Plot
After a young girl, Anna, gets bitten by her cat, bad things start to happen to her parents, who are constantly fighting and blaming her or the cat for everything that went down in their lives. When Anna tries to get rid of the cat, she discovers there might be a greater terror behind all her troubles.
My opinion
It’s advertised as a Hayao Miyazaki like-work, but I wouldn’t associate this GN with him; even though the Japanese director has some “burning works”, this piece has different kinds of flames.
Overall, it feels like a short story — direct introduction, extraordinary happenings in everyday life, kept short, and self-explanatory ending. I found the twist in the middle with the time-jump to be quite interesting.
I also found the flashbacks and change back to Anna, who sits in a therapy chair and tells the story directly to the readers, as if you were the therapist, very good, it was balanced and I quickly got used to the back and forth.
I didn’t really find the horror aspect scary, only a bit gory and hairy, as the title suggests. However, because of the sketchy drawing style, it doesn’t become too graphic, stays within the paranormal setting. Whether that’s good or bad, is up to you to decide, I found it fitting.
The story is nothing earth-shattering, perhaps confusing to some and meaningless to others. It didn’t really touch me deeply, but I love the “meaningless” (“and what am I supposed to do with this story now?”), open vibe. It doesn’t have much of a message or lesson, more of an emptiness, but I like that kind of thing.
My theories:
The cat could be a metaphor for schizophrenia — or simply represent the psyche, the core of humans. Which only really blossoms when it has found the perfect body/companion. Why we humans never change. Especially because of God (or Goddess).
| Criteria | Scores | Our Score |
|---|---|---|
| Art | 1-5 | 4 |
| Pacing | 1-5 | 4 |
| Characters | 1-5 | 3.5 |
| Writing Style | 1-5 | 4 |
| Originality | 1-5 | 4 |
Finale Grade
B
*Characters: I personally didn’t really like anyone (except the cat and Anna’s aunt), but they’re good enough from a writing perspective. Realistic.
Finished reading: 3rd March 2025
~Arden Skye
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Written By: Arden Skye
Favorite game/film/book: doesn’t have one, cause there are too many good ones!
About: generalist, who likes a bit of everything, but especially has a love for magic, queerness and melancholy. When they’re not arting, they’re probably dreaming/reading through another world, or spending time in nature with their dog.
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