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The Cat Returns

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The Cat Returns
Japanese onesheet
猫の恩返し
(Neko no Ongaeshi)
GenreFantasy
Anime
Directed byHiroyuki Morita
StudioStudio Ghibli
Released20 July 2002
Manga
Baron: The Cat Returns
Written byAoi Hiiragi
Published byJapan Tokuma
English publisherCanada United States Viz Media
DemographicShōjo
Published2002

The Cat Returns (猫の恩返し, Neko no Ongaeshi, lit. The Cat's Repayment) is a Japanese animated film directed by Hiroyuki Morita, produced by Studio Ghibli and released to Japanese cinemas in 2002.

It received an Excellence Prize at the 2002 Japan Media Arts Festival.

Plot

The story follows a girl called Haru, a quiet, shy and unassuming high school student who has a long-suppressed ability to talk to cats. One day she saves a darkly colored, odd-eyed cat from being hit by a truck on a busy road. The cat turns out to be Lune, Prince of the Cat Kingdom. In return, the cats shower her with gifts of catnip and mice - and then she is offered the Prince's hand in marriage. Her mixed reply is taken as a yes.

Immersed in desperation over this unwanted development, Haru hears a kind female voice which tells her to seek out the Cat Bureau. Haru meets Muta, a large white cat the voice told her to seek for directions, who leads her there to meet the Baron, who happens to be a cat figurine given life by the hard work of his artist, and Toto, a stone raven who comes to life much like the Baron. Soon after meeting them, Haru and Muta are taken to the Cat Kingdom by force, leaving Toto and the Baron in the human world only to be followed by them. The Baron and his feathered friend finally find the entrance to the Cat Kingdom on Earth - five lakes forming a cat's paw.

Haru is conducted to a feast at the castle of the Cat Kingdom and she begins to slowly turn into a cat - with tan paws, ears, and whiskers, though still mainly human - so that she will make a suitable bride for the Prince. At the feast, the Baron (in disguise) dances with Haru as part of the entertainment, before being discovered and fighting off the guards so that he may rescue her. During this dance it becomes clear that Haru has feelings for Baron. They are helped by Yuki, a white female cat who works as a servant in the palace and who had tried to warn Haru to leave the Cat Kingdom before she was taken to the castle. Yuki shows them an escape leading to a tunnel.

Haru, the Baron, and Muta's escape leads them through a maze to a tower, which contains a portal back into Haru's world. The King goes through a series of efforts to keep them in the Cat Kingdom long enough for Haru to remain trapped in the form of a cat so that he can still have her as his daughter-in-law, going so far as to actually blow up the tower.

Lune and his guards return to the Cat Kingdom to reveal that the King was not acting on his behalf and he has no desire to marry Haru; he has instead planned on proposing to Yuki. Also, Muta is revealed to be a notorious criminal in the Kingdom (having devoured a whole lake of fish in one session) yet still siding with Haru over his terrible deed then, and Yuki as being the strange voice who'd advised Haru to go to the Cat Bureau. In her childhood Haru had saved Yuki from starvation by giving her the fish cookies she was eating, and Yuki has now repaid her kindness.

Eventually, Haru, Muta and the Baron escape the Cat Realm, with the aid of Prince Lune and Toto, and Haru discovers her true self and tells the Baron how she feels about him. He tells her he admires her sincerity but it is left unclear whether he returns her affections. Haru leaves the cat kingdom and upon learning that her former flame has broken up with his girlfriend, simply replies, "It doesn't matter anymore".

Origin

In 1995, Studio Ghibli released a movie titled Whisper of the Heart (or If You Listen Closely), based on a manga by Aoi Hiiragi, about a young girl writing a fantasy novel. Although the girl's life had no magical elements, short fantasy scenes depicted what the girl was writing about. Those short scenes were so popular that fans demanded that a movie be made of the fictional girl's novel: that movie was The Cat Returns.

The Cat Returns began life as the "Cat Project" in 1999. Studio Ghibli received a request from a Japanese theme park to create a 20 minute short starring cats. Hayao Miyazaki wanted three key things to feature in the short-these were the Baron, Muta (Moon) and a mysterious antique shop. Hiiragi was commissioned to create the manga equivalent of the short, which is called Baron: The Cat Returns (バロン 猫の男爵, Baron: Neko no Danshaku, lit. Baron: the Cat Baron) and is published in English by Viz Media. Once again it was written from Shizuku's perspective, roughly two years in her future. The theme park later cancelled the project.

Miyazaki then took the existing work done by the "Cat Project" and used it as a testing ground for future Ghibli directors - the short was now to be 45 minutes long. In the end, responsibility fell to Hiroyuki Morita, who had started out as an animator in 1999 for the film My Neighbors the Yamadas. Over a 9 month period he translated Hiiragi's Baron story into 535 pages of storyboards for what was to be The Cat Returns. Miyazaki and Toshio Suzuki decided to go ahead with a feature length film based entirely on Morita's storyboard; this was mainly because Haru, the main character had such a real feel to her.[1]

Characters

  • Haru Yoshioka - A 17 year old girl, the protagonist of the film.
  • Baron Humbert von Gikkingen - Usually called Baron; a cat statue with a soul and owner of the Cat Bureau. Previously appeared in Whisper of the Heart.
  • Muta - A fat, cynical cat who leads Haru to the Baron (the Japanese word for "pig" is "Buta", which Muta is called on a couple of occasions, much to his chagrin). His "real" name is "Renaldo Moon". Previously appeared in Whisper of the Heart.
  • Toto - A statue of a raven who comes alive, much like the Baron. Though friends with Muta, he enjoys making cynical comments at the latter's expense.
  • The Cat King - King of the Cat Kingdom. He is portrayed as rude and slightly demented. He is notable for his heterochromatic eyes and the cat eye opal he wears on his forehead.
  • Prince Lune - The Cat King's son. He shares his father's odd eyes and lavender-colored fur, but unlike his father, he is well-mannered and orderly.
  • Natori - The bespectacled advisor to the king.
  • Natoru - The excitable messenger for the king (though Natoru was female in the Japanese version, voiced as a male in the English version).
  • Yuki - A beautiful white servant cat of the Cat Kingdom.

Credits

Japanese seiyū

Voice talent for the English dub

References

  1. ^ from "The Making of The Cat Returns"
  • The Cat Returns page at Nausicaa.net
  • The Cat Returns at Online Ghibli
  • Review at THEM Anime
  • Neko no ongaeshi at IMDb
  • "猫の恩返し (Neko no ongaeshi)" (in Japanese). Japanese Movie Database. Retrieved 2007-07-21.
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