I was torn between three and four stars; it is a very strong 3.5, I feel, but that is not exactly an option here. I was moved by this in a way that could have perhaps been a weakness I have for cats and the nature of their passing through our lives. The ambition of what you tried to achieve here is sincerely impressive to me.

The art and general presentation was unique and striking, giving it a real breath of life. I also thought the way in which the reaper and how she operates and death and just the cosmology of this was sketched out in a playful way that I enjoyed even as it carried with it some real weight. I think you wanted to do something nuanced and mature here and I think it mostly succeeded where it mattered. The cat's story for a good stretch of time was poignant and fascinating and the reaper made for the type of chatty narrator I can't help but enjoy.

That said, this was maybe a bit long in the tooth. I struggled to believe the cat could have such a detailed knowledge of her owner's life and it was in these stretches where I felt that the story sort of lost track of itself. There is also some editorializing about people present that, while acceptable from the reaper's perspective as something I could see as aligning with her worldview, was not as believable from the cat. I don't know that it's as simple as cutting anything necessarily because I see what everything you put in this aims to do but this is what I feel the only real flaw to this was and I offer it only as part of my takeaway from something I was very pleasantly surprised by. All in all, you should be proud of what you did here and I hope more people see it.