Review of Whisper of the Heart

Warning - may be quite long to read and can contain light spoilers Mimi wo sumaseba (or Whisper of the Heart) is one of my favourite anime movies and movies in general for several different reasons. It's a wonderful movie that's almost 2 hours long yet doesn't feel anywhere near that length. It's not a movie you watch. It's something you experience. Ghibli have set the standard for great, classic anime but this one in particular is somewhat a special little gem among their archive. Directed by the deceased, taken-to-soon director Yoshifumi Kondou, Mimi wo Sumaseba is a coming-of-age story on par or even better thantheir more well-known classical movies like Spirited Away or Kiki's Delivery Service. But honestly never mind the comparisons to other Ghibli films. This movie stands well on its own.

Lets talk about the setting first since its the first thing that the movie hits you with. This anime starts off deviating from Ghibli norms by being set in a very unconventionally Ghibli setting - simple suburbia in a large city. It's a setting I don't believe Ghibli have explored much if at all and the movie makes full use the powers of animation to bring it to life. This sort of setting has only recently gotten attention with Makoto Shinkai's Your Name. Throughout the movie we get fantastic scenes of the suburban environment and how it all blends together. There are several scenes of our characters simply walking through town and everything is immaculately detailed not just in aesthetics but also in the unique aspects of urban lifestyle. From the cramped and messy but homely apartment our main character Shizuku lives in to the crowded trains and streets during rush hour, to the empty streets of residential areas when everyone is out working. It's all fantastically rendered in Ghibli's animation. Who needs a fantastical setting or a rural setting when you can have equally breathtaking shots of a bustling city from on top of a hill? Early on Shizuku even jokingly writes "Concrete Roads" in the tune to the famous song "Take Me Home, Country Roads" to poke fun at the setting. Ghibli had a great opportunity to showcase city life and its absolutely beautiful. Most people, including those who make anime/manga/light novels/any stories don't appreciate the details that go into making a setting but if you're watching this movie I implore you to take it down a notch and enjoy it at the pace the movie sets because you'll find so many little details even on re-watches. It's kind of what you can expect from a studio the caliber of Ghibli but this movie is especially great and works with a suburban setting like very few other modern or classical anime do.

I love not just the unique setting but also the themes of the movie. If there's one word I can use to describe the movie it would be the word "timeless". This anime very early on dates itself as being set in the booming early 90s with references to the introduction of early computers, electronic notebooks, and bar codes. Yet, this anime will still be enjoyed for ages into the future. At its core this anime's story is about a sweet, quick-blooming love and growing up and discovering yourself and what you want to do. The anime perfectly excecutes these themes by simply giving us a very strong cast of characters. It's time we talk about them and our heroine Tsukishiro Shizuku is the best example to show. Light spoilers for the beginning bit of the show.

Tsukishiro Shizuku is a middle-school girl who has a lot of personality. She's quick-tempered, moody, snarky, and somewhat thick but she is also someone who is perceptive, naive in a good way, an avid reader of fiction, and can self-reflect. All these little qualities that Ghibli shows us are perfectly utilized to develop her as a character in a way few other anime can. She is initially quite closed off in her own world reading plenty of books and acting as an observer to others stories while having the sense of wonder to be in her own story. This allows her to find a rustic little wooden antique store (Ghibli can't let go of those even in an urban setting it seems) in a neighborhood she never visited previously after impulsively following a cat. This opens up a whole new world for her. After finding out that she was unintentionally caught up in a love story she believed she was only observing, she retreats to the store out of a shared sense of disappointment in love with the story of the clock she previously heard from the kindly elderly owner of the store. There she bonds with whom she thought to be an arch nemesis Amasawa Seiji and the two begin the coming-of-age story proper.

Shizuku begins to hold great admiration for Seiji's work and effort and begins to have a struggle many people can relate to and it's a contributing factor to the movie's staying power. She starts to learn the meaning of craftsmanship and has a shared sense of camaraderie with Seiji who desires to be a violin maker. The anime makes a large point that it takes effort and a lot of patience to find out your talents. It's an endearing tale where I fully supported Shizuku all the way. The story follows her starting to learn the worries of being someone who creates, someone who puts themselves up for others, and someone who can test themselves. I don't want to spoil but the entire point of her struggle (to the point where she neglects her health and studies, all detailed in the film) was an act to test her patience and resolve towards a longing love and admiration and damn was it adorable. At the anime's zenith it's almost a rapture to see all the culmination of her work being put forward.

Amasawa Seiji, the other main character, himself is pretty great. He starts off somewhat snarky but is very down-to-earth and fairly easy-going yet has his worries and vision as an artisan. This combined with Shizuku's previously-mentioned quirks and traits makes for some pretty great chemistry. It is to note that this movie does have "romance" on as a label and it is one but that's never really the main focus and the movie mostly draws towards the coming-of-age aspects where both characters share a strong sense of fellowship with each other. Seiji doesn't actually do much in the story but he drives Shizuku to test herself and develop as a person. It's a sweet tale that is reflected in the song Shizuku herself wrote when she still didn't understand what it meant which is a very nice detail I appreciate. Shizuku's development throughout the movie is one that moved me since it was subtle yet powerful and the movie bothered giving its first half up to building up its characters and making me care for them. I love all the little traits given to the characters and stuff like Shizuku's defensive body-language during her first meeting with Seiji, or how Shizuku's mother is working on her thesis in the background, or Shizuku and her sister's sibling squabbles and interactions are details Ghibli scatters about to allow us to take in these characters as humans with their own lives outside of what is shown in the movie.

I hope I didn't leave things too vague but in summery- the details this film provides and its quirks allow us to genuinely care for the characters. Shizuku journey of self-discovery starts from someone who seeks out a story which is nice and happy yet by the end of the film finds herself in a bittersweet-to-sweet one instead and she knows it and accepts it. The urban setting helps since Ghibli wants to show us that these sort of stories don't need to happen in fantasy worlds or classical, detached-from-reality literature and Shizuku even comments and notes it when she's down. Of course, the fantasy and classical feel of such a story is the foundation for this movie and the Mimi wo Sumaseba has small allegories of fantasy and classical yearning to juxtapose the situation our characters are in (the clock story being one and the doll Baron's bitersweet story of seperation being another). It's poignant and, as our heroine describes - "nostalgic". This anime has a powerful nostalgic feel to it which adds to its timeless nature. It's one that makes you think "I've been there" not only with the main drama but also with all the other small details.

Now that's my main thoughts on the story and characters done with phew. Moving on to the aesthetics. Mimi wo Sumaseba is beautifully animated as expected of Ghibli as I've said in my second paragraph. Not only does it look good with plenty of relevant details but there's a lot of tidbits of character animations to appreciate. The direction is wonderful and turns simply walking from one point to another in suburbia into a superb showcase of animation power. Seriously some of those shots are really difficult to draw and I love them for breaking up the pacing of the show and slowing it down to take in the urban atmosphere. They would be nowhere near effective though if it weren't for the brilliant music score accompanying it. The music brings a sense of fantasy to the world and its rustic feel perfectly contrast the setting it is in. The song "Take Me Home, Country Roads" is, of course, country music but it fits in very well with the tone of the film. It's literally the introduction song so it probably confused and would confuse plenty of people seeing it opens up to an aerial shot of dense metropolitan but as the film goes on it starts to make much more sense and the end song is simply sublime to listen to. There is a lot of pleasing-to-listen, playful music in this anime that perfectly captures the whims of youth as Tsukishiro explores the wide city she has ever seen before. It's overall just perfectly balanced. The voice acting was very strong. Shizuku's seiyuu was top-notch and perfectly expressed herself and was especially outstanding. All the other voice actors performed well too with no notable mistakes. Lots of love went into this movie.

This film is a gem of a masterpiece that more people should know about. It's a timeless movie that can be appreciated at any age by anyone. I love the details this anime has and it makes me all the sadder that the director passed away too soon. But this as his legacy will continue. Thanks, Yoshifumi Kondou and all who worked on this. This is my favourite film from Ghibli.

Thanks for reading!

It is just past 12am GMT+2 on January 1st 2020. Happy New Years to myself I guess.