The Cat Returns

Genres: adventure, fantasy

Themes: catgirls

Released : 2002
Episodes : -
Resources : Wiki

Narrative :

The story follows a girl called Haru, a quiet, shy and unassuming high school student who has a long-suppressed ability to talk to cats. One day she saves a darkly colored, odd-eyed cat from being hit by a truck on a busy road. The cat turns out to be Lune, Prince of the Cat Kingdom. In return, the cats shower her with gifts of catnip and mice — and then she is offered the Prince's hand in marriage. Her mixed reply is taken as a yes.

Immersed in desperation over this unwanted development, Haru hears a kind female voice which tells her to seek out the Cat Bureau. Haru meets Muta, a large white cat the voice told her to seek for directions, who leads her there to meet the Baron, who happens to be a cat figurine given life by the hard work of his artist, and Toto, a stone raven who comes to life much like the Baron. Soon after meeting them, Haru and Muta are taken to the Cat Kingdom by force, leaving Toto and the Baron in the human world to follow the group from the air. The Baron and his feathered friend finally find the entrance to the Cat Kingdom on Earth — five lakes forming a cat's paw.

Screencaps :

The Cat Returns

Princess Mononoke

Genres: adventure, drama, fantasy

Themes: forest spirit

Released : 1997
Episodes : -
Resources : Wiki

Narrative :

The last Emishi prince, Ashitaka, engages in battle with Nago, a giant boar demon attacking his village. During the fight, Ashitaka is wounded on his arm. After the boar is killed, the village wise woman tells the prince that the wound is cursed and will spread to the rest of his body, eventually killing him. Ashitaka resolves to journey to the boar's origin, the lands to the West, and find a cure for the curse. He cuts his hair, signifying his permanent departure from his village,^[3] and leaves on Yakul, his red elk. Ashitaka passes by a village being attacked by samurai. Some of the men attack him, forcing Ashitaka to defend himself. His cursed arm displays supernatural powers, causing his arrows to remove limbs and even the head of one man. In a nearby town he meets Jigo, a wandering monk who aids him in buying rice. That evening, the monk tells Ashitaka that the god of the forest in the mountains of the west may be able to help him.

A nearby town in the mountains of the west, called Iron Town, continually clears the nearby forests to make charcoal to smelt ironsand, leading to battles with beasts attempting to protect their diminishing forest. In one such battle, three giant wolves, led by the wolf god Moro, attack villagers transporting rice. They are accompanied by San, a human girl adopted by the wolves whom the people of Iron Town call "the wolf girl". In the attack Moro and several villagers are injured. The day following the battle, Ashitaka finds two injured villagers near a river. While rescuing them, he sees San treating Moro's wounds, and she disappears quickly. He returns the villagers to Irontown passing through a forest full of bestial gods, including diminutive spirits called kodama. Also in the forest is the Forest Spirit (Shishigami in the original Japanese), described as a "god of life and death", who takes the form of a deer-like kirin during the day and a large shadowy "night-walker" (Daidarabocchi) at night.

Screencaps :

Princess Mononoke

Nausicaa Of The Valley Of The Wind

Genres: adventure, fantasy

Themes: post-apocalyptic

Released : 1984
Episodes : -
Resources : Wiki

Narrative :

The story takes place 1,000 years after the "Seven Days of Fire", an event which destroyed human civilization and most of the Earth's original ecosystem. Scattered human settlements survive, isolated from one another by the Toxic jungle, a forest of giant plants and fungi swarming with giant insects, which seem to come together only to wage war. Everything in the Toxic Jungle including the air is lethally toxic.

Nausicaä, is a charismatic young princess of the peaceful Valley of the Wind. Although a skillful fighter, Nausicaä is humane and peace-loving. She has an unusual gift for communicating with the giant insects (particularly with the Ohmu, gigantic, armored, caterpillar- or isopod-like insects who are the most intelligent creatures in the Toxic Jungle.) She is also noted for her empathy toward animals, humans, and other beings. An intelligent girl, and inspired by the Valley's Lord Yupa, a wandering warrior possessed of great wisdom, Nausicaä frequently explores the Toxic Jungle and conducts scientific experiments in an attempt to define the true nature and origins of the toxic world in which she lives. Her explorations are facilitated by her skill at "windriding": flying with an advanced jet assisted glider craft. Yupa is searching for the mythological man in blue who, according to the legend, will appear surrounded by a sea of gold and reunite the people and nature.

Screencaps :

Nausicaa Of The Valley Of The Wind