Pom Poko (1994)

Jonathan Taylor Thomas: Shokichi

Quotes 

• Bunta : So what has been happening to our forest? It's only been three years. I feel like Rip Van Winkle.

  Shokichi : We did everything we could to try to stop it.

  Bunta : Every inch of the woods has changed. How could the land be so transformed?

  Tamasaburô : We're so sorry. This must come as quite a shock.

  Bunta : So the humans did it themselves?

  Kiyo : [crying]  That's right. They transformed all of Tama Hills.

  Bunta : But how? Only raccoons should be able to do that. We're the only ones!

  [He rushes off and shouts at the city] 

  Bunta : Who do you think you are, you stupid humans? Raccoons are the ones who transform things. How can you do this? How can you do this?

  [He sinks to his knees and beats the ground] 

  Bunta : The only way this makes sense is if all you humans are raccoons! You're all stupid, evil, selfish raccoons!

  [He sobs and howls] 

• Shokichi : Master, would you re-enact the tale of the young samurai who shot the fan?

  Hage : Ah. I'll need some help.

  [He transforms into Nasu no Yoichi. He flies towards the crowd. Gonta's eyes bulge as he realizes that Master Hage is homing in on him. The crowd of tanuki scramble. Master Hage lands on Gonta and clings to his back. The Taka tanuki struggles, then hops around on all fours and turns into a horse. Hage rides around the clearing. Water seems to flood into the clearing, and Master Hage rides Gonta into it. Before them is an image of the sea, and three boats. One of the boats has the image of a woman standing on the bow of the boat and a fan on the top of the mast. Hage draws a bow and shoots the fan, sending it flying into the air] 

• Kiyo : So, what about the hunter song?

  Shokichi : Oh. My dad used to sing it to me, when I was just a cub.

  Kiyo : Sounds like your father was kind of strange.

  Shokichi : M-hm. He'd sing, "Fried 'em up and ate 'em" really loudly. And then he'd give me a lecture.

  Kiyo : About what?

  Shokichi : He'd say, "Did you hear that, son? Even in children's nursery rhymes, humans sing about how they love to shoot us, and then fry us up. Humans are sick, cruel, heartless beasts, and don't you forget it, Shoukichi."

• Tamasaburô , Bunta , Tanuki : [singing]  Let's turn into every sacred icon we can think of. Some are this and some are that...

  [They do backflips into the air and turn into various items; stone Buddhas, lucky cats, Daruma dolls, kitsune sculptures, gold carp sculptures, monkey sculptures and Tanuki sculptures. Ponkichi rushes to join in and tries copying them. He does various poses but is unable to transform] 

  Shokichi : [narrating]  Back then, all I thought about was transforming. I never dreamed that my friend Ponkichi might just want to be a normal raccoon.

• Shokichi : As soon as it's springtime, everybody goes crazy. All of a sudden they want to get married and have families. Nobody seems to remember Oroku's warning that we're not supposed to have any cubs. The second the sun hits their fur, they fall in love.

  [He and Kiyo gaze into each other's eyes] 

  Shokichi : But not us. You don't see us chasing after each other like we're lunatics. We can handle not getting married and not having cubs, don't you think?

  Kiyo : Of course we can. I'm so pleased. It's just what I'd hoped you'd say. You're... wonderful.

  [She embraces Shokichi passionately] 

  Shokichi : Yeah. We can hold off. I don't need to kiss, or cuddle, or rub noses or...

  Kiyo : [eyes burning with desire]  Oh, Shokichi.

  [She kisses him. She leans into Shokichi, then he leans into her] 

  Narrator : That was a mistake.

• Shokichi : [to himself]  I'm starting to get nervous. What if our little pranks aren't doing any good at all? What if the humans leveled the entire forest? Then where are we gonna go? Maybe Gonta's right. The only way to stop them is to get violent. I don't want to have to hurt any more humans. It just doesn't seem right to me. But what if they won't stop? Then what? "To be, or not to be?"