Lily C.A.T.

Lily C.A.T. is a pretty cool slice of classic sci fi/horror from the 80's, and not just in anime, but directors that want to dabble in the horror genre can learn some small, yet vital points from this; the less your audience can understand from your monster, the scarier the creature is. And by that I mean, this blood-thirsty creature can't be reasoned with. It's out to kill you, and that's final. This is one of the essences of true horror.
Granted, there are better offers in this genre in terms of quality and production value like Wicked City and Demon City Shinjuku, Lily CATs ... appeal is that it's closer to a desperate struggle of survival from civilians as opposed to battling the supernatural on questionably equal grounds. It's like an anime incarnation of John Carpenter's The Thing right down to the monster's method of stalking prey. All it was missing was Kurt Russell pooring beer into a computer game and calling it a "cheatin bitch".
The set up for all of this makes it a hybrid of Alien and the aforementioned film; a select group of humans have been incubated for 20 years (with a halted metabolism) while the ships computer indicates a rouge bacteria has made it's way in. This sets up for the slow build towards the monsters apperance.
The cast of characters is pretty darn good, even if some of them are certified monster chow, and even if they come off a little under-utilized, I don't think it matters much as far as the conflict goes. They're pretty likable and work when neccesary and personalities aren't forced down your throat. In fact, I was rooting for as many as possible to make it out of there.
Now, back to the monster: If there is one thing that the mid to late 80's era of anime can do well, I mean REALLY well, is monsters, aliens, and demons. The indeterminate mass of the beast kept in the shadows, the tenticles, the rows of sharp, serated teeth, those 80's creepy crawling sound effects. The anime monsters of the 80's were some of the most horrifying, vicious, freakish hellspawns I've ever seen with nothing but rows of teeth and a bad attitude, and this monster didn't disappoint.
IN CLOSING: Lily CAT is actually pretty good and holds it's own well against some of the big budget heavy hitters of it's time. It was released in a time when sci fi and horror were at their zenith, and if you're a fan of classic anime or survival horror, this won't disappoint. Don't let it's age or obscurity fool you; Lily CAT is a buried treasure that any fan could appreciate.

STORY: 7
ART:7
SOUND: 7
CHARACTERS: 8
ENJOYMENT: 8
OVERALL SCORE: 7 out of 10

PROS: Very well written, Visuals are pretty great, decent cast
CONS: English voices are kinda cheesy, deus ex machina near the end there

Good premise but not well executed

This anime was heavily inspired by The 70s movie Alien and The 1982 version of the Thing. Which should make it an awesome anime as those movies are really great. Sadly It misses the mark. While it borrows those cool ideas and even art style. Its heavily lacking in what makes those movies good.

The anime does well in its pacing and quickly sets things up and gets going. Its only a little over an hour long so it moves pretty swiftly. To swiftly in fact. We dont get much for alien interaction or even much horror or ... much action.

The show spends a lot of time on a boring subplot of 2 people on the ship who aren't suppose to be there which might have been interesting if it effected the plot in any way but it doesn't and its just a useless add on .

We get very brief moments with the creatures and quickly move on. The story is pretty basic and much like I said is pretty much Alien in Anime form.

Music is ok and the VA is actually not to bad considering how bad it usually is from anime from the 80s and 90s.

The art style is pretty good but its borrowing its style from another movie.

Characters are ok i guess.

Overall not really worth your time. Its basically some one in Japan Loved Alien and The Thing and wanted to make an anime inspired by the two but really didn't know about how to go about doing it very well.

Story:
It's Alien in anime form, but it tries to set itself apart by having more character backstories and a weak moral theme in the second half. It's nothing special, and not nearly as intriguing as it could have been. It's also really predictable, as the title and early sequences essentially strip away part of the mystery.

When it comes to story telling, we don't even get five minutes into the film before it's telling us things out right through forced dialogue. A real shame.

The Captain was the only interesting character and the rest are potential canon fodder for the alien creature to munch on, which we ... never see. We also don't see very much of it either because we're constantly shown boring sub-plots that don't matter because we're expecting everyone to die anyway, so it's not even a good horror film where we get to watch the creature kill things. That is not to say horror films should just be glorified snuff, but if a movie fails to have any compelling characters or themes, then it sure as hell be fun to watch - which this wasn't.


Audio and Soundtrack:
I enjoy an orchestrated soundtrack in horror films. It was neat to hear piano, and an absolutely beautiful and compelling track during the opening credits. What I don't like is different genres jumping around on me. Orchestration to some electronic to rock and roll. It's overbearing and pulls you out of the immersion. Songs are cut short at awkward moments as well, which pulls you out again.

The audio is nothing special. It works. It's got a retro feel to it.


Animation:
Not very good. There are better animated films that were released in the 80's. None of the perspective shots are scary, and most of the time I wondered why I was being shown hallway after hallway with a different color pallet. I understand it's on a ship, but a ship has different locals. Maybe a hall with windows? Perhaps the sleeping quarters, kitchen, entertainment room, bathroom??

The creatures animation was pretty neat. I wish more scenes were shown with it. If so, the film would have been much more enjoyable.


Final Thoughts:
I said I'd watch it last October but forgot. That's the only reason I picked this up. From what I've come to learn, most horror anime aren't very interesting and fail to be scary. I don't think I can even say that I enjoyed myself while watching this. I've kicked the habit of looking at my phone when watching films/shows, but this one had me pull it out once or twice because I was so bored.

However, the film isn't offensively bad, it's just boring. I can't say I'd go so far as to NOT recommend it to people, but I won't say anyone should watch it, either.


((If you liked this review, friend me for new reviews on other works, both manga and anime!))