Nagagutsu Sanjuushi

Following the success of the first Puss in Boots movie three years earlier, Toei Animation pinned their hopes an this sequel, "The Return of Pero". In fact, the studio was so infatuated by the character, that they made Pero their mascot, which has endured for almost five decades. This time, Pero finds himself in the Wild West of the 1880's, stuck in the middle of a fairly paint-by-numbers story that could have been the plot of any of the scores of Westerns that Hollywood churned out in the fifties and sixties. Young Anna is returning home by stagecoach from back east, only to find her father has been murdered and the town is in disarray after some undesirables have moved in. Intent on keeping their counterfeiting ring secret, the gang has murdered several sheriffs, and tries to drive away Anna as well, who is on the verge of uncovering their scheme. It is up to a mysterious outsider to save the day! Now, you would expect that 'mysterious outsider' to be Pero, right? Well, actually, in this movie he sort of ends up just being along for the ride. Pero, the titular character and the Pride of Toei, ends up being nothing more than an incidental character added in mostly for comic relief and foil, from beginning to end. If you were to take him out of the movie completely, it would not greatly affect the overall plot. Like Animal Treasure Island from Toei the year before, this movie contains a mix of humans and anthropomorphic characters. All the serious actors being human, all of the more comical characters (aimed to keep the younger kids involved) are animals, such as Pero and a band of "Indian" mice, and three bumbling cats chasing after Pero. The animation style is also largely the same as Animal Treasure Island (no surprise), with a heavy Disney influence, only this time lacking the magical Miyazaki touch that make Animal Treasure Island a more enjoyable feast for the eyes. The basic Western plot is a straight-up serious Western, even if it is aimed at a pre-teen audience. Which only makes the cartoony antics of Pero and the little Indians that much more jarring to watch when they are shoehorned in to the story. They should have gone either way: Either a non-humorous drama, or a full-out slapstick comedy. By mixing the two, it just detracts from the overall finished product. And in the end, we are left with a sequel that is a lesser compared to the original, where the character in the name of the movie itself is largely unnecessary.

This is a sequel to Nagagutsu wo Haita Neko, but it is not important for the story for you to see that first. Pero travels from the East to the Wild West where he has essentially turned into a cowboy. Pero does not really appear to look like the same lovable character. His colours are slightly off, the same with the King Cat's three gunmen as well. A lot of what was mostly clear in the original film was a bit more blurry than the previous film, with the exception that the background characters had more detail on them. I don't know why, but the quality of the sound was dropped significantly from the first film. They used a slight variation to the theme song in the first film, but the audio quality for it, as well as the voice acting, was very poor. I know this is a dated film, but this is in terms of comparing it to the prequel. Pero - A kindhearted cat who is hated by King Cat and wanted dead for his betrayal to his species by always freeing caught mice.