Spoiler Warning If Cats Eye had stolen the Declaration of Independence instead of Nicolas Cage then there wouldnt have been enough content to make an entire film. Ai would probably just pull out a remote that calls a rocket that flies them out of DC and takes them right home while also keeping them invisible. And thats...weirdly enough exactly why this show works so so well. If theres one thing Cats Eye as a whole does it really makes you feel like you are Detective Toshio Utsumi chasing after something that you know you will never get but theres such a high to the chase that you probably never want it to end anyway. To get to my point its best to start where every anime ever starts and ends because I think the music of this show represents its duality the best. https://i.post.cc/YCLX03Nt/filtersquality95formatwebp.webp THE OPENING AND ENDING The visuals to the opening of this show are horrible. No need to build up to it at all thats it. They are some of the worst OP visuals I have ever seen and have zero cohesion to them. The editing is weak and the storyboards are average at best. The visuals to the ending of this show are some of the greatest I have seen in any anime ever. Once more no build up to that. There is real vision passion and a perfect art style that grabs you from the very first frame. It tells an entire story while sticking to the nearperfect gimmick of sticking to Hitomis hand as she goes about her double life. Why is this so? Well I dont know if it is on purpose or not so I wont pretend like I do. But it does show something that I highly believe in. This show presents itself as average because it wants to. Everything is done the way it is because Cats Eye does not work any other way. Pairing the opening visuals with Ados frantic highenergy Magic makes it feel like they inherently misunderstood the song. The visuals for her melodic intoxicating Cats Eye? Absolute perfection. It almost makes you want to ask what went wrong the first time around. But only until you understand that nothing went wrong at all. Theyve just been playing the long game. https://i.post.cc/904x9Y3n/Screenshot20260130203056.png AI EX MACHINA Ai Hisugi is this shows answer to everything ever. The nearomnipotent teenage genius who always has an invention ready to get her sisters out of trouble. It is almost comedic to the point where this show main genre should be considered comedy and not action or drama or romance. But even more than that the show itself is its answer to everything ever. When the characters have no way to get out of a situation the story just makes up a way for them to be free. In the final episode for just a second you think that they have been caught. That the jig is up and Toshios going to get them. And the Cats think so too. Theyre scared and lost. But then...theres just a oneway mirror that stops him from seeing them. Remove the mirror? Well Toshio closes his eyes because its his gift to them for saving his life. The show always finds a way to get them out of trouble. And if you dont understand it then it is infuriating. It is just the formula of a decadesold manga which could not risk ending so found stupid ways to keep going. But when you do understand it that formula becomes magic. Because the show is not about them getting caught at all. It is not about how theyll get out. We all know they will. What this show is really about is Hitomi struggling to keep her relationship alive because shes just that good at getting away it. https://i.post.cc/DzH4ZrgT/Screenshot20260130202616.png THE ROMANCE You know that feeling when you want things to change? To really really change? Somehow they never do when you want them do. That is Hitomis entire character. She cannot just let go of her mission but she also does not want to lose her love with Toshio. And since she can literally never get caught nothing ever will change. Toshio always remains blinded to her truth and Hitomi always lives in the fear that he might find out one day. And yet day after day they continue to go out with each other with the occasional bumps in between. There is something beautiful to that very consistency. The romance in Cats Eye does not only fight back against who the characters are but the very wish of the viewers to see progression. The story knows that true progression would require that romance to stop. And it really does not want it to. Toshio continues to remain oblivious and Hitomi continues to be the greatest escape artist since D.B. Cooper because they just love each other that much. When you start realizing that you start wishing that things should not really change at all. That as long as things are fun and entertaining you do not need to go further. Why not stay in the moment find a way to fool Toshio one more time and continue the status quo if it means that he and Hitomi get another happy date? https://i.post.cc/L5ftRCKB/Screenshot20260130202438.png THE OPENING AND THE ENDING REPRISE That brings us back to the opening and ending. Why are they so weird then? Why does one have no effort in it at all while the other has some of the most beautiful meaningful and heartfelt animation this show has? It is because the opening represents Cats Eye the thieves. They are corny campy badly written and operate on the rules of absolute plot armor. The song is loud and fun and real but the visuals arent. They show the version of the Cats that must be maintained to keep things fun. This is the version of the Cats that they present to everyone else. The ending on the other hand represents Cats Eye the cafe. The full music video to the song only sells this further. It is not about the art or the guns or the escape sequences. It is about one hand belonging to one woman. She makes coffee for her boyfriend with it writes warning notes to the police then uses the same hand to throw grenades. It is Hitomis reality. A farce she is holding onto with absolute precision to keep her relationship alive. https://i.post.cc/rw4v3cPt/Screenshot20260130202927.png I believe I have gone on for long enough now. This show is absolutely worth watching. Because the animation being average doesnt matter. The background music being average doesnt matter. The presentation having minimal effort doesnt matter. Because being average is the point. Maintaining the status quo is exactly what Cats Eye thrives at. Instead of asking more try looking at what is. Any less and it would be unwatchable. Any more and it would be far too highbudget to maintain this neverending story. But as it is right now? Maybe we can allow Toshio and Hitomi to have another date before she goes to steal that painting.