Asako Kojima (Kyoko Koizumi) is a talented manga artist in her early forties. She’s currently experiencing a lengthy dry spell in her creative output. The cause of her dry spell goes back to the death of her cat Ca Va, who lived with her for the past 15 years. After fluctuating back and forth on whether to find a new a cat, Asako finally wills herself to enter a pet store. There she comes across an American shorthair silver tabby whom she takes home and names “Gou Gou.” Meanwhile, her manga assistant Naomi goes through a mini-crisis of her own.

“Gou Gou, The Cat” is told in a minimalistic style, usually calm & never rushed. Kyoko Koizumi’s character interprets the world in the same inquisitive manner as her cherished pet. Always observant of her surroundings she processes the world around her internally, but rarely expresses her emotions. With such a stoic character, the movie needs a counter-balance to Kyoko’s character and this of course falls on the always affable Juri Ueno. Juri provides laughs and her unique goofiness, the kind that we’ve seen in such films as “Swing Girls,” “Summer Time Machine Blues,” “Turtles Swim Faster Than Expected” and “Arch Angels.” Also, although her appearance is modest (casual clothes and not a lot of make-up), she looks as attractive in this film as anything she has done in the past. There’s also Ryo Kase, who turned in a surprisingly off the mark performance in “10 Promises to My Dog,” rebounding with a strong supporting role as Kyoko Koizumi’s love interest. There’s also ex-Megadeath guitarist & now Tokyo resident, Marty Friedman, playing a pivotal supporting role not that far off from Takeshi Kaneshiro’s role in “Sweet Rain.”