[2] The surreal film follows Nyata, an anthropomorphic kitten, on his travel to the land of the dead and back in an effort to save his sister's soul.

Central Park Media licensed the film in North America under its Software Sculptors label and was released on DVD on September 9, 2003.

By accident, Nyata drowns in the bathtub and, while dead or unconscious, sees his sister leaving the house holding hands with the psychopomp Jizō and follows them.

During the final act, a giant transparent bird containing a sky and clouds is accidentally popped by members of the audience, causing an all-encompassing flood.

Nyata hits the pig on the head and cuts off and eats one of the bumps that form, which taste gross and make him throw up.

They leave the pig and arrive at a shack, where a woman in a patchwork cloak sews Nyata’s arm back on.

God accidentally stops the flow of time and disrupts space, and the cats play with the time-frozen scenes.

After dusk, they drift into a shallow marsh filled with tin sculptures of plants and mechanical animals.

Cat Soup won an Excellence Prize (Animation Division) at the 2001 Japan Media Arts Festival,[3] the "Best Short Film" award at the 2001 Fantasia Festival and the Silver Award for Animation 2003 New York Exposition of Short Film and Video.