© Kore Yamazaki / Mag Garden
The Cat Returns is a little different from the last time you saw it.
What They Say:
Long ago, the humans and cats of Ulthar, city of cats, were struck by a great tragedy. For generations, the souls of those who were at the center of this tragedy have been sealed away by the king of cats. Chise and Elias travel to Ulthar in order to complete Simon’s second task: to purify the spirits that remain.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
The first three episodes of this highly anticipated series have been shown for months, so this is the first truly new episode to premiere on Japanese television and Crunchyroll proper. The first three episodes of any new series are generally considered the trial period that needs a hook to get people watching, and occasionally an episode 4 can be a little underwhelming. While series like this are obviously adapted from existing material, the production values can show a noticeable drop at this point, which might not bode well for the rest of the series. Up to now we’ve had some pretty spectacular material, but there are no indications of any serious nosedives here. If anything seems like it would make for a less engrossing fourth episode, it’s that we find ourselves surrounded by cats, but it doesn’t stay cutesy and lighthearted for long; on the contrary, we soon learn about a brutal history and find our heroes caught up in a very serious plotline.
That dark past deals with the cats themselves, but much of the interactions with the cats primarily serve to delve further into Chise’s character and create allegories to her own life. It seems inevitable that at least a few times every episode, something is going to hit Chise just the right way to send her flying into her memories of tragedy. This might seem like a bit much after a while, but she exists as a shell of what a person should be, so it’s natural for almost everything to draw out what she has to push just below the surface to get by. If each of these moments lasted minutes on end, it would be one thing, but with such short bursts that still speak so strongly to what she’s gone through, I haven’t found it excessive whatsoever. There’s something to be said about appreciating this much focus on cats in general, but the meat of these interactions could’ve come from any source. It just happens to also be especially cute, which juxtaposes quite nicely.
But as I mentioned, this is not an episode all about the quiet pondering we’ve seen a fair amount of so far. Take the cliffhanger of episode 2 and execute it multiple times within the last few minutes of this episode and that’s basically what we have here. That original cliffhanger did end up being something of a bait-and-switch, even turning into some of that quiet pondering with a group not unlike these cats but actually even more pleasant, but between the various factors going awry in this situation, it seems highly unlikely that it will all end as uneventfully. I’m slightly concerned about Chise’s potential as a perpetual damsel, but the most interesting development to come out of this particular series of events is the implication that the trust Chise has found for Elias is completely misplaced. It seems obvious enough that this will prove to be a very misleading interpretation of the truth if not a flat-out lie, but there may be a bit more involved to make for a more compelling discussion than something so black and white. It’s exciting enough.
In Summary:
A cat-centric episode sounds like the most calming, peaceful entry the series could get, but instead there’s deeper plot intrigue than ever before. As per usual, the subtle looks into Chise’s fragile psyche are some of the best pieces of any episode, but as the stakes start getting higher and higher, there’s some legitimate anticipation to see how these threads will resolve themselves.
Grade: A-
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Roku 3, Sceptre X425BV-FHD 42″ Class LCD HDTV.