The Cat Returns

The Cat Returns is a 2002 fantasy coming of age anime film. It was directed by HIroyuki Morita, written by Reiko Yoshoda, musically composed by Yuji Nomi, cinematography by Kentaro Takahashi, edited by Megumi Uchida, distributed by Toho, produced by Toshio Suzuki, Nozomu Takahashi, and Studio Ghibli, and starred Chizuru Ikewaki, Yoshihiko Hakamada, Tetsu Watanabe, Yosuke Saito, Aki Maeda, and Tetsuro Tamba. It was also based on a manga of the same name written by Aoi Hiiragi, the creation of which was commissioned by the creators of the film.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) Great soundtrack by Yuji Nomi, the composer for Whisper for the Heart.
 * 2) This is one of the few Studio Ghibli films written and directed by people whose not one of the main two, those being Hayao Miyzaki and Isao Takahata, and here, it shows.
 * 3) Excellent animation, as usual for a Studio Ghibli film.
 * 4) It's perhaps the only Studio Ghibli film which includes both normal humans and anthropomorphic animals, whereas most of their filmography has either all anthropomorphic animals or both normal humans and normal animals.
 * 5) Good voice acting in both the sub and dub, Anne Hathaway's performance as Haru Yoshioka is pretty decent, alongside Tim Curry's performance as The Cat King and Cary Elwes as the Baron.
 * 6) This movie acts as sort of a spinoff of one of Studio Ghibli's previous films, Whisper of the Heart, because two minor characters in that movie, the Baron and Muta, have more prominent roles here.
 * 7) Appealing character designs, especially for The Cat King, who looks like he was created by Yuji Naka himself.
 * 8) This is probably one of the most ridiculous but amazing Studio Ghibli Films, both story and character wise, ever created.
 * Fun, adventurous characters, like The Cat King, Haru Yoshioka and even the Baron himself.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) The title is extremely confusing, as it implies that the film is a sequel, when it's actually an only film, especially for newcomers who are unfamiliar with the manga.
 * 2) The movie's length can be a little too short for some people, running under 75 minutes.
 * 3) The scene where the soldiers throw both cats out of the window as punishment, it's funny but it's considered as one of the dark-comedy moments for some younger audience.
 * 4) * Also, the scene where The Cat King attempts to fall in love with Haru is very disturbing. Since The Cat King is old, while Haru is young!

Reception
The Cat Returns has a 90% critic rating and a 82% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes, a 3.5/5 on Letterboxd, a 7.3/10 on the International Movie Databse (IMDB), a 79.04% community approval rating on Kitsu, and a 4/5 on AnimePlanet.

Videos
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