Japanese audiences have long loved movies about dogs and cats. But non-Japanese critics and festival programmers? Not so much. The rampant sentimentalism and blatant commercialism of these films have stuck in the craw of many critics.
Then along came Yoshitaka Yamaguchi's "Neko Zamurai" ("Neko Samurai: Samurai Cat"), a 2014 comedy based on a TV drama that paired a cute fur ball named Tamanojo with a scowling ronin (masterless samurai) called Kyutaro Madarame, played by Kazuki Kitamura.
Kyutaro is hired by a dog-loving gang in Edo (feudal-era Tokyo) to kill Tamanojo, owned by a cat-loving rival. The samurai instead falls for his adorable target and makes it his pet, as the audience laughs and sighs with relief.