Two anime videos: A housekeeping hamster and a cat prince

[thistlechaser]

Between yesterday and today, I watched two totally different types of anime. One is a series about a housekeeping hamster who likes to give her owner advice on her sexual relationships, and the other was a movie about a kingdom of cats.

Oruchuban Ebichu (The Housekeeping Hamster) is supposed to be an adult comedy series. I was really "eh" about it, as I didn't find it the least bit funny and the art was sunday-comic-strip quality.

(All of these screenshots should be considered "adult".)
I wasn't kidding when I said the hamster gives advice on sexual issues.
Really, I wasn't.
Think you'd ever see hamster bondage?
Ebichu knows way, way too much about her owner.
And isn't afraid to arrive at her job and say so! (And don't ask me why this would be considered sexy... yuck!)
Yes, she actually does have a green one. Thanks for that TMI, hamster.

Though I have six eps on-hand, I only watched three before giving up on the series.

------

The movie, The Cat Returns, was about as opposite Oruchuban Ebichu as you can get. It's made by the same people who did Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke. Absolutely beautiful art and a wonderful story -- The Cat Returns couldn't have been more perfect for me if they had made it for me on purpose.

In it there are three worlds that we know of: The normal world we all live in, the kingdom of cats, and one other (where "beings with souls" live).

The story starts when a girl saves the prince of the cats. She hadn't known who he was at the time, so the girl is rather surprised when the king of cats shows up on her doorstep. (An interesting twist: Cats of our world don't like the cat kingdom cats. We never learn why, but that's still rather cool. The black and white cats are the king's bodyguards. They look and act just like US Secret Service agents.)

In the world for "beings with souls", the girl meets a dashing cat named Baron. Purrr.

She gets carried away on the back of many cats. Upon arriving at the cat kingdom palace, she's taken to get changed by some pretty cat-women.

In the cat kingdom, there are nothing but cats (who can walk on two legs or four). They hold all sorts of jobs:
Executioners.
Foreign diplomats (these from Egypt).
The normal army.
The prince's honor guard/personal army.

The Cat Returns has such a sweet, wonderful story (especially if you like cats), if you have a chance to see it, don't pass it up!

Comments

[chrismu.livejournal.com]

(just wandering through)

Whoooo hamster! It looks like it could be amusing for a little while, at least.

As far as The Cat Returns, I'll be seeing it in the first showing in Northern California this Saturday : )

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the hamster one was good for limited mindless watching, but I can only take so much of that.

And oh? The Cat Returns is just being released here? Eee! I thought it was an old movie I missed! Thanks for the info!

[chrismu.livejournal.com]

It's going to be on at the Pacific Film Archive Theater in Berkeley, which will be quite nice. I'm drafting a couple of people to go see it. Yeeess... seeing as how I still don't have internet in my apartment, i've been limited to things already seen, and the itch for newness shouldn't have any trouble dragging me a grand total of four blocks to see it. Glad to hear it's fun : )

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Oh, that sounds like it'll be really nice! Enjoy it!

[aqouli.livejournal.com]

If you liked 'The Cat Returns', then you ought to check out 'Whisper Of The Heart' as well. The Cat Returns is a sort of semi-sequel, since WotH also features the Baron character, though he looks far more dashing in The Cat Returns.
On a side note, The Cat Returns was animated by Studio Ghibli, but it wasn't directed by Hayao Miyazaki, who did Spirited Away and the other flicks. I'm not sure about his name, but the director for this film is said to be a new Miyazaki in the making. Personally, I don't think so-- The Cat Returns seems to lack something for me. Maybe it's just because it has a really sweet story, but I dunno.
Glad to see you liked it, though!

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Ah, thanks for the info! I'll look for 'Whisper Of The Heart'.

The Cat Returns was animated by Studio Ghibli, but it wasn't directed by Hayao Miyazaki, who did Spirited Away and the other flicks

Oops, okay.

[laurelwood.livejournal.com]

You're free to ignore this question from a total anime idiot, but in the Dr. Ruth Hamster series, why do some of the people have that band of short vertical lines where their noses should be? Are they... different somehow? Or just drawn that way?

[fealu-bryne.livejournal.com]

That's just part of how they show expressions, in this case shock/embarrassment. Anime tends to exaggerate a lot of things (massive, face-engulfing eyes, anyone? Miles of flowy hair? Admittedly, that's just one particular style, but still...)

I'm not really an expert on this stuff, so somebody else could proably give you a better answer. But I tried. ^^

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Hey, I'm new to all this anime stuff, too! Don't call yourself an idiot! :)

You mean like in this one? http://www.hot-hot-hot-catlove.com/ebichu1.jpg

As I understand it, that's supposed to be like a blush. However, I've never seen it in black before... Maybe it has some subtle meaning or something -- if so, I missed it!

[chrismu.livejournal.com]

Just because I don't know doesn't mean I won't say anything about it. I blame manga. Manga and laziness. The lines are probably a lot easier to draw than a real blush. I mean, shading and stuff! geez!