Neko no Ongaeshi - A Cat Returns

[Silvia Groniewicz]

Hello!

I was able to see the new Miyazaki in Tokyo last month and saw a trailer
for the next movie from Studio Ghibli. It's called Neko no Ongaeshi or A
Cat Return. The character designs looked a bit fresher than in Sen to
Chihiro and this time it's even a sequel! Everyone who saw Whisper of the
Heart probably remembers the story about the cat statue called Baron. This
time he has an active part in the movie and even Moon (the fat cat) returns
in it :)

I picked up the manga that seems to contain the story to the movie. It's
called Baron - Neko no Danshaku and is written by Aoi Hiragi. It's an
Animage Comic Special and should be available in every big bookstore in Japan.

I rather liked the story though it contains a few elements that seem to
turn up in a lot of Ghibli Movies lately. It's about a girl called Haru who
saves a cat from a car and gets repaid by the king of cats himself. Too bad
that he thinks that marrying Haru with the cat she saved would be a good
way of doing it :)
 The Baron and Moon will have to help Haru to get out of this way and
during her adventures in the secret world of the cats she encounters new
and old friends.
It reminded me a lot of Spirited Away in some places, especially the end,
but it was still very nice and I even cried a little bit :)

I also picked up an add for the movie. It will be released in Summer 2002.
Ther is quite a lot of information on it. If someone wants to see it, I
could scan it. 

That's it from me. Gotta go back to lurking now...

Sil