by Bob Fort, J. Lyn Montague and Linda Kay

Original Title: Tora-san

Also Known As: Tiger: My Life as a Cat; Tora-san: Wish You Were Here

Starring: Kintoki, Jack and Tom

Directed by: Masaya Kakei

Cat out of the Bag Alert! This review contains some spoilers for this film!

Synopsis: Tora-san is the poignant tale of a self-centered manga artist, Suzuo Takahata (Hiromitsu Kitayama), who, through his own lack of mindfulness, is struck by a moving vehicle and perishes, leaving his wife Natsuko (Mikako Tabe) and daughter Miyu (Kokoro Hirasawa) with little money or means of support. Suzuo awakens in the afterlife and is admonished for his lifelong insensitivity. In a scene somewhat reminiscent of It’s a Wonderful Life, however, he is given a second chance: one month to set things right with his family while reincarnated as the one animal he despises the most . . . a cat.

Kitty Cameos: As the film opens a black cat is sitting on the ground beside Suzuo, who occupies a park bench overlooking the city. The cat growls and cleans himself while Suzuo tries (unsuccessfully) to shoo the animal away. Finally, the cat meows hoarsely.

Later, Suzuo is walking home from school with his daughter when she spies a black and white tuxedo cat sitting under a park bench. Miyu greets the cat (“You’re so cute!”), picks him up, and pets him.

Miyu brings the cat home with her. Suzuo reminds Miyu how much he dislikes cats (even though his most popular work, which he refuses to continue despite its success, is titled Neko Man, or, in translation from Japanese, Cat Man). He goes on to declare that cats “have the
habit of just disappearing, and we never know why.”

The tuxedo cat runs for an open window as Suzuo is trying to kiss his daughter (“I love mew!”), and she’s struggling to pull away. Miyu runs to the window in time to see the cat scurrying off in the distance.

Cat Burglar (Scene Stealer): After Suzuo is hit by a truck and dies, he finds himself in an afterlife way station (somewhat resembling a courtroom) where he is given his second chance. We watch as Suzuo, in the form of a ginger and white cat, falls from the sky and lands on the roadway.

Suzuo’s new form is usually (rather unfortunately) represented by the actor wearing a cat costume. He doesn’t realize he is a cat, however, until he sees his reflection in a car window. He sits in the road for awhile, bewildered, trying to wrap his head around this new reality.

We see a quick flashback of the black and white cat Miyu picked up earlier and briefly brought home. He, and several other street cats, are also represented by actors in cat costumes.

Throughout the rest of the film we see Suzuo’s cat form only on Miyu’s Instagram page in photos taken after she has adopted him and named him Tora-san (literally, “Honorable Tiger”, or, in common usage, “Mr. Tiger”). Suzuo, as Tora-san, even manages to develop a fan following online!

Behind the Scenes

Just to clarify, this film has no connection to Otoko wa Tsurai Yo (also sometimes cited as “Tora-san”, and translated as “Mr. Tiger”), which is a fifty-film Japanese series released, one a year, between 1969 and 2019. This previous film series concerns a traveling salesman . . . and, by the way, holds the Guinness World Record for the longest-running movie series starring a single actor, Kiyoshi Atsumi. The lead character of that series is referred to by fans as “Tora-san.”

This film, which was based upon a manga by artist Itaba Mina, lacks a typical developmental arc, and the plotting in itself seems odd. Though the storyline is emotionally affecting, neither the main character nor anyone else appears to really learn anything.

While the movie bears a passing resemblance to the American Kevin Spacey vehicle Nine Lives (2016), Tora-san makes the crucial mistake of having the cats overwhelmingly portrayed by human actors in feline costume. This may tend only to further alienate an already mildly bewildered audience. (Try to reimagine Nine Lives with Spacey wearing a cat suit throughout!)

Cat actor Kintoki (Golden Boy, roughly translated) appears as Suzuo’s feline persona. The male tabby born July 2012 previously starred in the 2017 film Neko Ninja.

Also mentioned in the credits are feline thespians Jack and Tom, who likely played the black cat and tuxedo cat.

Hiromitsu Kitayama, the human star of Tora-san, is not only an actor but a popular singer who performed with the band Kis-My-Ft2. At the time of the film’s release several publications featured articles and photos of Hiromitsu posing with his kitty co-star, including an appearance at the film’s premiere.

Kintoki also did a notable amount of publicity for the film on his own. (Well, presumably his handlers were also present!)

Final Mewsings: People in cat suits are no substitute for the real thing.

Many thanks also to Wahrhaftig for letting us know about the cats in this film.

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