She and Her Cat by Makoto Shinkai and Naruki Nagakawa. Translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori

Summary - This book follows several gorgeous cats as they navigate their way through a neighborhood near a commuter railway on the outskirts of Tokyo. Each cat follows the neighborhood's lives and homes as they weave through the streets, while their owners navigate the hardships of life and learn how to overcome these times. Follow Chobi, Mimi, Cookie, Kuro, and Jon in a slice-of-life adventure in this short novel by an award-winning anime filmmaker of Your Name and Weathering With You.

Thoughts - This book was a beautiful concept of everyday life and how cats are such a simplistic love for human beings. They don’t need much, but they love with all their being and, in so many ways, heal us from the inside out. They show us how to love unconditionally, and within this story, the cats demonstrate how to find magic within the mundane, boring world. Following each story, each feline friend contributes to the healing, teaching, and loving process, showing that there is more to life than bad relationships, toxic people, and self-deprecation. I loved that when you follow the cats as they weave through the neighborhood, they meet with each other within the story, creating their own community and adventures while helping their owners reach their connections and personal dreams.

I did find some parts to be a little slow, and that is why it received a 3-star rating, but I guess that is the truth behind people's lives. We are not all living in a constant movie or book. There will always be boring, hard, or weird times in our lives. This is what the author, I think, wanted to show, and having to share that with a companion like our little feline friends makes it that much more amazing.

I did laugh at the odd personalities that some of these cats and animals had. Chobi seeing his owner as his girlfriend, Jon running away because “it was time,” and Mimi being obsessed with Chobi, it was almost a human-like dynamic between the crew. I do not want to go too in-depth with my thoughts because I want other readers to feel and experience the story themselves. But I will say it had a weird sort of vibe throughout the book.

I did love the fact that one of the authors is the anime filmmaker of Your Name and Weathering With You. I absolutely loved those films and would actually love to watch the anime this story was based on, as the films were stunning both in animation and in story. They are some of my favorite anime films. Overall, it was a quick and easy read with great characters and full of cozy, slice-of-life vibes with cute, adorable cats. I would recommend it just to feel the writing style.