The Cat returns / Neko no ongaeshi (Japan, 2002)

Another production of the famous Ghibli studio!

This time it isn't on a grand scale like Miyazaki's Spirited away or Howl's moving castle but Hiroyuki Morita has kind of it's own style, which created an interesting anime!

The cat returns is a film a bout a girl who rescues a cat and this isn't going unnoticed. The king of the cats wants to thank her for this, cause the rescued cat seems to be his son! She will be taken to the cat kingdom to marry the prince, but is this girl, Haru, wanting to become a cat for the rest of her life? I already see some cat-ears growing!!

Well I guess you should have noticed, maybe there is not too much depth in this story but that is fine because we deal with a film which is very humorous. Some scenes will really make you laugh and together with the good animation (do we expect different from a Ghibli production?) and sweet story it is a very enjoyable film to watch!

When you want to see a fat cat skydiving, and wallcarrying-cats falling like domino stones you sure should not miss this one!

Howl's moving castle review (Hauru no Ugoku Shiro)

Last night I watched 3 films; Flightplan, Jarhead and Howl's moving castle. All three of them were very very nice to watch but I wanna talk about Miyazaki's Howl's moving castle today.

After the brilliant Spirited away many people were looking forward to Hayao Miyazaki's next picture. Did he create this world again, where you would be lost in while watching it? Yeah he did it again!


The story starts with 18 year old Sophie who is turned into a 90 year old woman by the Wicked Witch of Waste. She has to leave home and enters the moving castle of the wizard Howl. She meets a fire demon 'Calcifer' over there who is also under a spell. Together they have to find a way to transform to their original state.



The stort takes place in 19th century Europe during war. Howl tries to stop the warships but he is getting tired and turning into a monster. Can Sophie help him?

The drawing of this film is brilliant, look at the detail in the background!! The voice casting is very well done too with voices of Chieko Baisho, Akihiro Miwa and Takuya Kimura'(yeahh....2046!! hehe). Not all critics loved this movie and Spirited away may be a bit better but don't miss this movie! There is no cartoon movie like Hayao Miyazaki's!

Kanon - 2002 version

At this very moment I am watching the anime Kanon. I have reached the twelfth episode now and I can't wait to see all of them! In the beginning I thought I had to deal with a very nice, but slow story. I was wrong, it is becoming weirder and weirder...it's about five (it could be six) girls who are all all connected to one boy: Yuichi Aizawa. The story is often funny but there is also much drama in it... a perfect mix.

Who are these girls....what promises did Yuichi made...unrafel the mystery by watching it ;)

Grave of the fireflies

I just watched a Japanese anime movie which is called 'Grave of the fireflies' (Hotaru no haka). It's about a brother and sister in Japan who have lost their mum during a bomb attack. Their dad is in the navy, and seemed to be disappeared completely.
The brother (Seita) and sister (Satsuko) are being raised for a while by some family member but after a while she won't take care of them anymore. Seiko and Satsuko have to live on their own and are going to make a bombshelter their home. There isn't enough food and Satsuko is getting ill.....
It's a very very very tragic story about the love between a brother and sister in times of war, a story of survival. I think this anime is pretty good, and it fully deserves the 32nd position in the list (site: moviemeter) of best movies ever made. It is even compared by critics with Schindler's list. 'Grave of the fireflies is the most profoundly human animated film I've ever seen'. You will be impressed after watching it and probably will feel very sad. Tragic and beautiful, again a good combination!

Full moon wo sagashite

Well I just have to discuss another Japanese anime. This one is called 'Full moon wo sagashite'.
It's about a 12 year old girl who has throatcancer and will only have one more year to live. Two 'Shinigami' (kind of people who take you away from this world when it's your time) watch over her but something strange happens. This girl 'Mitsuki' can see the Shinigami (Takuto and Meroko) and she becomes friends with them. Mitsuki's dream is to be a famous singer but because of her age she can't do audition and because of her illness she can't sing. An other important storyline is her love for Eichi. He is in America to become an astronaut and she wants to reunite with him.
Those Shinigami cast a spell and turn Mituski for one year into a girl of 16. Now she is old enough to enter the auditions and she is given a record deal. I won't tell too much of it's story...it has many different aspects. It deals with an impotant matter in life. Maybe she can recover completelythrough surgery but there is a big chance she will loose her voice forever as a result of the surgery. Singing is Mitsuki's love, if she does loose her voice, would life be worth living for?
Takuto seems to fall in love with Mitsuki, Meroko won't allow it so there is competition between them too. Where is Eichi? can Mitsuki find him? Will she really die? Those questions will be answered if you watch the serie!
In the beginning Full moon wo sagashiteseems to be a bit childish but just continue to watch some episodes (52 in total) you will be lost in it's story. You can also loose yourself in it's beautiful music. The song 'eternal snow' is so beautiful!!! It's played very very often but it never gets boring, I still play it often. Thos story will catch you and make you care for the characters, you really wanna see the end but in the way you don't wanna know the end cause it will be over after the last episode!

Some great Japanese anime series

Well today I want to introduce some Japanese anime series. I won't tell much about it now.. just go and watch it as soon as possible!
The first one you just have to see is Honey and Clover! It's about students of an art academy, about their lifes and the difficulties they face..about love and unreturned love ans also about a soul searching trip to find yourself again!

Another great one is Elfenlied...though it's very violent. It's about the creation of a superweapon that looks like a girl. the opening tune is already fantastic!!

At the moment I am watching Full Metal Alchemist (FMA). I've only seen 8 episodes but I understand why it's called the best ever made. You can't play for God, there will be consequences if you do. More i won't tell...it would spoil the pleasure of watching it.

Maybe the very best of all is haibane remnei. This serie deals with girls who have wings wings and a halo. They seem be be born from some cocoon and live together. Where do they come from, why can't they just leav. You have to discover the questions yourself. A beautiful anime with backgrounds that look like oil paintings. A serie that starts a bit childish but becomes a complex story of sorrow.

Millennium Actress

Miyazaki's 'Spirited Away' is probably the best known Japanese cartoon movie and I have to say it's is just fantastic. Maybe I will review that movie some other day. But another Japanese cartoon movie is less known: Millennium actress, directed by Satoshi Kon. Does this mean that it wasn't a very good movie?Well my answer can be short can clear; no!It is really worthy to watch this one. Not only because of the beautifull drawings but the story is great too. A movie director is going to make a documentary about the life of a famous Japanese actress (Chiyoko). He also wants to give her somtething she almost forgotten about, a famous key. Now the story/interview starts. It's starts with a young Chiyoko who accidently meets a man, a mysterious Manchurian artist, who gives Chiyoko a key. Chiyoko wants to know what this key is for but the only answer she gets is 'it's the key of the most important thing in the world'. The man is a fugitive and leaves suddenly. From that moment on it's Chiyoko's task to return the key to it's owner and discover it's true meaning.But.... the story isn't this simple. The story is also about a famous actrice who plays in many movies. While she plays in all those movies we see 1000 years of history of Japan at the same time. What is real and what is not...it's not imporant in this movie. It's called a trompe L'oeil, a French word for 'to fool the eye'. There is not a clear storyline but different storylines which are running through eachother with no beginning or end. You can't distinguish reality from fiction and present from the past, it's all blurring together.It probably sounds like a weird movie but don't be afraid to watch it. Prepare yourself to watch something stunning. It's a complex, smart and breathtaking journey through time, a journey through Japanese cinema, a journey to find the one you love, a journey to discover what it's all about.