by Linda Kay
Original Title: Tôkyô goddofâzâzu
Directed by: Shôgo Furuya, Satoshi Kon
Cat Out of the Bag Alert! This review contains some spoilers for this film!
Synopsis: Hana (voiced by Yoshiaki Umegaki) is a transgender woman, Gin (voiced by Tôru Emori) is an alcoholic, and Miyuki (Aya Okamoto) is a runaway teen who share their lives as homeless people on the streets of Tokyo. One Christmas Eve they discover an abandoned baby and set out to locate the mother.
Cartoon Cats: Miyuki reflects back on the reason she left home which involved an altercation after her father took away her gray and white pet cat Angel. Miyuki looks at a photograph of Angel and explains she named her that because the white spots on the cat’s back looked like wings.
Later the trio spend the night in an abandoned building. They share the space with numerous cats who huddle around their fire for warmth. Gin eyes one of the cats and notes how he longs for some meat.
Miyuki throws her backpack at Gin and yells at him for even thinking such a thing. The numerous cats gathered around her obviously agree with her sentiment.
A bicolor cat near Gin’s head also hisses at him.
The next day a woman who lives in the neighborhood comes to feed dry food to the feral cats.
They question the woman as the cats chomp happily on the food and Gin looks on hungrily.
Final Mewsings: Homeless people can relate to homeless cats.
Many thanks to Nandini Ramnath for letting us know about the cats in this film.
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