Lampoon #81: Dark Cat

• Run time: 60 minutes
• Published: 91 (JP), 03 (US)

Antispiral – A lot of the time when I talk about anime, I tend to over nostolgiafy anime from the “old days”. A lot of people are guilty of time, saying things used to be cheaper, better quality, have better plots, less fanservice, etc. Anime’s hardly the only media that this happens with of course (music, movies, TV, etc), but this being an anime blog, it makes sense that I’d feel more strongly about it than other mediums.

Of course, nothing breaks rose-colored glasses quite like a firm stomping of reality. So today’s review is for Dark Cat, an old anime that is really just down right horrible.

Tenjobito – Hilariously so.  I don’t quite have the same rosy view of old anime as A.S. does, and Dark Cat exactly typifies what I think of when I think of bad old anime;  Muddy art, incomprehensible story, troaping it up with tentacles, some of the worst sound quality and voice acting I’ve ever heard… to the point it’s almost zen like.

If it were trying to be bad or funny that would be one thing, but this is a “serious” little anime that just fails spectacularly on all fronts.

Antispiral – So right, the plot. Oh god, the plot! The main story revolves around the titular Dark Cats, who in this case are brothers Hyoi and Ryoi. I’m not certain what makes them “dark” other than they appear to have been “made” by some sort of demon/oni/horror THING. They’re cats only half the time however, able to change into hunky teenage boys at any time and infiltrate our schools with little effort.

Tenjobito – Hunky in this case meaning willowy long haired guys with little fangs and pointy elf ears, which one girl in the anime comments that she likes (rather than finding strange for some reason).

The start of the plot, best as I can understand it, is our two dark cat things listening to two girls talking about how one of their classmates has disappeared.  Since this clearly means tentacle demons, off our heroes go to infiltrate the school and save the students from all getting eaten!

Antispiral – There’s a little mini plot before anything starts involving a girl that won’t die, but the older brother Dark Cat manages to convince her to pass on. It doesn’t get mentioned again or anything, but I thought I’d mention it, since it’s only an hour long…

Anyway, back to the “main” plot. The two girls that were talking about people disappearing end up being best friends, and one of the girls has a crush on a childhood friend that seems to be listless and restless recently. Her friend doesn’t understand what she sees in him, but he secretly likes the second friend… I think? It’s all just poorly set up and acted, so I have a hard enough time seeing what any of them see in each other.

Tenjobito – I… personally get kind of lost from here;  I know there is a green demon guy, a magic tree, tentacles…  Umm… any insight on that A.S?

Antispiral – Well the demon guy is the Demon Cat’s creator, but for some reason they decide that this is their moment to oppose him. There doesn’t appear to be anyone else they can turn to for help, so instead they just rush him and the older brother almost dies. The tree is some magical forest tree that heals him after a grumpy looking female dark cat guide them to the tree. The tentacles pop out of teachers and students after they get corrupted, for some reason.

The girl in love with her childhood friend ends up sprouting tentacles (that look rather rated R by the way), but thankfully the guy realizes at the last moment she meant a lot to him and he saves her soul and they ascend to the afterlife in a huge column of life.

The end.

Tenjobito – Not spoiling the best parts obviously.

But honestly, the summary doesn’t do the movie any justice.  It’s so loose and meandering, and weird… You really have to see it to understand.  Or not understand.

The anime actually ends with the dark cats talking about the nature of evil and wandering off into a crowd.  Truly it sums up everything.

Antispiral – Dark Cat has horrible voice acting, a plot that makes little sense, graphics that are jumpy and not very well done, and it’s only an hour long. To be honest though, at the end of the day, it’s an entertaining train wreck. If you have a chance to see it online sometime or (like me) find it on DVD for $2, watch it. I can’t say you’ll like it, or that you’ll understand it, but you very well might get a laugh, and you’ll never forget it.