Review of Whisper of the Heart

Japan is at its best in the 80s and early 90s and its youth is at its best, too. Its economy thriving (before China came along), people are out of the shades of WWII, a new generation that balances masculinity of the empire before them and the feminine trend after them: an upward, busy, happy generation. (Indeed, the 80s saw a artistic/humanitarian revival throughout the world after the (mostly) quiet 50s, and the revolutionary 60s, 'we are the world' is perhaps the pinnacle of that time. the world finds a balanced order while moving forward and Japan is moving forward rapidly.) 'Whisper of the heart' isthe portrait of that happy time at its end. People are busy but hopeful, everybody is civil, there's no strict hierarchy between teachers and students, there's no strong sense of nationalism----everybody is interested in knowledge and wants the best for others, even strangers, in their society. All of these reflects the openness, the upwardness, and the happiness of the time. When they played 'country roads, take me home' together, it immediately bought me to tears (I dropped CLANNAD, did not cry watching AnoHana). The coming separation of the protagonists, John Denver's nostalgia and the sunrise at the end of the movie came together in that song that partially resonate with a greater history: a history of escaping one's motherland into a better place, as well as exploring the vast unknown.

20-th century is the nearest, most horrible and the most interesting century. At the end of it, humanitarianism revived along with hope on a universal scale (when this anime is being written). But look at the world now: much more advanced, producing much more violin, maybe more artistic in a way but much less hopeful, humanitarian and upward. Who knows when will the next 80s come and when will we see the next cowboy bebop or 'Whisper of the heart'? Sigh.