2. GUOHUI LI

3. Directed byYoshifumi Kondō Produced byToshio Suzuki Screenplay byHayao Miyazaki Based onWhisper of the Heart by Aoi Hiiragi StarringYōko Honna Issei Takahashi Takashi Tachibana Shigeru Muroi Shigeru Tsuyuguchi Keiju Kobayashi Music byYuji Nomi CinematographyAtsushi Okui Edited byTakeshi Seyama ProductionStudio Ghibli company Distributed byJapan: Toho Australia: Madman Entertainment North America: Buena Vista Home Entertainment Release datesJuly 15, 1995 Running time111 minutes CountryJapan LanguageJapanese

4. Story Background Until 1993, the Studio Ghibli Retrospective had so many significant films, and then the staffs felt tired. Therefore, Miyazaki Hayao decided to create a series of film with lost cost, short period and relaxed theme. The first anime film of this series was “Whisper of Heart”. It’s early name was “If You Strain Your Ears”. This inspiration came from a shoujo (girl) manga of the same name ----Mimi o Sumaseba. the most promising of the Studio Ghibli Retrospective’s animators, Yoshifumi Kondô, who worked on the animation for many of Ghibli’s films with Miyazaki hayao more than 20 years and finally got his chance to direct.

5. Anime Scene and sound effect The background and actors’ actions all adapted the trust-life technique of expression. The background sound effect also used the most advanced technique in that time ---- Dolby Digital Surround Stereo, so the cinema audiences could had more vivid feels.

6. Naohisa Inoue’s “ Iblard ” Shizuku Tsukishima’s imaginary world in the film was adapted from Naohisa Inoue’s “Iblard”. In Iblard world, countless magical floating islands filled the sky like the stars, and innumerable giant and skyey tower buildings stand on the ground, both islands and towers are covered by many green plants.

7. “Country Road” The country song Shizuku Tsukishima sings in the film, “Country Road”, was adapted from John Denver’s “Take Me Home Country Roads”. This short 3 minutes of playing music in the film had spent the staffs’ half year and about 3000 draft pictures ( close the amount of a 30 minutes TV anime).

8. Movie Summary In “whisper of heart”, the junior school girl, Shizuku Tsukishima, faces the choice for her future like every impending graduated students. Yet, she isn’t just a bookish girl, she likes to read the extracurricular books and wrote her reactions. One day, when Shizuku tries to bring the box lunch to her father, she sees a fat cat can rides on the bus like a human. She curiously follows this stray cat to an old antiques store. In the shop is a cat statuette, "The Baron". This statuette deeply impresses Shizuku. On the way to home, a boy returns her lunch box. As a result, a myth of a boy and Shizuku starts. The boy wants to become a maker of violins and asked Shizuku to sing “Country Road”. While he accompanies for Shizuku with the violin, other old musicians came back. They starts their own small concert in the store and ends with their own applauses. This boy, Seiji Amasawa, tells Shizuku he wants to go to Italy for two months so he can becomes an expert violin craftsman. Shizuku also wants to write a romantic story about “The Baron”. Although those two teenagers both stand before the crossroad of choice, they both insist their initial decisions. However, Shizuku finished her novel and encourages by the old man in the antiques store. Meanwhile, Seiji also gets the permission for his dream from his parents. In the last scene of film, Seiji confesses to Shizuku and Shizuku happily accepts.

9. Most Profound Scene In the last scene of the film, Seiji carries Shizuku by his bike on a very steep road, Shizuku decided to jump from the bike and helped Seiji. She expressed that she doesn’t want to become Seiji’s burden, she wants to try to complete their dreamy road together.

10. Shizuku Tsukishima 14-year-old student at Mukaihara Junior School Optimistic, candid, ideal, curious, like reading books, especially romantic fantastic books By chance, she follows a stray cat and discovered an antique shop, a cat statuette, and an grandparent and grandchild. Then, she starts her dream

11. Seiji Amasawa 15-year-old student at Mukaihara Junior School Hope to become a maker of violin, so he decides go to Italy and pursue advanced studies after graduation Have an informed music accomplishment, good score in the school, own decision for his future Actually, Seiji know Shizuku early through the checkout card from the library books. Because he wants to get Shizuku’s attention, he begin to read more and more book, his name would appears on the checkout cards.

12. 1995 Tokyo Festival Differ to other film makers, Yoshifumi Kondô used the transition of different real-life scenes for the first act in the film. Train station, shopping arcade, apartment, school, those scenes are Shizuku’s daily life. With the transition of her views of point, the audiences was as if living in Tama-shi in Tokyo in 1995.Shikuzu’s hobby is reading book. Through the checkout cards, she discovered they have all been checked out by Seiji Amasawa. This detail implies that Seiji is a special person for her. The first act ends by a cat. Although Shizuku needs to bring the lunch to her father, she curiously follows a stray gray cat and discovered an old antique shop. The narrow road on the hill is as if the connection between the real world and the wonderful land. There, she meets an old man and a cat statuette, and Seiji.

13. twist of family, love, friendship, and school Shizuku generally felt stressful because of real life, so she goes back the antique shop. In this time, she discovered the boy with black hair is Seiji Amasawa. She also knows his dream ---- becoming a maker of violin. Seiji’s dream causes Shizuku to doubt her future. This scene is significant because this antique shop is the wonderful land for Shizuku; the action Shizuku goes in ground second floor of the antique means Shizuku increases the connection with the wonderful land.

14. Yoshifumi Kondô’s Art The director, Yoshifumi Kondô, perfectly combined the emotion of the narrative and the atmosphere of the scene. He deals the scene with correct brightness, color, and views of point. In the film, the clothes and books throw around Shizuku’s bedroom, and daily items fill the parlor. The tonal uses in sunrise, sunset, afternoon and night all prove Yoshifumi Kondô’s efforts.

15. Who dare to say “ pursue ” isn’t a kind of “ escape ” The theme of this film is “pursue”. Shizuku pursues a new world, and then she pursues herself through the new world. On other eyes, Shizuku is may be just a bookworm and so far away from a writer. In fact, Shizuku’s initial motivation is just hoping stand on Seiji’s level, not like writing. Devoting her time to her writing, Shizku eats snack food, stays up until early in the morning, and her school grades drop. Shizuku argues with her family over her grades. Her effort seems like the determination for her future, but other people may see that like a behavior to distribute the pressure. However, with time, Shizuku tries to prove her behavior is a kind of purse, not a kind of escape. The most cruel symbol in the film is the Shizuku’s nightmare. In her nightmare, she looks for the geode in the cave. Finally she grips a bright geode, but she discovers it is just a dead chick. Effort will never betray oneself, but dream will. Effort has never mean resulting a good result. Shizuku was scared of this nightmare, but people who pursued their dream and failed was more scared of this theme. Nevertheless, only the person who understand difficulty and continue his/her road, has the chance to grip his/her geode. Yoshifumi Kondô and Miyazaki Hayao tried to express their experience into this film.

16. The Myth of teenagers When I firstly watched “whisper of heart”. I didn’t have any reaction for this film. I felt bored of the true-life style, because Miyazaki Hayao’s old films were all fantastic. Anime film should be the dream, I couldn’t see any dream but just reality in this film. Today, I discovered I was too young, so I couldn’t understand this film. In “Whisper of Heart” is a film for an adult used the teenagers’ views of point to see their youth again. Such dream rooted in the reality. Nevertheless, it wasn’t the thing I could understand in that time. For me, everything was merited, spending time in one’s hobby was merited, pursuing one’s purpose was merited. Yet, most people couldn’t grip this period of time to create their own miracles. They were just hesitated before the crossroad, floated on the river of the youth, until they weren’t longer young, they would discover they already missed so many chances. Most of us are either Shizuku nor Seiji, we don’t have lofty dream and always look at the thing in front of our eyes. Would Shizuku become a writer? I don’t know. Would Seiji become a violin maker? I don’t know. Only thing I know is their expression at the sunrise while they stand on the hill together. Their oath under the sunlight is as if a ideal but real myth about teenagers.

17. MPAA Rating Sex & Nudity: There is no sex, nudity, kissing or inuendo in the story. There is one brief scene where Shizuku's sister removes her top to place it in the washing machine, but she is wearing a full coverage bra that shows less than a typical swimsuit. Violence & Gore: In the fantasy sequence, Shizuku is searching for a gem. When she selects what she thinks is the right one, it turns into a dead chick. The image may be disturbing for extremely sensitive children, lasts for only a few seconds, and has no blood or gore. It's about as disturbing as looking at chicken for sale in a supermarket. There is no violence of any kind. Profanity: No profanity or bad language of any kind. The most fierce language is Shizuku saying, "Stupid jerk!“ Alcohol/Drugs/Smoking: There is no use of alcohol or drugs at all. The strongest beverage we see anyone drinking is tea. Shizuku's father is briefly shown smoking in one scene with his wife disapproving. Frightening/Intense Scenes: There are no frightening scenes other than the dead baby chick described in violence & gore above. There are no scenes which I think any child would find too intense. There is a fantasy flying sequence where Shizuku and the Baron step off a cliff into the air, but we are told before the event that the air currents will lift them up, and they do soar up as predicted in just a few seconds. Certificate : G (All age admitted) Credited by djrothman, 6 years ago (IMDb

18. My own rating and recommendatio n This anime film is the best film I watched in my life, even though it make me so painful of my youth, but this film closes to real life and also touches the cloud of the dream. Its director is very practiced. Its soundtrack, the technique it uses, and almost everything it has are perfect.