Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} Baron The Cat Returns by Aoi Hiiragi Baron: The Cat Returns by Aoi Hiiragi. The story is quite complex. Hockey stick wielding girl saves elegant cat (Lune) from being run over and is quite surprised when the well spoken cat turns to thank her for saving his life. She goes to bed that night thinking no more about it, but is woken by cats wailing outside. She is visited by the King of Cats (a hoot as a old blue cat ex-hip shagpile who arrives on a glorious litter with entourage and promises her all the gifts she could ever want for saving his son’s life, Lune, the Prince of Cats, it seems.) Our heroine is quite bemused by this, but kind of accepts it and goes back to bed, hardly even surprised that all the cats walk on their hind legs. She wakes the next morning and figures it was all a strange dream. But no, her best friend calls, thousands of hockey sticks have turned up at school, gift wrapped live mice are stuffed into her locker. It’s real. She really did save the Prince of Cats! She has a parchment from the King that explains all the things they are going to do for her, none of which a young girl could ever want. The King’s Ambassor is alarmed to discover that she isn’t happy with the mice and offers her a diffferent deal. Marriage to the Prince. 'But I’m a girl', she reminds him. But he isn’t listening. It’s set. That night they are coming for her and she will be married off! A hidden still small voice comes to her, as if from nowhere, advises her to go the Cat Bureau and save herself. Find the fat white cat at the crossroads … Well a girl has to do what a girl has to do and she heads for the crossroads… . and after much exploring of her town following the fattest cat in the world, Peter Boyle having much fun with this greedy cat, she finds herself in a wonderful European square in front of the Cat Bureau and the Baron himself, a petite dapper smoothy with keen skills at blending tea. Cary Elwes is brilliant at calm determined force as ever. Can't he be the new Bond? One must not forget the crow either, who bickers endlessly with the Muta the fat white cat. It’s a terrific adventure, filled with wonderfully sardonic, argumentative animals and it’s never cute and or afraid to go down the road of magic realism. It’s consistently inventive and witty. Home © Hackwriters 1999-2020 all rights reserved. Whisper of the Heart. A semi-spin-off film entitled The Cat Returns that focused on a minor character of the film, Baron , was released in 2002. Contents. Shizuku Tsukishima is a 14-year-old student at Mukaihara Junior High School, where she is best friends with Yuko Harada. Living in Tokyo with her parents Asako and Seiya, as well as her older sister Shiho, Shizuku is a bookworm and is keen on writing. During an ordinary evening, she looks through the checkout cards in her library books. She discovers they have all been checked out by Seiji Amasawa. She begins to daydream about this mysterious man who shares her taste in books. Being a curious girl, she aims to find out who this man is. Coincidentally, Shizuku soon encounters an annoying young man, later revealed to be Seiji, who often teases her. Finding a cat riding a train, Shizuku follows it to discover an antique shop run by Shiro Nishi. In the shop is a cat statuette, "The Baron". After Shizuku returns home, she learns from Yuko that Sugimura has inadvertently upset her, as he does not know that Yuko has a crush on him. Sugimura, confused by both Yuko's and Shizuku's anger towards him, confronts Shizuku after school. Shizuku reveals that Yuko is in love with him while Sugimura declares that he has liked Shizuku for a long time. She, however, turns him down. Shizuku returns to the antique shop and encounters Seiji there. She learns that Seiji is actually very nice and they befriend each other. There, Shizuku sings "Take Me Home, Country Roads", a song she has been translating for her school graduation, accompanied by Seiji and Nishi. Seiji is revealed to be the grandson of Nishi. Seiji shares with her his dream of becoming a master luthier. The two begins to secretly slowly fall in love with each other. Days after the two meet, Seiji leaves for Cremona, Italy, for a two-month study with a master violin-maker. Inspired by Seiji's sense of purpose with his life and feeling like she has to live up to him, Shizuku decides to test her talents as well. Discussing with Yuko, she decides to pursue her writing seriously during the two months. She asks Nishi if she can write about The Baron, to which Nishi grants his consent on the condition that he will be the first to read the finished story. Shizuku begins to concoct a fantasy story featuring herself as the female protagonist, the Baron as the male hero who is looking for his lost love, Louise, and the cat she followed from the train (who is, among other names, known as "Moon" and "Muta") as the story's villain who took her from him. Devoting her time to her writing, Shizuku eats snack food, stays up until early in the morning, and her school grades drop. Shizuku argues with her family over her grades, and as she continues to push herself into finishing the story before Seiji returns, she begins to lose heart. When her story is complete, Shizuku delivers the manuscript to Nishi. After Nishi reads Shizuku's writing and gives her his benevolent assessment, she breaks down in tears because she knows that, despite her hard work, her story is not good enough. Consoling her with udon, Nishi reveals to Shizuku that when he studied in Germany in his youth, he found his first love, Louise. They discovered the twin statuettes of the Baron and his female companion in a cafe, but they could only purchase them singly because the female statuette was in repair at that time. Nishi kept the Baron while Louise would hold onto the Baron's companion, and they and the two cat statuettes would reunite at a later time. However, the two lovers and the statues were subsequently separated during World War II and were never reunited. Deciding she wants to attend high school to learn more about writing, Shizuku is returned home by Nishi and announces to her mother that she will return to her entrance exams full-time. The next morning, she discovers Seiji below on his bicycle. He has returned a day early, and decided to finish high school before returning to Cremona to become a luthier. The two youngsters ride Seiji's bike to a lookout and watch the sun rise over the city. While they are there, Seiji professes his love for Shizuku and proposes future marriage, which she happily accepts. Character Original cast Disney English dub cast Shizuku Tsukishima 14-year-old junior high school student who loves books. Yōko Honna Brittany Snow Seiji Amasawa Violin player attending the same school as Shizuku Tsukishima. Issei Takahashi David Gallagher Asako Tsukishima Graduate student and mother of Shizuku and Shiho Tsukishima. Shigeru Muroi Jean Smart Seiya Tsukishima Librarian and father of Shizuku Tsukishima. Takashi Tachibana James Sikking Baron Humbert von Gikkingen Statue from Germany belonging to Shiro Nishi. Shigeru Tsuyuguchi Cary Elwes Shiro Nishi Owner of local antique shop. Keiju Kobayashi Harold Gould Yuko Harada Shizuku's friend at her school. Maiko Kayama Ashley Tisdale Kōsaka-sensei Nurse at Shizuku's school. Minami Takayama Vicki Davis Kinuyo and Nao Shizuku's other school friends. Mayumi Iizuka Mai Chiba Mika Boorem Abigail Mavity Sugimura Yuko's crush and Shizuku's friend. Yoshimi Nakajima Martin Spanjers Shio Tsukishima Shizuku's older sister and a college student. Yorie Yamashita Courtney Thorne-Smith Nishi's musician friends Musicians friends of the owner of local antique shop. Toshio Suzuki and Naohisa Inoue (Kita) Walker Edmiston and (Minami) Corey Burton. High School Students. Jillian Bowen, A.J. Buckley, Erin Chambers, Jacy DeFilippo, Courtnee Draper, Scott McAfee, Aaron Nelms, Ryan O'Donohue, Bradley Pierce, Deanna Russo. Additional Voices. Japanese: Satoru Takahashi, Akiko Sakaguchi, Hiromi Yasuda, Tatsuya Okada, Yoshihiro Imai, Naohisa Inoue, Sugura Egawa, Shiro Kishibe, Mitsuaki Ogawa, Toshio Suzuki English: Jeff Bennett, Doug Burch, Melissa Disney, Judi Durand, Jeff Fischer, Charles Kimbrough, Daamen Krall, Jeremy Maxwell, Paige Pollack, Noreen Reardon, Grace Rolek, Rebecca Wink. Background. Mimi o Sumaseba Manga cover. Whisper of the Heart was based on the manga Mimi o Sumaseba which was originally created by Aoi Hiiragi. The manga was serialized in Shueisha's shōjo manga magazine Ribon between August and November 1989, and a single tankōbon volume was released in February 1990. A second manga by the same author titled Mimi o Sumaseba: Shiawase na Jikan was serialized in Shueisha's Ribon Original in 1995. A spiritual sequel to this film adaption, The Cat Returns , was turned back into a manga by Aoi Hiiragi, under the name Baron: Neko no Danshaku . Production. During production, the backgrounds in the fantasy sequences of the film were drawn by Naohisa Inoue and the woodcut of the imprisoned violin- maker was created by Miyazaki's son Keisuke Miyazaki, a professional engraver. Japanese musical duo Chage and Aska's short music video, titled "On Your Mark", by Studio Ghibli was released along with Whisper of the Heart .