Whisper of the Heart (1995)

A love story between a girl who loves reading books, and a boy who has previously checked out all of the library books she chooses.

Director:

Yoshifumi Kondô

Writers:

Hayao Miyazaki (screenplay), Aoi Hiiragi (comic)

Stars:

Yoko Honna, Issey Takahashi, Takashi Tachibana

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Yoko Honna	...	Shizuku Tsukishima (voice) (as Youko Honna)
Issey Takahashi	...	Seiji Amasawa (voice) (as Issei Takahashi)
Takashi Tachibana	...	Seiya Tsukishima (voice)
Shigeru Muroi	...	Asako Tsukishima (voice)
Shigeru Tsuyuguchi	...	The Baron (voice)
Keiju Kobayashi	...	Shiro Nishi (voice)
Yorie Yamashita	...	Shiho Tsukishima (voice)
Maiko Kayama	...	Yuko Harada (voice)
Yoshimi Nakajima	...	Sugimura (voice)
Minami Takayama	...	Kosaka-sensei (voice)
Mayumi Izuka	...	Kinuyo (voice) (as Mayumi Iizuka)
Mai Chiba	...	Nao (voice)
Satoru Takahashi	...	(voice)
Akiko Sakaguchi	...	(voice)
Hiromi Yasuda	...	(voice)

Storyline

A young Japanese middle school girl finds that all the books she chooses in the library have been previously checked out by the same boy. Later she meets a very infuriating fellow... could it be her "friend" from the library? The boy's grandfather has a violin sales and service shop. The boy wants to be a violin maker like his grandfather.

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Plot Keywords:

studio ghibli | examination | elderly man | mockery | sister sister relationship | 

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Taglines:

Suki na hito ga dekimashita!

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Genres:

Animation | Drama | Family | Music | Romance

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Certificate:

G

Details

Official Sites:

Disney's Official Site

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese English

Release Date:

13 December 1996 (USA)

Also Known As:

If You Listen Closely

Box Office

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$19,737,326

Company Credits

Production Co:

Tokuma Shoten, Nippon Television Network (NTV), Hakuhodo

Technical Specs

Runtime:

111 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The backgrounds, clouds, and flying islands (they are called "Laputa") in the Flying sequence were painted by an artist named Naohisa Inoue. He is a former high school art teacher, who continued painting pictures of "Iblard" on his own. When he had his exhibition, he sent an invitation to Hayao Miyazaki, since Inoue was a huge fan of Miyazaki anime. Of course, he didn't expect anything, but Miyazaki showed up, and he bought one painting (which is now on the wall of the cafeteria at Ghibli). The painting is called "Upward Draft", and looks exactly like the fantasy scene in this film. Then, Miyazaki asked him, "Can you work on our next film?". Inoue also worked in this film as a voice actor. He did one of Mr. Nishi's friends, who joined the "Country Road" jam session (he's the tall one).

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Goofs

(At 22:56 - 23:20) When Shizuku first follows Muta the cat into Mr. Nishi's antique shop. Just as Shizuku watches Muta enter the shop, we are shown a golden pig statue sitting on the ground being used as a door stop to hold the shop door open, with its head angled so that it is looking to its right (to the left from our perspective.) But in the next scene we see that the pig's head is not angled to either side at all - and is instead shown looking straight ahead.

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Quotes

[sees Shizuku asleep]
Yasunari Tsukishima: Look at her, my little warrior.

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Crazy Credits

During the credits we see people walk by the bridge. The "stray" cat (the one with many names) walks by the bridge as well. Also the young students who had struggled with unrequited love, named Sugimura and Yuko in the American version, meet on the bridge and appear to begin a dating relationship.

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Connections

Spin-off The Cat Returns (2002)

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Soundtracks

Take Me Home, Country Roads
Written by Bill Danoff, Taffy Nivert and John Denver
Performed by Olivia Newton-John

User Reviews

They don't get more beautiful

When I first heard of Whisper of the Heart, I didn't feel a significant need to find it and watch it. How good could a teen romance be, a genre that's been beaten to death? Little did I know how much I'd love this film.

I beg of you, don't turn this film away because of the premise, which might strike some as sounding sappy. When Studio Ghibli is involved, you can't go wrong. It's NOTHING like you'd expect from any teen romance from anywhere. Whisper of the Heart has none of that fake, self-indulgent crap that permeates Hollywood, movies about teens that pander to clichés and don't give a damn about real characters or love or true feelings. Whisper of the Heart doesn't fall back on cliché and formula. It's a truly great film. It's a remarkably honest and heartfelt look into a 14-year-old's life, her family and friends, how she falls in love, and there are moments so stirring, so wonderful and yet so simple. Yoshifumi Kondou, the director, showed all the qualities of being a master of animation. It's a real tragedy that he passed away. The film is full of moments that are real and beautiful that use animation, not to exploit the story, but to enhance moments with the simplicity they need in their presentation. And the screenplay, written by the great Hayao Miyazaki, is free from false sentimentality and melodrama. He gives us real characters here, ones so well written that anyone who has been a young teen can relate to them.

Whisper of the Heart is as good an animated film as you'll find. It's a one of a kind anime and it's beautifully done. Are you tired of Hollywood films peddled to you off a studio assembly line? Tired of clichéd romances that have no emotion or humanity?

You want something with real depth, soul, and heart? Seek out Whisper of the Heart. It's beautiful, and refreshingly done. You might just love this film as much as I did.