``A Whisker Away'' A true ``life-size'' animation drawn with a child's heart

Hidden in the innocent protagonist is a desire to escape from “pain”

A slightly unusual element that makes up this work. These are ``description of feelings'' and ``perspective.'' In this article, I would like to focus on these two issues.

In the first place, it is clear that this work is a story about the word ``cat wearing''. This proverb refers to appearing docile without showing one's true nature, but in ``A Whisker Away'', the heroine literally puts on a mask and becomes a cat. She transforms into a cat while hiding her true feelings.

After turning into a cat, Muge becomes a cute kitten that is loved by everyone, and becomes the only person Hinode can talk to about his true feelings. Unexpectedly, she ends up discovering his true face, who was ``wearing a cat mask'' at school. The flow itself is smooth, but what concerns me here is the original "characterization" of Muge. To be frank, he has a rather eccentric personality.

Every morning when he goes to school, he shouts ``Hinode Sunrise!'' and gives Hinode a hip attack, and his classmates distance him from him as an abnormal person. His nickname ``Muge'' is an abbreviation for ``Infinite Mystery Human,'' which was given to him by those around him due to his outrageous behavior. It's more of a derogatory term than a nickname.

“A Whisker Away” (c) 2020 “A Whisker Away” Production Committee

Other than that, it's obvious that she loves Hinode and can't help it, so she's often made fun of by the mean students (her way of getting back at her is also very strong). Even with the adjustment of ``a junior high school student in love,'' Muge's behavioral philosophy is not one that is easy to sympathize with. Some viewers may feel a little uncomfortable. Of course, this depiction can be thought of as reinforcing the gap that exists when she becomes a cat, but it feels like a ``gulf'' that cannot be filled with just that.

However, as the story progresses, this feeling of foreignness becomes clearer. The key to her overly innocent behavior is the divorce of her parents, which she experienced when she was in elementary school, and the fact that she was treated like a bastard and bullied by those around her. It can be inferred that by taking it from himself to a floating entity, he was acting out some kind of "self-defense" (unconsciously as well).

Originally, Muge got the mask that turned into a cat when he couldn't stand his selfish mother who was trying to get back together even though she had abandoned them. It's also because I was swayed by the shopkeeper's sweet talk.

“A Whisker Away” (c) 2020 “A Whisker Away” Production Committee

When you look at this kind of backbone, you can see that her love for Hinode goes beyond just ``liking'' her. In the beginning of this work, there is a scene that says, ``Everyone except Hinode and his best friend looks like a scarecrow,'' which indicates the state of ``love is blind,'' but the interpretation of this scene is completely different in the beginning and the second half. Probably. A desperate cry as if clinging to the emotion of love - a faint ooze of madness bordering on delusion.

To put it simply, the meaning of escaping reality is carefully designed. Parents' divorce, relationships with remarriage partners, cold treatment from those around them...love is an extremely effective means for middle school students to avoid all of these things.

" We still do not know the name of the flower we saw that day. '', a girl who tends to be isolated because of her quarters, `` My heart wants to scream.'' (15), Okada's unique ``pain'', which has continued to portray unconventional beings such as high school girls who cannot speak, is depicted in a ``cat-faced'' manner.

A kind world unified from the “perspective” of junior high school students