A Whisker Away, on Netflix
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This movie was released on Netflix in 2020, but I didn't see it until 2026. It was produced by Studio Colorido, but I think it has a very Studio Ghibli look and feel. It really is a pretty fantastical story, and a fun and interesting story, though I did have at least one problem with it. But that was easy for me to overlook. It has beautiful animation and some good characters with well-drawn personalities.

There is a junior high school girl named Miyo Sasaki (whose friends call her "Muge"), who has an intense crush on a boy named Kento Hinode. I'd say she acts kind of weirdly around him, in an exuberant sort of way. It's pretty obvious that she likes him, though he doesn't seem to notice that, and just thinks she's weird and annoying. Most of the time, Miyo is just pretending to be happy, but is really sad because her mother walked out on her and her father some time ago. And she isn't happy that her father, Yoji, now has a live-in girlfriend (or wifer?) named Kaoru. (I got the impression that they weren't married at the start of the film, and we never see them get married, but the word "stepmother" is used at least once.) Kaoru tries her best to make Miyo happy, and Miyo acts like she is, while still keeping an emotional distance from Kaoru. Meanwhile, Kento (who is called Hinode by everyone except his family) is learning the art of pottery from his grandfather, who runs a shop, but may have to retire soon. And then the family would have to close the shop, and expect Kento to go to high school and then get a job to start supporting the family, himself. But he really just wants to be a potter. He doesn't tell his family that, but he does tell his problems to a stray cat he calls Taro. Oh, there's also a minor subplot about Kento's older sister having a crush on an employee of the pottery shop.

Well, it turns out that Taro is actually Miyo, who had received a cat mask from a mysterious, vaguely anthropomorphic cat who is just called the Mask Seller. When she wears the mask, it allows her to turn into a cat. (The one problem I mentioned having with the film is that Miyo is kind of stalkery, which is something her friend Yoriko even calls her out on at one point, without even knowing about her transforming into a cat to be near Hinode.) Anyway... Miyo has some emotional ups and downs throughout the movie, partly because of her family situation, but mostly depending on what she believes Hinode feels about her at any given time. I don't want to give too much away, but eventually Miyo decides she wants to become a cat permanently, because Hinode loves Taro but apparently hates Miyo. The Mask Seller is happy to make that happen, and takes her human face as a mask that can be given to a cat who wants to become human. Then one day, "Taro" sees "Miyo" going to school with her friends, because a cat had taken her place. That turns out to be Kinako, who was Kaoru's cat. Kaoru is worried about Kinako, who appears to have gone missing. But Kinako, as Miyo, is trying to make Kaoru happy by accepting her in a way the real Miyo never did. But Miyo decides she wants to be human again, which has to happen before the upcoming summer festival, at which time the transformation will become permanent. She follows a trail to look for the Mask Seller at a magical island that only cats can see. Kinako eventually has a change of heart, and reveals the truth about herself and Miyo to Hinode, whom she takes to the island to find Miyo. And Miyo gets some help from a group of former humans who live there as cats. There's a race against time for Miyo and Kinako to return to their true selves, which is complicated by Miyo's lingering reluctance to be human. So only Hinode can convince her to do so. Meanwhile, the Mask Seller tries to stop them.

And oh dear, I feel like I've said too much, so I won't say any more about the plot, except that there is a happy ending. And there are some more scenes alongside the closing credits, but you have to read subtitles to see what characters are saying. Anyway, stalking aside, it's a pretty cute love story, with plenty of enjoyable fantasy elements. I also want to mention that in April 2026, a few months before I watched the movie, there was a video on the YouTube Channel "The Arcadian Atlas", called When Your Special Interest is a Person (which I watched immediately after watching the movie). It's a channel about autism, which I had first discovered because of a video about Kpop Demon Hunters, another Netflix animated film. Which isn't the norm for the channel, talking about movies or anything like that. And unlike the earlier video, this one didn't suggest Miyo was autistic herself, but the channel's host talked about how Miyo presented a very accurate representation of what it's like for an autistic person to fixate on a crush the way Miyo did. Anyway, I guess that's all I can think to say about the movie, but I really liked it a lot.