Bjoli

A claustrophobic space horror featuring character and monster designs from Amano Yoshitaka of Vampire Hunter D fame, Lily C.A.T. is not the best animated or produced film of all time, but it has a certain charm.  A lot of its appeal comes through its indebtedness to the Alien franchise, which it apes thoroughly with its design and storyline.  However, Lily C.A.T. lacks a strong central character like Ellen Ripley, and suffers badly for it.  None of the cast are particularly interesting, and just mimic overplayed tropes before shuffling off to die.

Thankfully, however, Amano had more sense than to provide a cheap Gieger rip-off to go along with the rest of the visuals, though there is something reminiscent of another '80s sci fi/horror classic, the Thing, in his designs.  Unfortunately, it's poorly explained and doesn't feel overly dangerous, meaning there's a lack of real tension in the climactic moments of the film.

Perhaps the best thing about Lily C.A.T. is the captain of the ship, who although he is not given enough time to really develop, provides an interesting window into cryogenic space travel in some of the quieter moments, and strikes avoids the militaristic cliches of many space captains.  Indeed, his character feels similar to later space-sailors Jet of Cowboy Bebop and Mal from Firefly.

The animation isn't stellar (no pun intended), but it doesn't descend into unwatchable territory, and stays fairly consistent.  The character designs aren't overly simple either, so that comes as something of a surprise.  As a final note, I should point out that I watched the English dub, which was surprisingly good, a few hokey lines not withstanding.