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It’s one of those films that newcomers can enjoy, but for those who have seen Whisper of the Heart, there are several characters and themes that can be seen throughout. The final product of The Cat Returns, can at best, be considered a pseudo-sequel to Whisper of the Heart. You can see this in the example below, regarding Haru’s character: When it came to the designs, one could say the filmmakers chose to make the characters moreso resemble Hiiragi’s drawing style. There were a number of Studio Ghibli fans who discounted the film, given its shorter running time, and decidedly un- Ghibli-like character stylings.
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As well, the length of the project grew, until it was soon decided by Miyazaki and producer Toshio Suzuki, that the film actually had a storyline that had a compelling character in the guise of its lead, a high school student named Haru. In the end, Hiiragi’s story would be developed into a film, to be used as a testing ground for new animators at the company. Though the theme park eventually cancelled the project, the seed of the idea began to germinate and grow under Ghibli, into something else. Aoi Hiiragi was also contacted to write a story based around the short. When a theme park came calling for Ghibli to do a short revolving around cats, Hayao Miyazaki wanted to incorporate the cat characters of Baron Humbert von Gikkingen, and Muta, from Whisper. One can probably imagine her surprise when a few years later, she’d be called upon to make a slight return to the world of several of those characters. Ms Hiiragi noted in several interviews, that she was surprised that her manga was chosen by Hayao Miyazaki to be used for the basis for one of the studio’s films. After coming across an antique store with a statue of a dapper, humanized cat-figure in its window, she is compelled to write a story revolving around the statue.Įven so, Whisper’s overall story was moreso one of high school drama, which made it tie very closely to the manga it was based off of, which was written and illustrated by Aoi Hiiragi. One of the selling points of the film, was the fictional story-world that the lead character, Shizuku Tsukishima, creates.
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The film proved to be an intriguing story about creativity, music, and writing…traits that one doesn’t necessarily find in animated films, let alone those involving high schoolers. As I’ve stated in several previous reviews/dissections, I am quite fond of the Studio Ghibli film, Whisper of the Heart.