She and Her Cat

Four interlinked stories set in a Tokyo neighborhood, each told from the alternating perspectives of a woman and the cat who shares her life: a lonely office worker who takes in a stray, an aspiring artist who bonds with a discarded local cat, a grief-stricken girl coaxed back toward life by a curious kitten, and a withdrawn woman who slowly wins a feral cat's trust. Grown out of Makoto Shinkai's early short anime, these gentle, melancholy tales trace loneliness, heartbreak, and the quiet companionship—human and feline—that helps us endure. Translated from the Japanese.