The Cat Returns is a bit of a curiosity in the Ghibli catalogue. It’s probably the most lighthearted film in their library, the character designs don’t have that distinctive Ghibli “look”, and it’s the most “cartoonish”, for lack of a better term. But it’s still the kind of quality one expects from a Ghibli film.
I like to think of The Cat Returns as a story which Shizuku from Whisper of the Heart has written about the Baron. The two films are connected, after all. There is another returning character which I somehow overlooked until now as well: Muta, the big white cat. In Whisper of the Heart, Shizuku met him on the train, so it would make sense that he appears in her story as well. (Keeping in mind that The Cat Returns being a story Shizuku wrote is just my headcanon and not actual canon, as far as I know…)
And in Ghibli tradition, there is another likeable lead character in Haru. She’s a high school girl just trying to find out where she belongs, and her adventures in the Cat Kingdom, with some help from the Baron, help her to discover her path.
Below you’ll find some screenshots I took of some of my favorite scenes with Haru and the Baron and some of the other characters. Haru is a rather ordinary girl, but for me that only adds to her charm.
