For some reason, this charming Miyazaki (edit - Takahata, not Miyazaki! thanks for the catch) work has not been widely marketed in the West, which is a shame as it is as enjoyable and fun as the more famous ones like Spirited Away or Porco Rosso.
I can aunderstand why it's not been marketed as much; it's pretty long-winded and it deals with Japanese stories and folklore that are foreign to the general western audience.
That is also true of Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, My Neighbour Totoro... a lot of other Ghibli productions that did get lots of exposure.
I think the issue with that particular movie is that (IIRC) is a bit heavy on the ecological agenda, overall is not great (funny here and there though) and I don't think it was ever dubbed. The subtitles I've seen floating around are pretty terrible.
Someone should put together a Takahata retrospective with good subtitles.
- Chameleons
- Foxes
- Racoons
Then I started seeing a young girl walking a fox-like dog in the area, and she always seemed to be caught in the act when I came upon her, and again no one else was ever around.
I said hello to her once and she just walked right past as if she didn't see me, which is pretty odd behavior in Japan. I will go to my grave believing that she was a shapeshifter, even though I'm not usually in for such superstitious nonsense.