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.

---

Plot Keywords:

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

---

Taglines:

Suki na hito ga dekimashita!

---

Genres:

Animation | Drama | Family | Music | Romance

---

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

This marked the first use by Studio Ghibli of digital composition, meaning that elements of a scene were composed using a computer. In this case, it's the flying scene with Baron within Shizuku's story. The scene contains a lot of elements moving independently, including the small "planets" and Shizuku's characters. Although all these elements were animated by tradition means, they were combined using computer technology.

---

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.

---

Quotes

Shiho: Tidy up quickly and take that lunch box to Dad.
Shizuku: What?
Shiho: What do you mean by that tone? You're going to the library, right? Or shall I go instead? Then you can clean the toilet, the bathroom, and the entryway too, and go to the co-op for me. And take in the futons, do the shopping, and prepare dinner.
Shizuku: Goodbye!

---

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.

---

Connections

Featured in MsMojo: Top 10 Coming of Age Animated Movies (2018)

---

Soundtracks

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

User Reviews

Perfect family entertainment -- great cultural insights, too

Whisper of the Heart is the perfect English title of this masterpiece.

It was such a joy to watch an animated film so effectively produced that you start to forget it is an animation. Characters become real; situations and thoughts and feelings come alive. The story is clean, decent and uplifting in every way. Plus, American viewers get an accurate glimpse into the way younger Japanese teens are viewed and view themselves.

I lived in Japan for several years as a child, and a number of the background sounds (the peculiar insects singing in the trees, the electric trains passing) and customs (bowing to elders, enjoying the wonderful soups, singular focus on school success) struck a deep chord of remembrance. This film is fashioned with such detail and consideration for artistic elements -- I just loved it. I wish my kids were still under 10 and I could have shared it with them. Nowadays, I'm afraid the older boys (over 12) would lack the patience to enjoy the film because, frankly, it bears no relation to high-action animation from Japan or the U.S.

I found this film by accident on Turner Classic Movies, and viewed it the English-dubbed version. There is also a subtitled version, but if you want to enjoy it as a family with youngsters, you'll prefer the English language version. The English voices are clear and well done.

It's a beautiful story with a timeless theme presented with loving care. This film is so good, and so insightful, that I would suggest it could be shown in schools or home-schools for its cultural content alone. And if you have an ounce of sentimentalism, sense of wonder or appreciation for creative beauty, then you'll watch it all by yourself after the kids have gone to bed.