I watched this on the 14th of February, 2025, on Netflix. It’s a non-Miyazaki Ghibli, but honestly it’s one of my favourites. It’s about a girl who saves a cat from being run over. The cat turns out to be the Prince of the Cat Kingdom, and in gratitude the King decides to make her happy with lots of gifts (cattails, catnip, presents of mice) and marry her to his son. She goes to the Cat Bureau in desperation, where she meets the Baron, who follows her when she’s abducted to the Cat Kingdom and saves her.
The animation was cute and ethereal; there was one scene near the beginning with a procession of cats swaying down a dark street that was mesmerising. The characters were sharply defined in the typical Ghibli fashion, and while the main character’s theatrics were over the top, they were entertainingly so.
KL told me that in Japanese cats go nyaa and most of the cats here had an accent that made them add that to their words, like saying amiaowzing!