The Black Cat

Well first off I've always liked old animated shorts. I remember back when I was a kid I would borrow and watch my Aunt's VHS tapes that would have animated shorts on them like Christmas specials, Disney Cartoon Classics, etc.... When I seen that Crunchyroll uploaded an handful of old Japanese classic animations I was excited to see them. The first one that caught my eye was Kuro Nyago or "The Black Cat" Since I'm probably like the hugest cat freak I know I gave it a shot. Story: Its basically about these kids who want a black cat that dances. Thats pretty much about it, butit was interesting and somewhat entertaining none the less. Art: Well since this is from 1929 the art isn't going to be as good as it would be if it were later on or in present day. The backgrounds like trees, bushes, etc.. are still images while the characters are the only thing that move. I thought the art was decent for its time, but I've seen better. Sound: The entire three minutes is basically music. For sound it was very good for it being one of the first ever being accompanied by music. The song is called "The Black Cat Dance" sung by Eiko Hirai. A couple moves accompanied by this song reminded me of something I've seen from somewhere and I just picked up on it when I was rewatching it just now when one of the kids said "Nyan Nyan" and did a certain move and I was like Oh I seen this before just animated better *cough*macrossfrontier*cough*. Well anyways back to the song I thought it was very catchy and it is something that could be enjoying to listen to more than once. Characters: Well not much to say here since its hard to tell anything much in just three minutes except that they all danced like they have been possessed by evil demons especially The Black Cat's younger brother the tabby cat. Better watch out for him he is after blood I seen that twisted look in his face he is not to be trusted. Overall: If you are one of those people who enjoy watching things from the dawn of animation or a cat lover then it wouldn't hurt to give this a shot who knows you might end up enjoying it this little short. Note: Sorry if this review sucked its my first one on here...

It should be noted that this is one of Japan's earliest sound cartoons, if not the very earliest. It should also be noted that this isn't just normal hand-drawn animation, but made from cut-out pieces of paper. When considering you are watching animated paper, you can imagine the work & skill that went into creating these delicate pieces. Though a cheaper way of creating animation, you can definitely tell that it was lovingly made. Plus, it's just really darn cute. Who doesn't love singing and dancing cats? A must-see for cat lovers, animation and history nerds. No understanding of the Japanese necessary, thoughit helps a bit. :)

This is a very old anime, and as such seems to be rather unknown and receives low ratings on anime sites, thus sinking to the bottom. (Let's be brutally honest though—this is probably mostly from younger audiences who care little for the origins of anime.) It should also be noted that this isn't just normal hand-drawn animation, but made from cut-out pieces of paper. The Black Cat is a record talkie from the silent film period. A record talkie was a silent film played synchronously with a phonograph record. Like today’s music videos, record talkies were designed as promotional devices for record companiesand their songs. People who enjoyed The Black Cat animation could have bought the record and played it on their own gramophone (record companies also manufactured gramophones) at home.

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 prettysubstandard. 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.