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This series is embarrassingly bad. I'm not a person to automatically dislike movie / T.V. adaptions of books, nor do I particularly care about the faithfulness to the originals. This show is really bad in its own right. It seems to very loosely take the originals and then fills them with awful anime cliches and sequences with no power.

Good translations of the original stories are available, and if you're interested in them I'd highly recommend them.

Particularly Under the Cherry Blossoms in Full Bloom is an intensely disturbing story with unexpectedly grotesque images. The power of these works are in their uniqueness. The failing of this ... show is in its dumbing down of the stories into a series of familiar, hackneyed animeisms. A series of rapidly flashing images to depict drowning in memories! Staticy sound track! The crazy laugh! Voice clips from earlier in the show! + random garbage like DBZ references and bad English for no reason. And an arrogant guy with earphones, how whacky!

If you're a person who likes the insight offered by great works of literature, pass this one by. This is just a generic anime.

I had high hopes for this anime, but at the end I did not feel as if I watched a show about how kids survive without adults or government, I felt as if I watched 26 episodes of cliche anime teenager romance. If you like that sort of thing, this show will be fine, but it does not deliver on the high praise of politics and Lord of the Flies-likeness that persuaded me to watch it.

The sphinx (sort of like the persona of the ship) reminded me of Boogiepop Phantom, which only served to make me think of how much better a show that was ... in comparison.

To get into details:

There are about 3 or 4 episodes which consist purely of flashbacks, all very close together at the end of the series.

There are only really 2 factions consisting of about 5-8 characters each, and they don't really differ too much in how they think. They just sort of vie a tiny bit for control. You might say there's a third group, but they get so quickly assimilated into the other 2 factions (which also assimilate) that it doesn't really matter. The political depth of this show goes about as far as 'group in control abuses power a bit and lies' vs 'main character thinks that's pretty lame and so does another, but it's too lame to really rally any support for himself.' The 500 or so other students play little to no role except to be worker bees and faceless mobs.

The characters are all pretty unlikable babies. There never feels like anyone I want to cheer for. They either complain, or don't get things done, or do something really dumb that makes no sense.

The show's premise of being about kids in space governing themselves doesn't really even start until 12 episodes in. Most of the episodes before that are really boring 'hey, lets play house on the space ship.' You could call that build up for character changes later in the show, but the changes are all pretty abrupt, and the build up doesn't seem to have added anything to them, so I just think it's bad pacing.

TBH there's anime far, far worse that this, and it certainly goes beyond the dime a dozen anime, so I can give it some points for not being a total carbon copy... but it still wasn't good. Pass on it if kids' romances don't interest you.

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.