Hi! I’m Anupapaya.

I can’t stop thinking about The Last Wish (go see it if you haven’t, seriously, it’s incredible) and I wanted to talk about a moment that I think carries a lot of meaning even though it’s easy to gloss over.

I want to talk about the moments before and after Puss draws his gatito blade against El Lobo del Muerte.

During Puss’s climactic duel with Death, the Wolf slashes Puss’s boot, bats away his hat, and knocks his sword out of his hand. The Wolf is destroying the symbols of the legend of Puss in Boots, stripping Puss’s mortality bare.

But Puss is no longer defenseless before Death. He has spent the movie’s runtime building bonds with other characters, finally letting others into his life, no longer walking alone as his legend demanded. His gatito blade, given to him by Kitty Softpaws, represents this development. Puss has cast aside his legend through learning the value of his life, and in doing so, he can stand against and block Death’s blows.

Ironically, Death’s attempts to take Puss early are the very catalyst for Puss’s success in redefining himself, symbolized by Death’s blocked blow allowing Puss to reclaim his symbols—his hat and sword—with their meaning now changed by the accompaniment of the gatito blade. The unstoppable weight of Death’s scythe has quite literally pushed Puss towards a new life.

Perro means dog, but Perrito means small dog, which in context is more endearing. I’m not a Spanish speaker, but this is a trend I’ve seen in shows that use Spanish dialogue

Anyway, it’s kind of nice that you can pinpoint the exact moment these two cats grew an attachment to their dog friend by the nickname they give him. In that same scene that Puss calls him “Perrito” for the first time, Kitty teases him by saying “I think you’re ready to name him,” and that ends up being his actual name

You don't show blood in animated films, it's like almost a taboo thing. You can show characters getting beat up and bruised but never bleeding. It defies all corporate beliefs of making it a "kids movie". Even GDT's Pinocchio which has fucking nazis in it and guns shooting people never showed blood in it. It's just that sacred of a thing in animation that studios never cross.

But Puss in Boots, they showed it. Not only that, you get a fucking close up on it. Do you know how rare that is? The people who made it probably fought every tooth and nail to get this moment approved, because this is unprecedented in this industry. You don't show actual blood bleeding I cant stress how much this is such a nono in this industry.

But for this moment it's perfect, the inevitability of death in Puss in Boot's eyes, the amount of risk the studio took to get this moment in the film approved, shows how much DreamWorks really cares and wants this movie to not just be another haha kids film but for the adults watching it, the people who have seen the world and fear death, those with anxiety, get panic attacks, unsure about life the universe, getting married, being a family. These aren't ideas catered to kids.

Everytime I've seen people be like "oh studios need to stop making boring ass animations and actually make a film about serious topics and have better animation and care about the movie" THIS IS IT FOLKS. A STUDIO LISTENED AND IT'S OUT HERE IN YOUR FACE.