On March 27, the Steam page for award-winning animator Atsushi Wada’s VR film If You See A Cat went live. Developed by Kodansha and published by Komodo, the 37-minute movie combines hand-crafted animation, voice performances, and a unique VR setting to tell a personal story about loss and mental illness.
If You See A Cat revolves around Naoki, a young boy who claims to still be able to see his cat Nyago even after its death. Concerned for her son’s mental health, Naoki’s mother takes him to a psychiatric hospital, where he is diagnosed with a mental illness because he sees cats that aren’t there. Though Naoki is “cured” and released three months later, he finds himself hollow inside and is unable to connect with others. What follows is a series of small events that allow Naoki to slowly reconnect with his mother and friends, and to eventually come to terms with Nyago’s passing.
Though Naoki is the protagonist of the story, you view it through the eyes of Nyago, his deceased cat. Given Nyago’s connection to Naoki and the fact that others cannot perceive them, you see things through a unique perspective, one that cannot be experienced by the human characters nor fully understood by Nyago.
Featuring voice performances in Japanese and English, as well as Simplified and Traditional Chinese subtitles, If You See A Cat delves into the state of Japan’s mental health care system, which faces challenges related to historical circumstances, the inherent complexity of mental health treatment, as well as structural issues within the system.
If You See A Cat is set to release in April for PC (Steam).
