Review: Cat Shit One, Episode 1

For the next two weeks, you'll get a chance to sample this show yourself online before the show goes into full production.  In an attempt to drum up support, IDA is streaming the first episode online so people cahn check it out  It's already won an award for Best Short, and after having seen it myself, it's worth checking out.

For those unfamiliar with the manga it's based on, "Cat Shit One" was set in Vietnam and involved a recon team and their various missions. In the story, the characters are portrayed as animals depending on what side they fought for -- bunnies were Americans (a play on the Japanese name for rabbits, "usagi" -- USA G.I.), cats were the Vietnamese, etc. (The American title for the manga was, in fact, "Apocalypse Meow.") For the anime, they've set it sometime after 1991 (possibly around Desert Storm, although it could be today), and the US is fighting an unknown Middle Eastern country.

In this first episode, it was clear that they paid attention to detail to make sure that they got this story right.  They didn't focus so much on the CGI animation that they put out a story that would be total crap. Amazingly, this whole thing works.  Seargent "Packy" Perkins and his partner Botasky are in the process of rescuing hostages.  After seeing one of them get killed when trying to escape, Packy determines that they don't have much time and need to go in soon.  As he goes in, Botasky tries to pick the guys off one by one, but gets spotted and attacked himself.  So it becomes a race against time to get the hostages out of harms way and at the same time get out in one piece.

I would have to watch more episodes to determine whether this show has a future or not, but if the other episodes have the same quality as this first one then anime fans are in for a treat.