Mimi wo sumaseba (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 | book | 

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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:

15 July 1995 (Japan)

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

It is not clear whether this is a mistake or a hint that the Baron is alive, but in every scene that the Baron is shown, he looks different than the time before (position of hands, cane and hat).

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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

Referenced in Neko no ongaeshi (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

Excellent and Heart-warming

This has to be one of the greatest, most inspiring films. The story's about a young girl and how she meets the boy of her dreams. It sounds rather cliché but it's actually off the beaten track. Even though the characters are in 8th grade, they're rather mature and understand the consequences of their actions. It's very heart warming and nice, and rather different, in a very good way, than what most people would think. You get to see the characters develop and go through crushes, friendships, and many other things that are just part of growing up. The best part is that the film makers don't exaggerate or make it over dramatic; they make it so that you care deeply for the characters and identify with what they're going through. The movie also has the song "Take Me Home, Country Roads" as it's main theme, and the characters even sing it in the movie in a moving scene. It may sound strange at first, but everything's very tastefully and well-done. The movie also makes one remember that dreams do come true, even when you least expect it, and that sometimes reality can be better than your greatest dreams; and in light of the times we're living in, it makes you appreciate the smaller but more important things in life.