Whisper of the HeartEverybody has their own road to follow in life, even if the signs don't always take you to where you expect to go. Whisper of the Heart is an anime (Japanese animated movie) by Studio Ghibli, about a young girl named Shizuku Tsukishima, who lives in a cramped apartment with her parents and older sister, and spends much of her free time reading books that she checks out from the school library. One day, she discovers that these books have all been checked out before by someone named "Seiji Amasawa", so she tries to discover the identity of this fellow literature buff. In the process, she comes to understand that there is more to life than grades and chores.
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My first thought after watching Whisper of the Heart was just how much it reminded me of Wes Anderson's coming-of-age breakthrough film, Rushmore. Both protagonists take on a lot of extracurricular activities (at the expense of their studies), and are searching for something more in life during these formative years. Shizuku swims against the current of her other classmates, including her best friend, Yuko, because she doesn't feel that cramming for high school admissions exams represents what she wants out of life. Her home life is chaotic to put it mildly. The family is loving, but the apartment is a constant mess. Her mother is going back to school for her graduate degree, and her father works full time at a library across town. Subsequently, the young Shizuku is expected to chip in with some household chores, but she often leaves these by the wayside because of her youth. Her parents are surprisingly tolerant of her free spirit. She goes out on her own at night to the convenience store and they don't bat an eye. Her older sister, Shiro, shares a bunk bed with Shizuku, and handles most of the household chores herself. In some ways, she fills in as the disciplinarian where her parents do not, chastising Shizuku for her falling grades. The kind of youthful dilemmas that Shizuko faces are common for any youngster, like when she hears out Yuko's feelings for a fellow student, who she thinks sent her a love letter. And when that same student tells Shizuku that he loves her instead of Yuko, the middle school drama reaches a boil. But for Shizuku, these petty hurdles at this stage of her life are like vines dragging her down from being her true self...even if she doesn't really know what that looks like yet. She likes to write, and receives praise from her classmates for her creativity--even if her "creativity" amounts to just writing new lyrics to "Take Me Home, Country Roads". But what is most important is that Shizuku is someone who isn't content just to fall into the trappings of a life that she doesn't want. She sees her parents doing what they love; so what if the apartment is a cramped mess all the time? Life is more than cleaning toilets and entrance exams.
Whisper of the Heart is also a love story between Shizuku and Seiji, although an unlikely one at first. The two of them first meet when she goes to retrieve a book of fairy tales she left behind at the park, only to find him reading it. It was his book previously, although she doesn't know this yet. He makes a snide comment about her song lyrics left in the folds of the pages, and immediately she feels anger toward this stranger. Even though they don't learn one another's names until roughly half way through the movie, it is evident to the audience that this boy is the elusive Seiji Amasawa. The fact that she only chances upon Seiji's residence--and that of his grandfather, Shiro Nishi, who owns an antique shop--is only because she follows a rotund stray cat there. Alternately called "Moon" and "Muta" by the residents of this more affluent neighborhood in which Seiji and Shiro reside, the cat becomes something of a symbol for following one's own path, despite the inherent dangers of living outside of the system. As Shizuku comes to know Seiji, she discovers that he intends to be a professional violin maker, and further intends to study abroad in Italy for expert training, even if it takes him out of school. The way that life for students in Japan is depicted in Whisper of the Heart suggests that this kind of "going against the grain" upbringing is practically taboo. Shiro is the most vocal critic of it as it concerns Shizuku. She believes that she'll never be able to catch up with her studies and do what she really wants to do in life without a steady career and money. The implication by Shiro is that their family life is in chaos because her mother did just that, and that she is now forced to return to school so late in her life. However, another way--and better way--to look at this is that the movie is really an indictment of this rigid, robotic way of life that Japan (and other nations) slavishly adopt to raise their children, so that they can just become another brick in the proverbial wall. Shizuku, like all of us before we are struck with inspiration, doesn't know where her dreams will take her, or how it will mold her life. It isn't until she espies a curious cat statue from Germany in Shiro's shop--and hears the elderly antique dealer's story behind how it made its way to Japan--that she begins to form a fantastic story in her mind. For a Studio Ghibli movie, Whisper of the Heart lacks elements of the outright magical or supernatural, but this gives those imaginative scenes from Shizuku's tale more excitement as a result. She envisions the statue--named Baron Humbert von Gikkingen--as a magical, talking, anthropomorphic cat who takes her flying across the skies. She gets inspiration for her story from a variety of sources, including a wood print of a violin maker looking quite sad, who it is implied reminds her of Seiji. In her creative reverie, she discovers buried feelings for Seiji that she never expected to have. So despite her earlier protestations--that have unmistakable echoes of "Pride and Prejudice"--her heart swells because Seiji has fostered her creative side and helped her become the person she wants to become. What could be more magical than that?
Recommended for: Fans of a delightful and touching story about becoming one's true self and finding your place in the world, regardless of what the world believes you should be. Whisper of the Heart was directed by Yoshifumi Kondō, who worked on other Studio Ghibli movies such as Only Yesterday. Unsurprisingly, those two films share much in common; both are about a young woman emerging from the cocoon of her youth to become a fully realized person.
Whisper of the Heart is also a love story between Shizuku and Seiji, although an unlikely one at first. The two of them first meet when she goes to retrieve a book of fairy tales she left behind at the park, only to find him reading it. It was his book previously, although she doesn't know this yet. He makes a snide comment about her song lyrics left in the folds of the pages, and immediately she feels anger toward this stranger. Even though they don't learn one another's names until roughly half way through the movie, it is evident to the audience that this boy is the elusive Seiji Amasawa. The fact that she only chances upon Seiji's residence--and that of his grandfather, Shiro Nishi, who owns an antique shop--is only because she follows a rotund stray cat there. Alternately called "Moon" and "Muta" by the residents of this more affluent neighborhood in which Seiji and Shiro reside, the cat becomes something of a symbol for following one's own path, despite the inherent dangers of living outside of the system. As Shizuku comes to know Seiji, she discovers that he intends to be a professional violin maker, and further intends to study abroad in Italy for expert training, even if it takes him out of school. The way that life for students in Japan is depicted in Whisper of the Heart suggests that this kind of "going against the grain" upbringing is practically taboo. Shiro is the most vocal critic of it as it concerns Shizuku. She believes that she'll never be able to catch up with her studies and do what she really wants to do in life without a steady career and money. The implication by Shiro is that their family life is in chaos because her mother did just that, and that she is now forced to return to school so late in her life. However, another way--and better way--to look at this is that the movie is really an indictment of this rigid, robotic way of life that Japan (and other nations) slavishly adopt to raise their children, so that they can just become another brick in the proverbial wall. Shizuku, like all of us before we are struck with inspiration, doesn't know where her dreams will take her, or how it will mold her life. It isn't until she espies a curious cat statue from Germany in Shiro's shop--and hears the elderly antique dealer's story behind how it made its way to Japan--that she begins to form a fantastic story in her mind. For a Studio Ghibli movie, Whisper of the Heart lacks elements of the outright magical or supernatural, but this gives those imaginative scenes from Shizuku's tale more excitement as a result. She envisions the statue--named Baron Humbert von Gikkingen--as a magical, talking, anthropomorphic cat who takes her flying across the skies. She gets inspiration for her story from a variety of sources, including a wood print of a violin maker looking quite sad, who it is implied reminds her of Seiji. In her creative reverie, she discovers buried feelings for Seiji that she never expected to have. So despite her earlier protestations--that have unmistakable echoes of "Pride and Prejudice"--her heart swells because Seiji has fostered her creative side and helped her become the person she wants to become. What could be more magical than that?
Recommended for: Fans of a delightful and touching story about becoming one's true self and finding your place in the world, regardless of what the world believes you should be. Whisper of the Heart was directed by Yoshifumi Kondō, who worked on other Studio Ghibli movies such as Only Yesterday. Unsurprisingly, those two films share much in common; both are about a young woman emerging from the cocoon of her youth to become a fully realized person.