Neko no ongaeshi (2002)

After helping a cat, a young girl finds herself involuntarily engaged to a cat prince in a magical world where her only hope of freedom lies with a dapper cat statuette come to life.

Director:

Hiroyuki Morita

Writers:

Aoi Hiiragi (comic "Neko no Danshaku, Baron"), Reiko Yoshida (screenplay),

Stars:

Chizuru Ikewaki, Yoshihiko Hakamada, Aki Maeda

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Chizuru Ikewaki	...	Haru (voice)
Yoshihiko Hakamada	...	Baron (voice)
Aki Maeda	...	Yuki (voice)
Takayuki Yamada	...	Lune (voice)
Hitomi Satô	...	Hiromi (voice)
Kenta Satoi	...	Natori (voice)
Mari Hamada	...	Natoru (voice)
Tetsu Watanabe	...	Muta (voice)
Yôsuke Saitô	...	Toto (voice)
Kumiko Okae	...	Haru's Mother (voice)
Tetsurô Tanba	...	Cat King (voice)
Yô Ôizumi	...	Additional voice (voice)
Youko Honna	...	Additional voice (voice)
Ken Yasuda	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Anne Hathaway	...	Haru (voice)

Storyline

A young girl rescues a mysterious cat from traffic and soon finds herself the unwelcome recipient of gifts and favors from the King of the Cats, who also wants her to marry his son, Prince Lune. With the assistance of a fat, grouchy real cat and a an elegant cat statuette come to life (both characters featured in Studio Ghibli's earlier anime "Whisper of the Heart"), the girl visits the Cat Kingdom and narrowly escapes again.

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Plot Keywords:

cat | anime | three word title | based on comic book | based on manga | 

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Taglines:

Believe in magic... Discover the secret of another land.

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Genres:

Animation | Adventure | Comedy | Family | Fantasy | Romance

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Certificate:

G

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

19 July 2002 (Japan)

Also Known As:

O Reino dos Gatos

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$522,911 (France) (1 August 2003)

Gross:

$522,911 (France) (1 August 2003)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Hakuhodo, Mitsubishi, Nippon Television Network (NTV)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

75 min

Sound Mix:

DTS-ES Dolby Digital EX

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film started when Studio Ghibli received a proposal from a Japanese theme park to make a twenty minute animation starring cats.

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Goofs

When Haru's friend calls Haru, she is seen beside a table with a plant and vase. In the next scene, the table is gone and she is somewhere else.

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Quotes

Baron: Always believe in yourself. Do this and no matter where you are, you will have nothing to fear.

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Crazy Credits

The credits have a series of still images from the film. The last image before the film fades is Haru feeding the small white kitten on the pavement.

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Connections

References Kurenai no buta (1992)

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Soundtracks

Kaze Ni Naru
Written by Ayano Tsuji
Performed by Ayano Tsuji

User Reviews

Another gem by Studio Ghibli

'The Cat Returns' is yet another treat produced by Studio Ghibli, the company which brought us masterpieces such as 'My Neighbour Totoro' and 'Spirited Away'.

The story of this film is much simpler than previous Studio Ghibli productions/epics with a typical modern teenage girl Haru as the heroine. When walking home from school one afternoon, Haru rescues a cat from being ran-over by a lorry only to discover she is responsible for saving the life of Prince Lune, the heir apparent to the Cat Kingdom. Lune's father, the King of Cats, promptly decides the best way to repay such a favour is for Haru to marry his son. Naturally, our heroine is horrified at the prospect and must seek protection from enigmatic Baron, founder of the Cat Bureau, for help before she is carted off to the Cat Kingdom by the very determined cats.

As a cat-lover, I found this film utterly adorable. The scene where the cats from Cat Kingdom descend on Haru's street in the middle of the night was had a very wondrous aura to it and the scene where the cats try to make Haru laugh at her feast was hilarious. The characters, as always, are solid from the refreshingly normal teen-aged Haru to the grumpy Muta to the suave Baron (even though he's an animated cat, the charisma of the character will leave many females empathising with Haru's little crush on him!).

Although the plot of 'The Cat Returns' is a simple affair so it will easily appeal to young children, there is much humour in the film that will keep older kids and adults amused. Also, those who love cats can't help but fall in love with the many feline characters we come across in the film. Now, I'm off to track down 'Whisper of the Heart', which is a 1995 Studio Ghibli film that features the character of Baron.