Suteneko Tora-chan

Little Tora, The Abandoned Cat is the first in the trio of Tora-chan shorts and perhaps the one with the deepest and most memorable story. I think this particular short works as a great accompaniment to such works as Grave of the Fireflies or a feature film like Come and See.

The story is one about the consequences of the war and a reflection of how social order had collapsed due to the incredible calamity and casualties as a result of the unbridled total warfare. You had children losing parents on a large scale and being abandoned to rot on streets and in train stations and ... left to beg at markets. At this period, society in general was being encouraged to adopt these "lost generations" and help them out in a time of need.

Familial conflict due to common tribalistic tendencies in humans was common too. The hostile little girl was a representative of this particular strain of thought. The sudden appearance of a stranger in the family, a feeling of jealousy and the undeserved fear that one's own place in this familial hierarchy might be upturned was a root of a lot of conflict. While the story tried to portray a glorious moral picture and a happy end, reality was a bit more cruel in such times of uncertainty and strife.

Little Tora is an interesting little animated series, by director, Kenzō Masaoka. Mr. Masaoka is cited as one of the earliest Japanese animation directors to use cell animation and sound. Because of his smooth-moving animation, for a time, he was referred to as the "Japanese Disney," and while certain productions have the same similarities to the classic Mickey Mouse animations; Tora-chan has a similar "je ne sais pas pourquoi" type of milieu as Max Fleischer's avant-garde animations.

⚠️ Each entry in the Little Tora franchise is ten to twenty minutes long, so I am unable to talk about them without spoiling pivotal parts of the plot ... ⚠️

Suteneko Tora-chan (1947)

Synopsis: A family of cats find a homeless kitten and take him in to their home. But one of the siblings becomes jealous about the attention the new cat gets from her mother and runs away from home. The new member of the family goes looking for her. Can he bring her back home safely and get her to accept him as part of the family?

This short is kind of hard to see, even with the remastered visuals. Since it is so old, it has a misty look to the picture. This version of Tora-chan is a musical with realistic-looking cat people (the art-style gets more cartoonish as the series goes on). For the time it was made, the painted backgrounds are really eye-catching, it reminded me of one of my favorite animated films of all time, The Wind in the Willows (1995). The animation is smooth and the audio quality of the music gives the short an eerie ambience.

Note: There's also an obvious nod to Disney's Fantasia (1940), there's a cloud full of storm people, wielding lightning staffs!

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Tora-chan to Hanayome (1948)

Synopsis: Tora-chan and Miike and playing while their big sister prepares for her wedding. Just then a letter arrives; it's from Grandfather, who writes that he won't allow the wedding as long as he lives! Bride and groom rush to the church to get married before the old cat can stop them, but his boat has just arrived! Can Tora-chan and Miike keep him distracted long enough for their sister's happy day to go uninterrupted?

I was really impressed with the animation in this episode-length story, it's a little bit more of a cartoon style than the previous entry, but it still has art that borders on realistic. The other story had a litter full of kittens and this one just focuses on Tora and the little girl cat, and their mischievous, kid-like shenanigans. The directing in this one was very experimental and phantasmagoric, it's apparent that Nekojiru-sō took some of its iconography from this animation particularly. There's a scene where Tora gets a wood bludgeon to hit a bunch of bothersome pigs with; it's a less cruel version of Nekojiru's iteration of events, but still is dreadfully similar! The conclusion to this story ends up being really wholesome, too. I would suggest this cartoon particularly if you're a fan of the old Betty Boop or Felix the Cat animations.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Tora-chan no Kankan Mushi (1950)

Synopsis: Tora-chan and Miike are working on the side of a tuna steamship and manage to run afoul of the short-tempered captain. But the captain makes plenty of trouble on his own!

The official description of this short says that it's a "tuna steamship," but I honestly thought it was some kind of naval ship based on the boxes full of dynamite and the sailor's uniform. This short is far less of a Tora-chan and more of a silly little Popeye rip-off. I didn't personally like the art in this one, it looked sloppy and the overly simplified drawings of the kitten's faces made them look terrifying! The weakest link out of the bunch, and the shortest, too. The first two are twenty minutes long and this one is a measly nine minutes!

Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Conclusively, the iconic imagery of anthropomorphic kittens would become a staple in Japanese cartoons, ranging from Ginga Tetsudō no Yoru (Night on the Galactic Railroad) to Nekojiru-sō (Cat Soup)! Like Japan's pension for conveying complex emotions through younger characters, the same can be said for their expression of emotion through cat characters. Heck, a famous Type-Moon artist, Takashi Takeuchi, has stated that the faces of his characters are modeled after feline faces! In a way, Japanese creators have taken the racist slurs meant to insult an Asian's curved eye shape and made it into something beautiful, just like many of the Japanese myths around foxes. Somehow, during the post-World War II era (the Shōwa era), Japanese artists began to create a style of artistic expression that is refined enough to have its own name: anime.

Rate a 6
English subtitled
art piece

Story
-Growing up has it's ups and downs for sure. From not getting what you want to getting a good grade. However, as you to grow up if you are fortunate enough you can see what you could not see. For in this anime a situation presented which changed how things worked as a family. Now, the family unknowingly had a certain cycle of path when this situation presented as not going away there was bound to be some ripples before the water became 'calm' again. A brilliant idea for an anime with the perfect audience, children. For not only was ... the message kind and 'opening' it demonstrated a more helpful tool then the go to tool children have,feelings.

-Introduction was okay but as for the conclusion it was not only beautiful but symbolically beautiful. The say a 'round' thing is needed for a marriage proposal for it has the idea of metaphorical connection. While i may or may not feel that way about marriage my self best you keep an eye on the 'round thing' used this anime.

Art
-black and white
-While the characters can be made out in most of the scenes, the choice of black and white has some drawn backs. If color was added it would allow for a faster recall if you had to take a to pause for something only to come back. In other words when you break it down scene by scene and really cue in on the art doesn't it look like other things even though you know it isn't. I am not talking about most of the film or even half, just a couple parts here and there. Mainly the water 'tension'.

Enjoyment: I strongly advise having your children regardless of age watch this show. There is no negative moments in any regard. Aside from emotional but then again that is drama. And drama is almost in everything.