History Anime / TheCatReturns

* AnAesop: "Always believe in yourself. Do this and no matter where you are, you will have nothing to fear." See LostAesop for a few others that aren't so explicit.

* AccidentalPervert: After their arrival in the Cat Kingdom, Muta attempts to enter the changing room with Haru, who in the Japanese version teasingly calls him "Ecchi~!" -- localized in the English dub as "Beat it." -- while he's indignantly shooed away by the attendants.

* AnotherDimension: The Cat Kingdom.

* SomethingElseAlsoRises: Probably unintentional example, but when Haru is dancing with [[spoiler:the disguised Baron]], she stares up at him with a rather... ''special'' gaze, contemplates to herself about having never felt this sort of feeling before... and whiskers suddenly spring out of her face.
-->'''Haru''': ''(thinking)'' Maybe being a cat won't be so bad... ''(cue a KarmicTransformation)''

* StandardHeroReward: Deconstructed throughout the film. For saving the prince of the cat kingdom, Haru is offered his paw in marriage. At first she's hesitant about making a gentle refusal, but the idea of being married to a cat horrifies her. She goes to the Baron for advice on how to get out of this, since the cats don't exactly take "no" for an answer. It also turns out that [[spoiler:Prince Lune was in love with another cat, and was in the human world to get a special food for her]].

* CursedWithAwesome:
** A meta example with Haru's transformation into a CatGirl. She's upset by this and spends the second half of the film trying to reverse the transformation, whereas many UsefulNotes/{{furr|yFandom}}ies would embrace it.
** Notably, part of the reason for her annoyance with it isn't that she's been turned into a CatGirl... When she's dancing with Baron, he has to remind her to be herself, because, in her head, she's with this handsome aristocrat who is drop dead gorgeous...

An average day for OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent Haru Yoshioka (Chizuru Ikewaki) turns weird when she rescues a cat carrying a parcel from being run over by a truck... only for the cat to get up on his hind legs, bow to her, and ''thank her''. Things get weirder when the [[BigBad Cat King]] (Tetsuro Tanba) and a cotillion of courtiers shows up in the middle of the night to thank Haru for saving the life of the King's only son, Prince Lune (Takayuki Yamada), and to offer her gifts to repay the debt. Unfortunately, their ideas of "gifts" (planting cattails in her backyard and filling her locker at school with ''live mice in boxes'') cause Haru nothing but trouble... and then she learns they want her to marry Prince Lune!

* AnAesop: "Always believe in yourself. Do this and no matter where you are, you will have nothing to fear." See LostAesop for a few others that aren't so explicit.

* BewareTheNiceOnes: Baron Humbert von Gikkingen is a kind, gentle and polite guy, even during the middle of a fight. But if you get him ''really'' pissed off... [[spoiler: he'll not think twice before ''destroying the world and everyone on it.'']]

* {{Dubtitle}}: Disney's DVD release, unfortunately. Although, Dub!Baron is so well cast, it's questionable if that's a BAD thing.

* FreezeSneeze[=/=]PlotAllergy: Haru wakes up sneezing the morning after her first visit by the cats. The English dub seems to attribute this to the cattails planted outside her window - she later tells the messenger that she's allergic to them. She doesn't say this (or at least not explicitly) in the Japanese version or in the manga, and as the cattails were planted elsewhere in the manga, it appears she was just cold from her bedclothes being out of place.

** The Baron had at least ''three'' different designs in each of his appearances in ''Anime/WhisperOfTheHeart'' and in the manga of ''The Cat Returns'', including its film. Though ''WOTH''!Baron and ''TCR''!Baron had some resemblance to each other, his design in the manga where he had all-black fur with a snappy tuxedo to match, was quite the contrast. ''TCR''!Baron's design seems to be the most well-known.

* YouGotSpunk: Muta is rather impressed with Haru mouthing off the Cat King, and states "I admire a woman with spirit. You've got yourself an ally in me, kid."

* ShoutOut: The movie makes a few obvious references to 1969's film ''Nagagutsu o Haita Neko" (Puss in Boots) which was one of Miyazaki's earliest movies as an animator.

%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1623854158040301400

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/a8de9d30_f786_498f_96f3_d8767308b960.jpeg]]

* BlueAndOrangeMorality: The Cat Kingdom honestly doesn't understand why Haru is so unhappy. After all, they all agreed that mice, foxtails, catnip, and other such presents are ''marvelous'' gifts to repay her for saving their prince's life. And since he's the best catch in the whole kingdom, she should be ''thrilled'' at the chance to marry him. What's that? She's not a cat? That's okay, they took care of it. Oh, she's crying? That's okay, a little entertainment will turn that frown right upside-down!

* WhamLine: "[[spoiler: [[FisherKingdom You're half-cat already]]]]."

** {{Subverted|Trope}} with Muta, who appears to be a GrumpyBear, but is really a JerkWithAHeartOfGold who's loyal to his friends.

* BalefulPolymorph: After winding up in the Cat Kingdom, Haru begins to turn into a cat herself.

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

* DecadentCourt: PlayedForLaughs.

** NightmareFuel sets in when realizing that Haru almost turns into a cat to stay there.

* MagicSkirt: Well, it IS a Ghibli film...

* AwesomeMcCoolname: Baron Humbert von Gikkingen, and Renaldo Moon aka [[spoiler:Muta]]

A sort-of sequel to ''Anime/WhisperOfTheHeart'' [[FictionalDocument conceived as a story written by the protagonist of the previous film]], ''The Cat Returns'' (''Neko no Ongaeshi'', literally "The Cats Repay a Favor") tells a similar ComingOfAgeStory tale about Haru, a high-school girl learning to take confidence in her own abilities.

An average day for OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent Haru turns weird when she rescues a cat carrying a parcel from being run over by a truck... only for the cat to get up on his hind legs, bow to her, and ''thank her''. Things get weirder when the [[BigBad Cat King]] and a cotillion of courtiers shows up in the middle of the night to thank Haru for saving the life of the King's only son, Prince Lune, and to offer her gifts to repay the debt. Unfortunately, their ideas of "gifts" (planting cattails in her backyard and filling her locker at school with ''live mice in boxes'') cause Haru nothing but trouble... and then she learns they want her to marry Prince Lune!

Fortunately, it seems a few of the cats really are on Haru's side: she receives an offer of help from the "Cat Bureau," a trio of do-gooders consisting of a portly feline named Muta, a living crow gargoyle named Toto, and a handsome cat figurine called the Baron. Just in time, as well, because Haru soon finds herself whisked off to the Cat Kingdom by a veritable army of felines! Even with the help of Muta and Baron, it'll take all the courage and wit that Haru can muster if she plans to get out of this mess.

* [[FiveManBand Four-Man Band]]: The Cat Bureau forms one:
** TheHero: Baron
** TheLancer[=/=]TheBigGuy: Muta
** TheSmartGuy: [[CleverCrows Toto]]
** TheChick: Haru

[[quoteright:249:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Cat_Returns.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:249:[[FisherKingdom Don't get too comfy, Haru.]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Click[[labelnote:here]][[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/a8de9d30_f786_498f_96f3_d8767308b960.jpeg]][[/labelnote]] English poster]]

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