Ghibli Villain: The Cat King

Film: The Cat Returns (English title)
Neko no Ongaeshi (Japanese title)

Voices: Tim Curry (English Disney dub)
Tetsurō Tamba (Japanese)


The Character

When it comes to this character, I have often wondered if he can be truly be considered as a villain. He is crazy but his motives seem to be justified when it comes to the Ghibli Princess, Haru. However, my justifications in calling The Cat King a villain comes from here. The Ghibli studio (and in many cases, most anime studios) sets itself apart from Western animation studios, such as Disney and Pixar in how they portray the 'bad guys'. Without the exception of a certain few (such as Mushka from Laputa), anime villains cannot be seen as pure evil and heartless. In most of the Ghibli films, the villains are those who produce obstacle for the protagonist or disrupt their lives in a bad way. With Princess Mononoke, if it had not been for Lady Eboshi's greed, Prince Ashitaka would not have been cursed and the war between humans and beasts would not have become an issue in the film. However, she is destroying the forest in the place to provide a home and work for the people that civilisation rejects, such as lepers.

So it can be justified that from this point of view, the Cat King is the bad guy in The Cat Returns. The film is bizarre all the way through but he is the character that brings the surreality. The other characters seem to be straight. They have their complexities but they can be worked out pretty quickly. I wish I could say the same for the Cat King. When I first saw this film, I immediately thought of the film Labyrinth and there are similarities between these two films. Like Toby in Labyrinth, Haru must return to her own world before a specific time for she will be a cat forever. She is forced away to this beautifully bizarre world. And both films involve a very deceptive labyrinth which leads to a location in which the main character can go back home.

And in my eyes, the Cat King has a lot of qualities of Jareth (played by David Bowie in Labyrinth). The king's fur resembles the wildness of Jareth's hair but the interesting thing is their relationship with the main character. It has been analysed and debated on what Jareth wants from Sarah in Labyrinth and the same can be said about what the Cat King wants from Haru in The Cat Returns. In the end, they both wants the main female character for themselves; for Sarah, Jareth wanted her as his own all along. On the other hand, Haru is kidnapped purely because he wants her to marry Prince Lune and everything he does after that is to keep her happy and show gratitude for saving his son in the first place. It is only when she asserts herself that she does want Prince Lune (and the Prince says he has fallen for palace servant, Yuki) that the King offers himself to Haru. This could lead back to his first lines in the film when he calls Haru 'babe'. It could be interpreted that the Cat King secretly wanted Haru for herself but maybe he could not marry her so the closest he could be to her was for her to be his daughter-in-law.

The Cat King seems to have a dual personality. When he thinks things are going smoothly, he is calm. However, when something upsets the balance, such as Haru being unhappy at the ball, the Baron coming to get her and the King's plan to get her back are thwarted, he becomes almost insane. His actions become clearly over-the-top which adds to the overall bizarre feel of the film. This can be said for his motives in keeping Haru in the Cat Kingdom. However, to be fair, there is only one act he does that could put her life in danger; when he instructs for the tower to be blown up, bring it lower and thereby changing the top of the tower into Haru's world. When he tells this to the Baron, he laughs manically.


However, unlike many villains, he does admit defeat in the end. When he is humiliated by the Baron in the short sword fight and Haru finally gets back to her world, he contemplates retiring from the throne, leaving Prince Line to rule.

He is definitely not the most evil person in the Ghibli world but overall, he is definitely the craziest.

The voices behind the character

When I say that I see the Cat king as crazy, I think this is more to do with Tim Curry's voice. There is a slightly over-the-top tone whilst Tetsurō Tamba seems to be genuinely emotional and seems to think he is doing right. Tim Curry's Cat King sounds and acts like he needs to be in a straitjacket asap.