The Cat Returns (Japanese: 猫の恩返し, Hepburn: Neko no Ongaeshi, lit. "The Cat's Repayment") is a 2002 Japanese animated fantasy film directed by Hiroyuki Morita, produced by Toshio Suzuki and Nozomu Takahashi, written by Reiko Yoshida, based on the manga The Cat Returns by Aoi Hiiragi, with music by Yuji Nomi, animated by Studio Ghibli for Tokuma Shoten, Nippon Television Network, Hakuhodo, Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Mitsubishi and Toho and distributed by the latter company. It stars Chizuru Ikewaki, Yoshihiko Hakamada, Tetsu Watanabe, Yosuke Saito, Aki Maeda and Tetsurō Tamba. This is Hiroyuki Morita's first and only film so far as director for Studio Ghibli.
A spin-off of Whisper of the Heart, it was theatrically released in Japan on July 20, 2002 through Toho and in 2005 in the United States through Walt Disney Home Entertainment. It received an Excellence Prize at the 2002 Japan Media Arts Festival. GKIDS re-issued the film on Blu-ray and DVD on January 16, 2018 under a new deal with Studio Ghibli.
Plot[]
Haru Yoshioka is a shy but noble high school student who has a suppressed ability to talk with cats. One day, she saves a cat from being hit by a truck on a busy road. The cat she saved turns out to be Lune, Prince of the Cat Kingdom. As thanks, the cats give Haru unwanted gifts such as catnip and mice, and she is offered the Prince's hand in marriage. Her mixed reply is taken as a yes.
Wanting none of this, Haru hears a kind female voice which tells her to seek out Muta, a large white cat, and to get directions to the Cat Bureau from him. Muta leads her there to meet Baron Humbert von Gikkingen (the same Baron from Whisper of the Heart), who is a cat figurine given life by the work of his artist, and Toto, a stone raven who comes to life much like Baron. Soon after meeting them, Haru and Muta are forcefully taken to the Cat Kingdom, leaving Toto and Baron in the human world to follow the group from the air. They find the entrance to the Cat Kingdom on Earth: five lakes forming a cat's paw.
Haru is treated to a feast at the castle of the Cat King. She begins to slowly turn into a cat with fangs, whiskers, a tan tail and paws, and a cat's ears and nose, though she still remains mostly human. The King hopes that she will make a suitable bride for the Prince. At the feast, Baron (in disguise) dances with Haru as part of the entertainment. He reveals to her that the more she loses herself in the kingdom, the more cat-like she will become, and that she has to believe in herself. When Baron is discovered and forced to fight the guards, he and Haru are helped by Yuki, a white cat maiden in the palace who had previously tried to warn Haru to leave the Cat Kingdom. After Yuki shows them an escape tunnel, Haru, Baron, and Muta move through a maze to a tower that contains a portal to Haru's world. The King goes through a series of efforts to keep them in the kingdom long enough for Haru to remain trapped in her cat form; his ultimate plan is to force her to become his daughter-in-law.
Prince Lune and his guards return to the Cat Kingdom, revealing that the King was not acting on his behalf and that he plans on proposing to Yuki. Muta is revealed to be Renaldo Moon, a notorious criminal in the Kingdom who devoured a whole lake of fish in one sitting. Haru learns that the strange voice who had advised her to go to the Cat Bureau was Yuki's. In her childhood, Haru had saved Yuki from starvation by giving her the fish crackers she was eating, and thus, Yuki has now repaid her kindness. After she rejects the King's marriage proposal outright, Muta tells Haru, "I respect a woman who stands up for herself," and proceeds to help her escape from the King's soldiers.
Eventually, Baron, Haru, and Muta escape the Cat Kingdom with the aid of Prince Lune and Toto, and Haru embraces her true self. She tells Baron how much she has come to like him. He tells her the doors of the Cat Bureau will be open for her again if the need ever arises. Haru returns to the human world with more self-confidence; after learning from her friend, Hiromi, that her former crush has broken up with his girlfriend, she simply replies, "It doesn't matter anymore."
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Hayao Miyazaki
宮崎 駿 Films
Lupin III: Castle of Cagliostro (1977) • Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984) • Laputa: Castle in the Sky (1986) • My Neighbor Totoro (1988) • Kiki's Delivery Service (1989) • Porco Rosso (1992) • Princess Mononoke (1997) • Spirited Away (2001) • Howl's Moving Castle (2004) • Short Films
On Your Mark (1995) |
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Studio Ghibli
株式会社スタジオジブリ Pre-Ghibli Films
Hols: Prince of the Sun (1968) • Puss 'n Boots (1969) • Flying Ghost Ship (1969) • Animal Treasure Island (1971) • Ali-Baba and the 40 Thieves (1971) • Yuki no Taiyo (1972) • Panda Go Panda (1972–1973) • The Castle of Cagliostro (1977) • Chie the Brat (1981) • Gauche the Cellist (1982) • Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984) Ghibli Films
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984) • Castle in the Sky (1986) • The Story of Yanagawa's Canals (1987) • Grave of the Fireflies (1988) • My Neighbor Totoro (1988) • Kiki's Delivery Service (1989) • Only Yesterday (1991) • Porco Rosso (1992) • Ocean Waves (1993) • Pom Poko (1994) • Whisper of the Heart (1995) • Princess Mononoke (1997) • My Neighbors the Yamadas (1999) • Spirited Away (2001) • The Cat Returns (2002) • Howl's Moving Castle (2004) • Tales from Earthsea (2006)• Ponyo (2008) • The Secret World of Arrietty (2010) From Up On Poppy Hill (2011) • The Wind Rises (2013) • The Tale of the Princess Kaguya (2013) • When Marnie Was There (2014) • Earwig and the Witch (2020) • How Do You Live? (2023) • Short Films
The Sky-Colored Seed (1992) • Nandarou (1992) • On Your Mark (1995) • Ghiblies (2000) • Ghiblies Episode II (2002) • Mei and the Kittenbus (2003) • Koro's Big Day Out (2003) • The Whale Hunt (2003) • The Invention of Destruction in the Imaginary Machines (2004) • Imaginary Flying Machines (2004) • The Ornithopter Story: Fly to the Sky Hiyodiro Tengu! (2004) • The Day I Harvested a Star (2006) • House-hunting (2006) • Monmon the Water Spider (2006) • The Night of Taneyamagahara (2006) People
Masashi Andō • Hideaki Anno • Mamoru Hosoda • Megumi Kagawa • Kazuo Komatsubara • Katsuya Kondō • Yoshifumi Kondō • Yoichi Kotabe • Gorō Miyazaki • Hayao Miyazaki • Yoshiyuki Momose • Tomomi Mochizuki • [[Yasuji Mori • [[Hiroyuki Morita • Mamoru Oshii • Shinji Otsuka • Yasuo Ōtsuka • Toshio Suzuki • Isao Takahata • Kazuo Oga • Tsukasa Tannai Places
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