Review of Whisper of the Heart
One of the very best coming-of-age animes out there. A combination of heartwarming story, lovable main character, smooth animation and awesome soundtrack make this one of Studio Ghibli's most underrated and overlooked films ever. Plot: 8/10 - The story follows 14-year old Shizuku, a girl with a passion for reading books. She finds out that someone has been reading the same books as her. This someone is Seiji, a boy with the dream of going to Italy to become a luthier. Seiji challenges himself to fufill hsi dream and Shizuku feels motivated by the boy's actions and decides to write a novel. The story isgreat. Loved the sense the precariousness that Shizuku feels at one point, not knowing if she wants to go to high school or pursue something else. There are some slice of life elements that I enjoyed, plus the rom-com aspect of the movie works really well as both Shizuku and Seiji are great characters and their dynamics are really sweet all the time. Only downside was the unresolved sub-plot of Sugimura and Kuro's love story which seems to be important at the start of the film but never leads to anything.
Characters: 8/10 - Both Shizuku and Seiji, as mentioned, are great characters. They have great chemistry and every scene with both of them is must-watch, especially the one where Seiji starts playing the violin and Shizuku sings "Take me home, country road". Loved how Seiji was willing to give up everything and challenged himself in pursuit of his dreams and I really liked how Shizuku felt motivated by the action of the boy. I found a couple of similiraties between Shizuku and the main character of a movie called "The Graduate" as both don't really know what to do with their lives at one point. They're both lost in everyday's life and decide to take a risk. As for Shizuku this risk is trying to write a novel so as not to fall behind Seiji. The other characters were okay. Shizuku's family is cool and Nishi Shirou is really good.
Animation: 8/10 - I mean it's Studio Ghibli, you just can't go wrong with them. The animation's really smooth, just flawless. The general vibe of the movie was great with a really nice and chill atmosphere. Loved the visuals of Shizuku's novel regarding Baron Humbert.
Soundtrack: 9/10 - Country Road will never be the same again for me after this movie. Everytime I heard it in this movie, it was just magical. The rest of the soundtrack is really good too.
Overall enjoyment: 9/10 - I've a huge smile on my face throughout the entire thing thank to this charming and heartwarming story. Just a really, really good movie by Studio Ghibili that rarely gets put in the same category as masterpieces such as Princess Mononoke, Howl's Moving Castle, Spirited Away or Porco Rosso but that should deserve a little attention in my eyes.