Mimi wo Sumaseba

Shizuku Tsukishima is an energetic 14-year-old girl who enjoys reading and writing poetry in her free time. Glancing at the checkout cards of her books one evening, she notices that her library books are frequently checked out by a boy named Seiji Amasawa. Curiosity strikes Shizuku, and she decides to search for the boy who shares her love for literature.

Meeting a peculiar cat on the train, Shizuku follows the animal and is eventually led to a quaint antique shop, where she learns about a cat statuette known as "The Baron." Taking an interest in the shop, she surprisingly finds Seiji, and the two quickly befriend one another. Shizuku learns while acquainting herself with Seiji that he has a dream that he would like to fulfill, causing her dismay as she remains uncertain of her future and has yet to recognize her talents.

However, as her relationship with Seiji grows, Shizuku becomes determined to work toward a goal. Guided by the whispers of her heart and inspiration from The Baron, she resolves to carve out her own potential and dreams.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Tsukishima, Shizuku Main

Honna, Youko Japanese

Amasawa, Seiji Main

Takahashi, Issei Japanese

Baron Humbert von Gikkingen Supporting

Tsuyuguchi, Shigeru Japanese

Moon, Renaldo Supporting

Nishi, Shirou Supporting

Kobayashi, Keijuu Japanese

Tsukishima, Shiho Supporting

Yamashita, Yorie Japanese

Tsukishima, Seiya Supporting

Tachibana, Takashi Japanese

Harada, Yuuko Supporting

Yoshiyama, Maiko Japanese

Tsukishima, Asako Supporting

Muroi, Shigeru Japanese

Kinuyo Supporting

Iizuka, Mayumi Japanese

Miyazaki, Hayao Producer, Storyboard, Creator, Screenplay

Suzuki, Toshio Producer

Kondou, Yoshifumi Director, Key Animation

Asari, Naoko Sound Director

Reviews

Feb 24, 2011

Oolong

Recommended

The strength of Whisper of the Heart is the strength all films that have been touched by Miyazaki seem to have. That is, the details. In this film the things that have impressed me were the little extras that are contained in each characters movements. It's something that you very rarely get—at least this consistently—outside of Miyazaki films. Whether it be reaching for the lamp cord from bed, failing, and needing to sit up to do it properly, or whether it be the normal silences in conversation (as apposed to dramatic silences), everything just feels a lot more real, a lot more vibrant than most ... films.

Regarding this film in comparison to other films Miyazaki has been a part of, this one seems to by far have the fewest fantastic elements (that is, elements which contain impossible occurrences or imaginary creatures). If I could compare it to any other Miyazaki film, I would say that it is most like My Neighbor Totoro, in that they both focus on the more or less ordinary lives of their characters, rather than large, sweeping plots. It is something that needs to be watched with a mind set that is not waiting for something to move forward, or endanger the characters lives, or otherwise throw them into an absurd situation. Everything that happens in the plot is very believable, yet has its own magic about it because of the playful way it is presented.

One thing that was especially impressive about this film, although most Miyazaki films carry this trait, was the accuracy of the child psychology (and psychology in general). When you watch the characters of this film interact with each other, and when you see things happen to them and how it affects them, you get a feeling of profound truth. This film is dramatic, but it was not cinema dramatic, it was true dramatic. If a character is sad, that doesn't become their entire personality, it is something that affects their personality. The reason I ramble so long about this is because of how rare it is to see in any medium of art. It is something that if you are looking for it, it is truly beautiful and astounding. This quality of work is not easily imitated.

If you ask me why I rate the art a "9" I will tell it is because of its expressiveness. The landscapes are beautiful, sure, but the real reason I give it a 9 is because of the work put into the animations of every character. There is nothing lazy about it, and there is a uniqueness to the characters movements that takes serious attention. Most films will cut corners in this department, but even though you could call this movie's art dated, that doesn't decrease the pleasure gained from its attentiveness.

Still, I will hesitate to recommend this to everyone. If you want a plot that 'actually goes somewhere,' so to speak, this film will not give that to you. If you want a film with a tonne of weird and unbelievable things (such as you may be used to with Miyazaki), this film will also not deliver that. What this film delivers is a very detailed picture of its characters which is at times heart warming, at other times heart breaking, and at all times true.

Loved it.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Jan 20, 2016

ktulu007

Mixed Feelings

I've reviewed a lot of Studio Ghibli films. In January of 2014, one of those films was The Cat Returns. During that review, I mentioned that it's a spin-off loosely connected to this film, Whisper of the Heart. Now, that film was pretty good with plenty of strong elements. Let's look at Whisper of the Heart and see if the same holds true for it.

Story:

Shizuku has a pretty easy life. Her parents are easy-going and she has plenty of friends and lots of time to read obsessively. One day, she notices that all of the books she gets from the library seem to have been ... checked out by the same guy before her. She's curious about what he could be like and, by sheer coincidence, meets a guy she doesn't know. I'm sure these two plot points are completely unrelated. The film follows Shizuku in her daily life with the focus on two major facets, her budding romantic interest in the boy she barely knows and her coming of age and learning what she wants to do and trying her hardest to follow it.

The biggest flaw with the film is the romance aspect. Our two leads are still in their pubescent stage and, frankly, they have about as much chemistry as Argon has with anything. Yet the narrative treats their barely started relationship as important and serious. I give them a couple months together at most before they break up. The coming of age element, however, is pretty well done and it elegantly illustrates what it's like for someone to discover their passion and immerse herself in it. Aside from those two elements, the film is pretty tedious with very little of interest happening. Honestly, it can be really mind-numbing to slog through.

Characters:

The characters in the film vary. Some of them are quite dull, having only a really basic purpose to fill before being banished to wherever trite characters go when they've done their bit. Shizuku is a pretty fleshed out and developed character. I will say, most of the characters have enough to them to have verisimilitude, even if they don't ultimately contribute to the narrative all that much.

Art:

The artwork and animation are the best aspects of the film. Both are really well done in classic Ghibli fashion. So, if nothing else it is a very pretty, nicely detailed film.

Sound:

The vocal cast and music are both pretty middling. They're passable, but not good. The stand out performance has to be from Honna Youko, who is coincidentally going to be featured in next week's series too. She does do a really good job, but you also have actors like Tachibana Takashi who just sound bored. The music is fine, unless you really love or hate the song Country Road. Which does get a bit over-used and could start to wear on your nerves, especially if you aren't kindly disposed towards it to begin with.

Ho-yay:

There really isn't any in this film.

Final Thoughts:

Whisper of the Heart is not a good film. It isn't bad either. It's just a film with a dull narrative, bland characters and excellent artwork. If you really like slow slice of life works, you might enjoy it. Otherwise, I can't really recommend it. Especially when Studio Ghibli has so many really strong films that are filled with intrigue and adventure. My final rating is going to be a 5/10. So, this month we've looked at Nuku Nuku Dash in honour of Hyashibara Megumi month, Yuru Yuri San Hai in honour of yuri month and now this in honour of Ghibli month. Next week we harken back to last year's magical girl month with a look at Futari wa Precure: Max Heart.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Jun 3, 2011

Pyrakuu

Not Recommended

Funny

I have no idea why people enjoyed this movie. I have never been a very big appreciator of these Miyazaki stamped films, although I don't necessarily dislike them all, but this film is the worst of them I've seen. Lets go through the details.

The animation is in constant conflict. While the backgrounds have some fairly impressive detail, the moving parts of the animation are inconsistent and often poorly done and all movement is extremely choppy. The backgrounds and characters also don't seem to work very well together in some situations as if they exist on different layers. Another example of ... this disconnect between background and the moving pieces is Scooby Doo, where it seems as if they locked the animators for the characters and those for the background in different rooms and never showed each other the other's work.

The sound is downright annoying some of the time. I dislike the use of Take Me Home Country Roads as essentially the theme song of the movie and each time characters sang in the movie it proved more annoying than impactful in any way, and the rewrites the main character made were pretty terrible. Also this film takes one from many other Japanese films and employs the "roaring ambiance," the obnoxious cicada and other such random noises. Aside from that the miscellaneous background music is not noteworthy, although sometimes not very very well selected, and the voice actors are generally fine.

Finally, the story and characters have basically nothing going for them. The characters are generally not believable and flat, the randomness of dialogue is off-putting, the story is slow and boring.
First off, the "romantic element" of this movie feels artificial and forced. The initial romantic triangle doesn't make any sense because we don't even know the character's relationships with each other in the first place. When the female lead says she was friends forever with the dude, I didn't even know they talked. It's also extremely awkward and all the characters fill stereotypical roles, the shy girl, the mediator (main character) and the idiot guy.
As for the main romance of the movie, the proposal at the end was extremely annoying and I couldn't take it seriously at all. Checking out books to get someone's attention is the absolute dumbest thing I've heard, the most hilarious line of the movie being Shizuku wondering if he was handsome just seeing his name in the books.
Oh it's also a great romance when the girl doesn't even know who the guy is and he just inexplicably likes her.

So yes, in the end, all of these elements mix together to form a sub-par community "classic" that I wouldn't recommend to anyone.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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