A Whisker Away (2020)

[Drunk Monk]

An anime about a young girl crushing on her classmate who gets the chance to become a cat. Watched it on a lark and got sucked in. It’s beautiful anime, particularly the backdrops. And the story is layered - the girl is dealing with her mom abandoning her and her new stepmom. The boy is dealing with cram school and his grandfather’s pottery studio closing. The girl’s stepmom’s cat has issues too. It’s very sweet and tender - girl meets boy, girl becomes cat, cat becomes girl, everyone has regrets and must go to the cat yokai world to get it all sorted. I’m feally not the intended audience but it was charming escapism. I liked the concept that there’s a cat yokai world where there’s a human cat bar where all the humans that transformed into cats get together and drown their sorrows in sake. 

No sword fights. Not DOOM recommended, no matter how many cats you might have.