Kuro Nyago

When I started Kuro Nyago I initially didn't know what to expect. I initially believed this to be another part of that "moe" craze that's been infesting youngsters these days, what with the dancing loli catgirls and all. With that in mind, one can only imagine my cap flying off my head when I sat down with a bucket of popcorn and pressed the play button.

It only took 5 out of the 181 seconds this animation presented until I realized I stumbled upon the equivalent of the gold of Fort Knox participating at an Elvis concert celebrating the latest pyramid the aliens had built.

At first, ... my mood was calm when "The Black Cat" flashed on the title screen. The background appeared, and my eyes widened. The first pair of cats appeared and started dancing, and my eyes just about blew out of my head as my jaw hit the floor. The cats danced, "Meow meow" and I sank into my chair, lower and lower as the spectacle of the white cats, the black cats, and the black cats with the red collars hit me with the force of an atomic bomb.

All I knew was that I couldn't dare take my eyes of the kitties. I wanted to dance and sing with them. I wanted to play hide-and-seek around the trees with them! I could not be the tabby. I could not be the tiger. But I knew it was my calling in life.

At the end of the film I was bawling more than I ever could have managed when I was a wee lad in diapers. With my basement flooded in tears, I knew there was only one thing to do. I had to join these cats in eternal dancing and singing harmony. That night, I hung myself from the ceiling. As my eyes rolled back into my head, I sang, "Meow meow."

Watch this, everyone. Seriously.

I didn't have the heart to rate this below a 6 being as this is anything but average due to the historical significance of this short anime. However, it's also very simple (and no, I'm not just judging against today's standards, but as a story and a piece of art).

It's only about 3 minutes, aimed towards kids, but because of its age, has the unintentional factor of being slightly creepy. For me though, that's part of the charm since I like that sort of thing. But beyond a "huh, that's neat", taking out the historical importance of this anime, I feel like this was pretty ... substandard.

It's said to be the first post produced sound anime, and it used what's known as a record talkie. The short came out a year after Walt Disney's Steamboat Willie, although, the animation isn't as fluid, and it was created using cutouts. But for a quick 3 minutes, and because it's historically important for Japanese animation, it doesn't hurt to check it out.

Rate a 4
English Subbed
art film

Story
Introduction was okay because not only covered where the story was going to go but was at a nice/slow progression.

Plot's wording is what bugged me. It was kind of vague, "throw it once" was is it? Why is it being thrown?

Ending made me confused. Not saying it was terrible. Coming from a theatrical viewpoint it ended like most plays. Although plot wise it did not answer or reflect on a conclusion to the main issue that was asked in the introduction.
...

Art
-A tad too bright.
-Currently featured in black and white. If color was added i don't think it would portray an improvement. Making black and white a good choice.
-Has a few questionable moments. For example roughly around two minute mark setting completely changes. Almost as if a past vision was being shown. But due to lack of additional input of drawings i don't believe that to be the case. An example of additional drawing would have been a tiger.
-polka dots could just be me but looks terrible in black and white settings.

Sound
-Unfortunately static ruins a touch of the musical.
-Subtitles at certain points run behind audio track.