all the family can enjoy it, even little kids and grandma (opposed to how normally anime is aimed at teenagers). Second, the anime is heartwarming and relaxing. It's that type of movie that where the conflicts are solved and everyone has a happy ending. I think that the story is reminiscent of Disney's Alice in Wonderland, minus the whole psychedelic stuff.

The art is what you can expect from Ghibli's movies; the characters are simple, but the scenery is beautiful and detailed, especially the ending and the parade scenes (the cats also have a simple character design but all of them are cute, and they don't look weird when standing on their hind legs). The OST is also good, although I don't think that it's as good as other Ghibli movies and isn't good enough to listen to on it's own; it fits the film's atmosphere well enough, and it's satisfying to listen to.

The characters are also charming in their own way. We have Haru, the high school girl protagonist who reminds me of Alice, a crow named Toto, Baron (the same cat statuette from Mimi wo Sumaseba) and a bunch of cats; all of them are cute and charming. I liked Muta the best, the fat grumpy cat (that most cats can relate to lol) and the old Neko Ou (the cat king), who is the kind of villain that no one can get irritated with.

And last, a small synopsis of the anime: Haru is a high school girl who one day saves a kitten from being hit by a truck, using her lacrosse stick that gets broken in the process. Later, she was gifted a bunch of lacrosse sticks and is greeted by a talking cat that says that she saved the prince of the Cat Kingdom, Lune, and they wanted to repay her for it (even granting her a visit to the Cat Kingdom).

My overall rating for this anime is 5 stars, and I think that if you haven't watched it already, you should go and watch it!