the cat returns / neko no ongaeshi (2002)

literally my dream

PLOT: A schoolgirl named Haru who has a crush on a schoolboy saves a cat from being run over on a street one day. She realizes she has a special ability to talk to cats. To thank her, the Kingdom of Cats essentially abducts her and grants her the "honor" of marrying their prince. She escapes with the help of her cat friends from the Cat Business Office and an insider cat from the Kingdom, and returns to the human world with greater self-knowledge and confidence. When she finds out that the boy she crushed on is now single, she simply replies, "It doesn't matter anymore."

What can I say? This film left me with the most pleasant feeling. I'm sure a big part of that feeling comes from a fact that I've recently discovered about myself, which is that I acquire overwhelming satisfaction from film depictions of women (or in this case, female-identified felines) conspiring with other women to overthrow the patriarchy (or should I say CATriarchy?????). That feeling definitely channels my love for The Handmaiden, and was made manifest this time as some sort of fur ball.

fish biscuits - tokens of female friendship!!

In criticism, the cast of characters were overwhelmingly male and the female characters' goals were still very male-centric. For example, the female cat who helps Haru escape ends up finding happiness by marrying the Prince who himself is very charming, which essentially conveys to the audience that it really would have been an honor for Haru to marry the prince, that he was depicted as a bad fit only because she is human and not because she is a girl who does not want to get married right now! I'm consistently happy with Studio Ghibli's attempts at making films about strong female protagonists, but am usually disappointed by the very male worlds in which they do exist, especially in older movies such as this one. I suppose there is merit in arguing that having female characters exist in male worlds is realistic, but I do think it would have been easy to make one of the characters from the Cat Business Office female. Instead, they are depicted as her male saviors. Case in point: Haru unecessarily trips as she is escaping from the cat king and his soldiers, giving the Baron the chance to literally pick her up and carry her to safety as she blushes and holds on tight. Gross.

In terms of the art and style - I absolutely loved all of the cats!!! They were cute. I don't think I need to say more, though I will say that I am so charmed by the fact that the cats' voices and vocal inflections were created in a very human-like manner, as opposed to the more exaggerated voices of American kids' cartoons. I'm not sure if this is a definitive difference between Japanese vs. American cartoons - will have to do more research. I find that the cats' human-like voices lend themselves quite nicely to the quaint, mystical tone of the movie, as well as to the audience's (and Haru's) fear and uncertainty of what sinister, true-to-human-reality structures are masked by their catfaces frozen in smiles.

Note to self and whomever may be reading: This is my attempt to exercise my writing muscles while in medical school. Giving myself a pat on the back for finally getting around to my first post. I'm writing this a couple of weeks after watching the movie, and ideally I would like to write these a little sooner. My goal is to write a review for every movie that I watch that is worth remarking on. Yoroshiku oneigaishimasu!!!!!!! May the cat gods grant me the power to stick with this project!