The Cat Returns
With the Japanese release having landed back in December 2013, more variants of it are starting to surface in other Asian territories ahead of what’s expected to be done for the North American release. Intercontinental Video of Hong Kong has their release of The Cat Returns lined up for a March 5th, 2014 release priced at $41.99 and it looks to mirror the Princess Mononoke release in how it pares down what’s on the release. The show will retain the original Japanese language while also adding in the Cantonese dub and it will bring out the subtitle for English, Traditional Chinese and Japanese readers. This all falls short of what the Japanese releases are like since they had seven or eight languages on it, but most of those were DVD level lossy audio. The Japanese release also included Ghiblies Episode 2, which doesn’t look like it’s being included here.
Plot concept: Shy high school student Haru has long had the uncanny ability to communicate with cats. One day, she rescues a strange cat from oncoming traffic. But the cat turns out to be no ordinary feline. He is actually Prince of the Cat Kingdom and to repay Haru’s kindness, he offers to take her hand in marriage! To clear up the mix-up, Haru travels to the Cat Kingdom with the help of Baron. But once she steps into the land of the cats, she discovers that she herself is gradually turning into a cat!