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 | four word title | 

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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

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

In the credit, we can also see Shizuku and Seiji riding on a bicycle.

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Connections

Featured in JesuOtaku Anime Reviews: Whisper of the Heart (2012)

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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

A Beautifully crafted film

This is a simple story of the meeting of kindred spirits. I was completely captured by the pace and the atmosphere of the film. If you have any trace of romance in your soul and/or appreciate finely crafted animation and direction, you'll love this.

I, like thousands of other people, had a holiday romance in my early teens. This film sparked off all kind of memories I thought I had buried for life.

My 10 year old daughter also loved this and demanded to know when the sequel (based on the Manga story "Happy Time"?) will be made. (Hopefully in the same style, although, unfortunately, the original Director died a year after this was made.)