Cat Shit One Blu-ray Review

Curiosity may spend its time gunning for cats, but it's also been known to sell obscure releases...

Reviewed by Kenneth Brown, April 29, 2011



I'm not entirely sure what to make of the latest 'Call of Duty' map pack...

? No, no... it must beor some other unfortunate mistranslation of an original Japanese title." Thus began the embarrassingly drawn-out conversation between myself and my equally oblivious colleagues when deciding who should tackle Anima's curiously titled animated release. However, even the briefest of Google searches would have provided us with the answer: "Cat Shit One" is the designation of an elite team of U.S. military soldiers first introduced in artist Motofumi Kobayashi's 1998 manga series and more recently revived in a 22-minute, CG-animated short from director Kazuya Sasahara and military advisor Tomoyuki Hasegawa. More bizarre than the name? Kobayashi's soldiers are talking rabbits. That's right: fluffy little gun-toting, rocket-strapping, knife-wielding, cotton-tailed rabbits. Their mission? Extracting a pair of hostages from an isolated Middle Eastern village overrun with insurgent camels -- yes, camels -- all of whom are hellbent on stopping the highly skilled death-dealers dead in their long-toed tracks. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome toMuch to my surprise,isn't chock-full of blood-geysers, gratuitous gore or bits of the ol' ultraviolence. Sashara and Hasegawa are almost religious in their pursuit of military realism and the results often defy simple explanation. Unflinching team leader and point man Packy... ahem, Sergeant Perkins (voiced by Hiroshi Tsuchida and Will Prescott) diligently covers his corners, relies on stealth and distraction, exchanges his assault rifle for a locked-and-loaded pistol the moment his magazine runs dry, instinctively rolls out of the line of fire and takes full advantage of his sandy surroundings with disarming precision and all-too-human skill. He'd be right at home with the grunts in. Cowardly sniper Botasky (Satoshi Hino and Tom Flynn) isn't as brave as his sergeant, but his movements and assaults still boast boot-camp weight and battlefield decorum. His rifle sights snap off a target when he fires, his weight shifts naturally when a camel presses in, and he scrambles convincingly when an RPG sentry spots him near the horizon. And the camels? Bodies spin when hit, faces go slack when Botasky plants one in the brain pan, bodies scatter when grenades explode, and dead insurgents slump against walls spattered with their own blood.not only received a 2010 Visual Effects Society nomination for "Outstanding Achievement in an Animated Short," it did so for good reason. While a far cry from a Pixar or Dreamworks stunner,doesn't resemble anything one might associate with such humble production roots. From its Greengrass-esque shaky cam to the intensity of its action, from the quality of its sound design to the cleverly animated fur balls themselves, Sasahara's first stab at anthropomorphic warfare is a striking one. It isn't jaw-dropping per se, its art direction isn't very ambitious, and its enemy character designs, dusty locales, and dim interiors aren't going to light up anyone's screen. But between the sight of a bunny bagging a bad guy and the sounds of a helicopter decimating a legion of armed reinforcements, it hardly matters. This is animation at its wiliest and sharp, straightforward storytelling at its simplest, and only a few nagging issues make it difficult to dish out high praise. (Specifically the English version's voice actors, the non-starter hostage subplot, and several departures from Kobayashi's original vision.)Comparisons to Infinity Ward'sfranchise aren't uncalled for either, and several mid-battle shots are all but lifted from the developer's first person shooter series. (The only thingsometimes seems to be missing is a pair of analog sticks and leaderboard rankings.) Tufts of fur, floppy ears and battered camel humps make the whole thing even more surreal and allow that familiar sense of restless thumbs to linger. But while the words "I'd play this game" continue to swirl in my head, I'm not so sure I would be quite so eager to watch an entire collection ofepisodes. I'll admit it's far too soon to so casually dismiss an ongoing series that doesn't even exist yet -- the sole short included on Anima's release is only the first of what Sasahara hopes are many entries -- but I wasn't left wanting. My curiosity was piqued even further, I'll be the first to say it. I laughed, nodded, marveled and relented to's ludicrously hyper-realistic charms, sure. But with 18-minutes of wall-to-wall action, Packy and Botasky are afforded little in the way of character development and aren't given enough time to really settle into the story, endear themselves to potential fans, or make a more lasting impression. Don't get me wrong: I'd certainly watch other episodes if they were available... I'm just not exactly itching to see more.