Why are there three different designs of Tanuki?
The first one is the “realistic” version of a Tanuki. Tanukis look like this when they are interacting with humans. If Tanukis standing on their hind legs and wearing human clothes appeared in front of humans and spoke, it would have looked like a Disney family movie, and considering the serious nature of the issues Pom Poko deals with, that wouldn’t have worked. The second one, the “humanized” version, was created so that the audience could identify with the Tanukis more. (You can’t make the whole movie with the “realistic” version of the Tanukis.) In “Pom Poko”, Tanukis are supposed to live in that form (standing on their hind legs and wearing clothes) whenever humans aren’t watching. The third one, the “simplified” version, was from Shigeru SUGIURA’s manga. Miyazaki loves the work of this old manga writer. When he first thought about making a movie about Tanukis, he had Sugiura’s “808 Tanukis” in his mind. Takahata had other ideas for his Tanuki movie, but still wanted to use Sugiur
