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Kanojo to Kanojo no Neko: Everything Flows tells the story of a cat and his owner from the perspective of the cat. It is such a simplistic concept, and yet it has instantly earned a place as one of my favorite shows of all time despite being in seven-minute episodes--which says a lot about how good this series of shorts is. After next Friday it will have finished after just four episodes, which is a shame considering just how well written it is, and it really shows off Shinkai Makoto's spectacular skill as a writer. I will highlight everything that makes this show spectacular in ... this review.

First things first, I'll talk about the characters and the story (because these two are heavily intertwined, making it easier to just lump them together). The cast consists of a cat, her owner and a handful of extremely minor supporting characters. With just two characters that get focused on and without it trying to push ahead with some kind of plot (somewhere in which a lot of other shorts fall flat), the story is heavily character driven. The overarching plot which is there is that the owner is struggling having just graduated from high school, and it shows how she is unable to push ahead in life. All of this is told from thr cat's perspective, and when I watch her struggle it really brings tears to my eyes due to just how genuine it feels when watching. The cat thinks about her past, we learn how the two met each other and about the characters, and it leads to a massive amount of relatable character development which leaves me feeling like I know the characters and their hardships, and it is what makes it such a great show.

As for the other aspects of the show, you can see the thought which has gone into the little things which make this show that much better. The visuals are stunning, with the OP and ED having a watercolour art style akin to Hai to Gensou no Grimgar, and the soundtrack is beautiful and really makes the touching or relatable scenes that much moreso, as well as getting across the idea that this show is incredibly relaxing. The OST reminds me of the music that goes over a lot of Non Non Biyori, with the easiest parallel to draw being with Hidamari Michi to Ren Chon's relaxing overtones and tune.

All in all, I am thoroughly enjoying this show. Honestly this is the closest thing to perfection I think I've ever seen, and it is definitely worth the time to watch. Truly this show is a masterpiece.

I really enjoyed watching NGNL. This isn't to say it was perfect, but honestly I am glad tnat someone recommended this to me.

There aren't many things which make me genuinely laugh or smile; I'm rather begative as a person tbh, and when I laugh it is very rarely out of genuine joy. However, NGNL was able to make me genuinely laugh for the first time in around two years. Depressing, I know, but regardless of how often I feel genuine joy this show really hit the spot. Its clever mix of clever references to games like Ace Attorney and Skyrim alongside other pieces of humour ... broke through my typically hard outer shell as if it had turned to butter. I would always be eager to wait through the credits because there would sometimes be a witty comment at the end. (This is the only way to get the Skyrim reference.) While much of it was not tasteful in the slightest, I couldn't help but chuckle right tbrough the series. The poor taste actually felt like a rare example of fanservice genuinely improving tne quality of the show as opposed to just being there to fill up screentime. The characters use humour for subtle (and mostly shallow) development and to keep a sense of fantasy at all times throughout. While the character development is not deep, ut never seemed to bother me all that much; I want to learn about the characters more, but at the same time I feel as if this was done deliberately to keep you chuckling.

A common gripe that I tend to have with these kinds of shows is their reliance on stock characters. While the same can be said for this in many ways, the three key plot-driving characters (Sora, Shiro and Stephanie) always felt a different from most key characters i these kinds of shows - almost like they had their own unique personalities as opposed to very generic ones used in other similar shows while retaining their archetypes. It is very difficult to tell if they are really stock characters when watching it. While some people will probably say they are stock characters without looking back, I found myself questioning what they were right through the series, and I found myself liking them a lot more than other similar characters as a result.

The plot feels familiar yet unique at the same time. Alternate universes and game universes are commonplace within anime, but this put a different twist on the sub-genre and made it feel like a new experience when watching it. This was backed up by completely stunning visuals as well; the pinky-orange tint on the world of Disboard makes it feel like something out of a childrens' storybook (with Sora repeatedly referring to it as a "fantasy world") while the antics which occur throughout repeatedly reminding you that this is targetted at mid/late teen and adult audiences. This is a kind of weird comparison to draw considering just how different the tones of the shows are, but it is a lot like Madoka Magica in that respect that it is a childish premise aimed at a mature audience; this is further backed up by how Madoka, much like NGNL, uses an almost childlike art style at many points throughout, although the fluctuations between mature and immature art in Madoka are where this comparison starts to loosen.

The anime honestly has some of the best intro and outro music that I have heard in anime to date. From This Game's afdictive piano, guitar and vocals to Oracion's light guitar and vocals, there is no reason I can see for disliking this aspect of the show. Having Shiro's seiyuu perform Oracion is also a pleasant surprise, with there being so few shows - anime or not - use chatacters in their ending songs nowadays (the only other one I can think of off of the top of my head is Inazuma Eleven, which is a kids show). AAll in all, I am very happy with it.

A common complaint that NGNL recieves is thatit is pandering. While this may be true, I never really noticed it when I was watching. It is one of the few shows where I haven't subconciously filtered those kinds of scenes out, and honestly I never felt like I was watching it to fill some kind of fetish or anything like that. A lot of the comedy and showing off the personalities of certain members of the cast was done in less-than-tasteful scenarios, but this just made it feel like it wasn't afraid to offend its audience for the sake of being funny.

Anyway, in conclusion, I was happy to have had the chance to watch this anime. I thought it was outstanding, and viewing it is one of the few things which has given me genuine pleasure.