Only Yesterday

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This page is about the Japanese film. For the American book see Only Yesterday. "Only Yesterday" is also the title of a 1975 hit song by The Carpenters.
Only Yesterday
おもひでぽろぽろ
Directed by Isao Takahata
Produced by Hayao Miyazaki,
Toshio Suzuki
Written by Isao Takahata
Starring Miki Imai,
Yoshiro Yanagiba,
Yoko Honna
Distributed by Tokuma Shoten ,
Buena Vista Home Entertainment
Release date(s) Japan July 20, 1991
France October 18, 2006
UK September 4, 2006
Running time 118 min.
Language Japanese
Budget Unknown
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Only Yesterday (おもひでぽろぽろ Omohide Poro Poro?, meaning Memories Like Falling Teardrops (more literally, Memories Like Falling Rain Drops) is a film by critically acclaimed director Isao Takahata (Grave of the Fireflies) and produced by Studio Ghibli. It is based on the manga of the same title by Hotaru Okamoto and Yuko Tone. It was released on July 20, 1991. The ending theme song is a Japanese translation "Ai wa Hana, Kimi wa sono Tane (愛は花、君はその種子?)" of Amanda McBroom's composition "The Rose".

Only Yesterday is significant among progressive anime films in that it explores a genre traditionally thought to be outside the realm of animated subjects, in this case a realistic drama written for adult, particularly female josei audiences. In spite of its adult subject matter, the film was a surprise box office success, attracting a large adult audience of both sexes.

Contents

[edit] Storyline

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Taeko is 27, unmarried, has lived her whole life in Tokyo and now works at a company there. She decides to take a trip to a relative of her elder sister-in-law's in the rural countryside to help with the safflower harvest and get away from city life. While traveling at night on a train to Yamagata, she begins to recall memories of herself as a fifth-grade schoolgirl in 1966, and her intense desire to go on holiday like her classmates. During her stay in Yamagata, she finds herself increasingly nostalgic and wistful for her childhood self, while simultaneously wrestling with adult issues of career and love.

While mostly realistic in its depiction of Taeko, the expressionistic influences in Takahata's work are often marked by scenes where a character's imagination comes to life on screen. After Taeko encounters her first love, she dreams of rising from her bed into a red-colored sky. The scene ends with her slow return to earth, then cuts to an outside shot of her house where a giant heart emerges from her window. These expressionistic sequences run counter to Takahata's realistic storyline, but are consciously used by the director to transition back and forth from reality to the unreal world of animated fantasy, leveraging the advantages of animation in order to develop the character.

[edit] Characters

  • Taeko Okajima (タエ子) - Miki Imai
  • Toshio (トシオ) - Toshiro Yanagiba
  • Taeko (as 5th grade student) - Yoko Honna
  • Mother of Taeko - Michie Terada
  • Father of Taeko - Masahiro Ito
  • Grandmother of Taeko - Chie Kitagawa
  • Yaeko Okajima - Yuki Minowa
  • Nanako Okajima - Yorie Yamashita

[edit] Film Notes

The story takes place within the Takase district of Yamagata, Yamagata. The Takase Station of the Senzan Line is featured prominently; Though it has since been rebuilt, the scenery remains mostly unchanged. During the course of the film, characters visit prominent locales, including the resort destination of Mount Zao.

In the U.S., the cable channel Turner Classic Movies aired Only Yesterday on Thursday, January 26, 2006 (in the original Japanese with English subtitles) as part of its month-long salute to Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli.

Unlike the typical anime style, the characters have more facial muscles and expressions. Because of this, dialogue was recorded first (usually this is done after the animation is completed) and the animators fit the dialogue to the characters, resulting in more believable and realistic lipsync and facial expressions. Only Taeko's childhood past (which has a more typical anime style) was animated before the voices were recorded.

To date this is the only Studio Ghibli film released outside Japan to not feature a translated dub, but it does still feature subtitles.

[edit] Released Dates

  • Germany - Released on July 2006, under title of Tränen der Erinnerung (Tears of Memory) - Only Yesterday (Universum Film).
  • USA - According to an announcement made by Pixar/Disney executives, after the Howl's Moving Castle Premier in 2005, plans to release "Only Yesterday" in the US have been "shelved indefinitely". Though no real details were given for the shelving, some commentators have speculated that Disney felt that the film was incompatible with Disney's image as a producer of family films (the film includes a family bathing scene set in a bathhouse, and a scene in which schoolchildren naively discuss menstruation), and were worried that its release might attract negative attention. Nevertheless, many fans have petitioned for a DVD release in the United States, and the film is currently ranked as the number two most-requested DVD release at the TCM website. In North America, the English-subtitled DVD is available from Canadian sources.

[edit] External links


 v • d • e 
Studio Ghibli Films
Pre Ghibli Films

Hols: Prince of the Sun (1968) • Panda! Go, Panda! (1972) • Lupin III: Castle of Cagliostro (1977) • Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind  (1984)
Ghibli Films

Castle in the Sky (1986) • My Neighbor Totoro (1988) • Grave of the Fireflies (1988) • Kiki's Delivery Service (1989) • Only Yesterday (1991) • Porco Rosso (1992) • Ocean Waves (1993) • Pom Poko (1994) • Whisper of the Heart (1995) • Princess Mononoke (1997) • My Neighbors the Yamadas (1999) • Spirited Away (2001) • The Cat Returns (2002) • Howl's Moving Castle (2004) • Tales from Earthsea (2006)
Studio Ghibli Shorts

Nandarou (1992) • On Your Mark (1995) • Ghiblies (2000) • Ghiblies Episode II (2002) • Mei and the Kittenbus (2003) • The Night of Taneyamagahara (2006)
See also...

Ghibli Museum • Katsuya Kondō • Yoshifumi Kondō • Gorō  Miyazaki • Hayao Miyazaki • Kazuo Oga • Yasuo Ōtsuka • Toshio Suzuki • Isao Takahata •
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