Transforming Tails: A Playful Journey Through Isao Takahata’s “Pom Poko”

Plot Summary:

The animated film, Pom Poko, directed by Isao Takahata starts with the narration of a specific racoon detailing the calm and idyllic lifestyle of his family. This group of raccoons live near a farm where they have plenty of food for themselves and their cubs. Likewise, due to the recent abandonment of the local farmhouse by the humans, they are able to move in and make themselves a home out of it. However, this soon changes when a bulldozer comes and tears down the abandoned farmhouse to make room for urban development. Due to the lack of food, the raccoons form alliances and fight each other, the red army led by Gonta and the blue team led by Seizaemon. With little to no development on either side, Oroku comes out and warns them that while they are fighting, the destruction of their homeland is increasing every day and the development of “New Tama” continues on. The creation of these suburbs directly threatened the raccoons way of living, stripping them of their forests and food sources. 

After they stopped fighting each other, they all came together, and the elders decided on a five-year program which had two objectives: observe the humans and revive the old ways of transformation. At first, no one was chosen for the long and arduous journey, and they concluded the meeting with eating hamburgers. They eventually got a hold of a TV to which the raccoons often idly watched and did nothing, while Oroku was busy teaching the other raccoons the art of transformation. One of the raccoons was especially talented in transformation, a young racoon named Shoukichi. He was able to directly transform into a young human man. Osho tries to teach the young raccoons of their flaws in being too trusting to humans.  

Spring came and the females had to fight off their male counterparts as to not make any cubs as per Oroku’s warning. The transformation skills increased in both the male and female raccoons, and eventually five of the males did a test run to practice their transformation skills as humans in public. Their task was to at least make $10. Flash forward to Gonta seeing the destruction of his homeland. In rage, he decides to attack the humans. Even without the overwhelming majority of the other raccoons, Gonta and his crew attacked three humans and their machines during the summer and killed them. While this action did serve to gain media attention, the construction continued, nonetheless. Gonta eventually gets injured and cannot harm the humans anymore—even after his body his healed, he is convinced to keep some humans around for the good food that they create.  

On another note, Bunta and Tamasaburo are tasked to go to Sado Island and Shikoku Island, respectively. Bunta later returned near the end of the film and revealed that the transformation master of Sado Island had been killed for food during a harsh season by a farmer, while Tamasaburo was successful in finding three transformation masters and even had children with the daughter of the chief of the raccoons of that island.  

Before Tamasaburo and the transformation masters of Shikoku Island came to Tama Hills, however, the entire village of raccoons in hopes to stop the construction used their transformation skills to scare the construction workers and landowners. While they saw short-term success with these pranks, they were unable to completely stop the development completely.

Another spring arrived.The raccoons forgot their promise to Oroku and had many cubs worsening the food drought. Much debate happened on Shikoku Island on who to send to aid the raccoons of Tama Hill, and eventually after months and months of debate, the three elders arrived: Inugami Gyōbu, Kinchō Daimyōjin VI, and Yashimano Hage. After training the raccoons of Tama Hills even further, the three transformation masters did “Operation Spectre” which was a huge ghost parade illusion that would scare and awe the humans into respecting the spirits and stop developing the land. This, however, did not work as planned as the human president of Wonderland took credit for the entire operation. The raccoons' hopes were smothered. Inugami Gyōbu lost his life during this operation due to overexertion.  

A sly fox named Ryutaro gave a proposal to Kinchō Daimyōjin VI in which he stated that he and the other raccoons capable of transformation should live as humans and work for Wonderland. Kinchō Daimyōjin VI brought this before the other raccoons, but they all decided it was not worth abandoning the raccoons who were unable to transform.  

With no other options and angry at the credit being stolen, Gonta wanted to fight the humans once more and died in a standoff with the human riot police. The raccoons of Tama Hills were, however, able to exact their revenge on the Wonderland President and stole his $1 million. Later on, a news cast station arrived in the forest saying that they had received the letter sent to them from the raccoons during the previous debates. Although the raccoons spoke of the devastation, nothing changed, and they all eventually gave up. Some of the raccoons went with the senile Yashimano Hage and drowned to death (which was implied).  

In the end, the raccoons of Tama Hill completely forfeit all attempts to fight back and end up either assimilating into human society or living their daily lives on the edge as raccoons. Right before they say goodbye, they do one last illusion to show how Tama Hills was before the land was developed. At the very final scenes, Shokichi coincidentally sees and follows one of his raccoon friends and end up taking part in the reunion. While it looks like a sprawl of grass, their union takes place on a golf course, and then the credits roll.  

Personal Thoughts:

Isao Takahata’s film, Pom Poko, is a story conveyed in a lighthearted fashion with its endearing and cute drawings of raccoons; however, he portrays a very dark and harrowing reality of urbanization in 1960s Japan. Throughout the entire film, he displays the utter destruction of the natural world and the habitats that live within it. Likewise, the humans are seen as unrelenting and almost apathetic “gods” to a certain extent with the way that they “transform” Tama Hills into New Tama apartment complexes and suburban homes. Death is seen in various forms of the film which is a concurring theme: This is prominently shown in the death of the three construction workers, the death of the raccoons when they are run over by cars and become “roadkill,” the death of the raccoons due to starvation, the death of the raccoons when they fight against humans, and the death of the raccoons when they decide to leave the world on their own terms (e.g. the boat scene with Yashimano Hage).  

One of the most apparent devices used is the back and forth between the art style of the raccoons themselves. At one moment, they are realistic and almost grossly portrayed. And, on the other hand, they are then switched into a cartoonish, loveable version of themselves. This difference is seen when they are on “two legs” like humans or on “four legs” like animals. The distinction between raccoons and humans are scarily thin, as they speak and act like humans. Although laziness is characteristic of raccoons, the same thing can be said about humans. Both the raccoons and humans in this film are captivated by the TV. Isao Takahata was showing the progression of 1960s Japan through the perspective of the observing raccoons which speaks so much about Japanese society more so than people might think.  

Some other notable features of this film are the inclusion of clearly Japanese-styled outfits and traditions. Modernity and antiquity are seen clashing and fusing with each other. The first fight between the red and blue army displays the individual fighters wearing traditional war outfits, and Oroku herself wears a traditional headpiece and kimono. Likewise, during the scenes where Oroku is teaching transformation and Osho is teaching the ways of the raccoons, they both utilize mediums in which young children are taught as well. Osho in particular uses a kamishibai which was extremely popular during this period.  

What is most surprising about this film is how I, as the viewer, am both empathetic toward the plight of the raccoons and am realizing the unique role that humans have in transforming the natural world to a world that is appealing to just us humans. Pom Poko is as much about entertaining its viewers as it's about criticizing and instructing us about our interactions with nature (within the context of 1960s Japan).

Overall, this film portrays the urbanization of 1960s Japan in a unique way that encourages internal and external dialogue between people of all backgrounds. While some of the nuance may be lost due to translation or due to cultural differences, an important lesson is learned: There is a balance between humanity and nature, and we must be the ones to preserve it. Even in the final set of scenes, due to the role of the raccoons, there were natural preserves and parks set aside intentionally for them (although, it does end bittersweet, as the raccoons who set forth those actions were not the ones who ultimately benefitted from it).