Okay, I'm not even going to try to translate
kanji considering my current state of mind,
but the kittens' names are mostly in katakana
and hiragana, and the kanji their names do
contain appear easy enough.
From left to right:
Black and white kitty with stubby tail: Kuropuchi (or
perhaps Kurobuchi--does the third symbol from the
left have two dots or a circle?)
Interesting to note: Kuro means black, and if it's
puchi, I'd assume that it's because he resembles
a dog. Black Poochi.
Fat white cat: Botan. Comes from English button.
Obviously, he's not cute as a button.
Orange cat: Mikan. That was probably obvious.
Also, Mikan means orange (as in the fruit).
Calico cat: Mii-kaasan. Kaa-san means mother.
Striped cat next to her: Noraposu (or Norabosu;
once again, two dots or a circle on the second from
the right symbol?)
Fat old white cat: Gii-jiisan. I can't quite read
the kanji, but I'm assuming that it's jiisan,
because of his age. Jiisan means grandpa,
and is also what the Japanese call elderly old
men. It's usually quite a respectful term.
Red kitty: Koringo. Ringo means apple, and
ko means child. So, it's kind of like saying
little apple. The same way neko means cat
and koneko means kitten.
Two striped kitties: I'm a little lost here.
Grammatically, it means someone's something.
I think the correct reading of all that is Futako
no ririizu, which means Futako's ririizu, but I
don't know what ririizu is or even if that's the
correct pronounication. Sorry.
Black cat with blue eyes: Jerii. Or in English, Jerry.
Blue kitten: Chibitarou. Tarou is a common
ending for a boy's name. Chibi means little.
Little boy, basically.
Dog: Momojirou. Jirou and shirou are also
common endings to boys' names (I think; shirou
more than jirou, and tarou more than either one).
Momo means peach (momotarou is translated
as "Peach Boy").
White, slapping (scratching?
) kitty: Hana-chan.
Hana means flower, -chan is a cute honorific
usually reserved only for young girls.
Simese kitty: Karuma. Ummm, it means
car. It probably has other meanings, too.
Spotted kitty: I can't read the first kanji,
but the second means three. He's probably
got two other brothers with the same first
kanji in their name. According to a Japanese
friend, parents will sometimes name their
children this way: pick a good kanji for the
first one, then the second for the first son is
ichi (一, one) and the second for the second
son is ni (二, two), and so on.
Actually, the second pic there is a map of the
town, so the caption by each person is not just
his/her name. It says stuff like so-and-so's
apartment, and such-and-such shop. The one
with the school in the background marks the
location of the elementary school, though I can't
read the name of it.
The pics are clear enough for someone who
already knows the kanji to read, but I don't
know them, and I can't look them up unless
I get a clearer pic.
Hope that helped!
Edited to reduce sideways scrolling (I hope! *crosses
fingers and hits submit*).
I'll finally be able to place names to some of my cels in the gallery as well as future cels. The images are large so you can read them, sorry about that.
Sorry.