International viewers might not be familiar with the Chinese donghua as much as with Japanese anime. However, the film is about to be released in the United Stated in 2021.
It will be very easy for anime fans to jump into this thing but the fantasy adventure will appeal to all the otaku of all ages.
Hei is the cat’s spirit who is driven away from his forest home because it was destroyed. Throughout the movie, he shifts to three different forms, ranging from an adorable cat to almost human.
The Legend of Hei’s storytelling is morally ambiguous but also very sophisticated. There are no truly villainous or heroic characters, while only some of them feel that way.
It’s more about the city life and has its take on the environmental issues as well. Other aspects of the film are also played well and it’s hard to say how much of this was intentional.
Maybe one aspect that felt awkward to the new viewers could be that the new characters show up late in the story and don’t have any introduction. Aside from that, The Legend of Hei is amazing piece of animation.
