Whisper of the Heart

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Whisper of the Heart
Image:Whisper of the Heart (Movie Poster).jpg
Poster for the Whisper of the Heart film
耳をすませば
(Mimi o Sumaseba)
Genre Adventure, Romance
Manga
Author Aoi Hiiragi
Publisher Shūeisha
Demographic Shōjo
Magazine Ribon
Original run 1989 – 1989
Volumes 1
Animated film
Director Yoshifumi Kondo
Producer Toshio Suzuki
Writer Hayao Miyazaki
Composer Yūji Nomi
Studio Flag of Japan Studio Ghibli
Licensor Flag of the United States Buena Vista/Disney
Released Flag of Japan 15 July 1995
Flag of the United States 7 March 2006
Runtime 111 minutes
Manga: Mimi o Sumaseba: Shiawasena Jikan
Author Aoi Hiiragi
Publisher Shūeisha
Demographic Shōjo
Magazine Ribon Original
Original run 1995 – 1995
Volumes 1

Whisper of the Heart, known in Japan as If You Listen Closely (耳をすませば Mimi wo Sumaseba?) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Aoi Hiiragi. In 1995, it was adapted into an anime feature film by Studio Ghibli.

Contents

[edit] Plot

The main character of Whisper of the Heart is a 14-year old girl named Shizuku Tsukishima who is in junior high school in Tama New Town, on the outskirts of Tokyo. She loves reading and writing in her spare time, but her parents wish she would pay more attention to her schoolwork and her upcoming high-school entrance exams. However, her love of reading fairy tales and her work in putting new words to the song, "Take Me Home, Country Roads" consumes her time and energy.

One day Shizuku sees a "round" fat cat riding on the train with her. She follows the cat off the train and ends up at an unusual little thrift shop. She meets the shop's owner, a kindly old man, who shows her to a unique grandfather clock which he is repairing. Only at 12 o'clock, a dwarf and an elf appear in the clock. The tales relates that the elven princess, who has been turned into a sheep, can only appear for a short time, at 12:00. The dwarf king, who is her love, appears to see her for that brief time each day. Shizuku also notices a small statue of a cat dressed in fine clothes, known as the Baron, who will eventually become the basis of the story Shizuku will write.

Later, she finds out that Sugimura, a classmate and old friend whom her best friend Yuko has a crush on, likes her. However, she says that they have to stay only friends.

Afterwards, outside the shop, Shizuku finds Seiji Amasawa, a boy from her school whose name she had first noticed on the cards of her library books: he had checked out many of the same books before she did. The shopkeeper is Seiji's grandfather. Seiji and Shizuku's first encounters are brief and uncomfortable, but eventually they grow close to one another. Shizuku learns that Seiji is working to become a luthier. Ashamed that she has no similar aspirations, Shizuku dedicates herself to writing, abandoning her studies and falls further behind at school, which causes conflict between her and her mother, father and older sister.

When Seiji leaves for Cremona, Italy, to begin a trial apprenticeship with an instrument-maker, Seiji's grandfather helps encourage Shizuku to complete her ambitious writing project. The movie's resolution comes as Shizuku finishes her story and decides to resume her schoolwork; Seiji later returns from his first stay in Italy after two months where he then proposes to Shizuku, who accepts joyfully. The credits sequence at the end of the movie shows several of Shizuku's classmates walking by, including Yuko, who stops and waits for Sugimura. They meet, talk for a little while, and then walk off together, presumably as a couple now that Yuko has confessed.

[edit] Notes

In the film, Shizuku translates the song "Take Me Home, Country Roads" (originally co-written and recorded by John Denver) into Japanese for her school's chorus club. She also writes her own Japanese version of the song, called "Concrete Road", about her hometown in western Tokyo. The songs were actually translated by producer Toshio Suzuki's daughter, Mamiko, with Hayao Miyazaki writing supplemental lyrics. These songs play a role at various points in the story. A recording of "Take Me Home, Country Roads", performed by Olivia Newton-John, plays during the movie's opening sequence, as does Yoko Honna's version at the end.

Over the course of the movie, Shizuku is working on a fantasy novel that revolves around a cat figurine, named The Baron, that she sees in Mr. Nishi's antique shop, which is named Chikyuu-ya ('The Earth Shop'). The short fantasy scenes that depict what she's writing in her novel were so popular with fans that Studio Ghibli released a movie based on them, The Cat Returns.

The film references a number of other Studio Ghibli films. Shizuku has a small witch doll hanging behind her desk which looks like Kiki from Kiki's Delivery Service. A book in her school's library is titled Totoro and Chu-Totoro and Chibi-Totoro dolls can be seen on a dollmaker's bench. The clock in Mr. Nishi's shop has Porco Rosso inscribed on its dial.

Another Ghibli film - Pom Poko - was set at the same location, Tama New Town. Released a year earlier, it depicts the construction of the town in the Tama Hills from the viewpoint of Tanuki (Japanese raccoon dogs). Many scenes in Whisper depict real places, especially in the vicinity of Seiseki-Sakuragaoka Station on the Keiō Line.

This is the only movie to be directed by the late Yoshifumi Kondō, who died in 1998 of an aneurysm at the age of 47. Studio Ghibli had hoped that Kondo would become the successor to Miyazaki and Takahata.

The fantastical backgrounds in the fantasy sequences of the movie were created by Japanese surrealist painter Naohisa Inoue and were directed by Hayao Miyazaki. The wood engraving of the imprisoned musician was created by Miyazaki's son Keisuke Miyazaki, a professional wood artist.

An English dub of this film was released by Buena Vista Home Entertainment on March 7, 2006. Turner Classic Movies televised both the dubbed and subbed versions on January 18, 2006 as part of their month-long celebration of Miyazaki (in honor of his birthday, January 5).

The English title, Whisper of the Heart, was created by Studio Ghibli and used on several officially licensed "character goods" released around the same time as the movie was released in theaters in Japan.

Japanese musical duo Chage and Aska's short music video, titled "On Your Mark", by Studio Ghibli was also released along with this film.

This was the first Japanese film to use the Dolby Digital sound format.

Cary Elwes, the voice of the Baron in the English dubbing of the film, played the Baron with an older-sounding voice, to reflect the difference in the character's age between this movie and The Cat Returns.

[edit] Credits

[edit] Original japanese Cast

[edit] English dub cast

Additional Voices by Corey Burton, Jeff Bennett, and Melissa Disney

[edit] External links

v • d • e
The works of Hayao Miyazaki
Films
Director, screenplay and storyboard: The Castle of Cagliostro • Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind • Castle in the Sky • My Neighbor Totoro • Kiki's Delivery Service • Porco Rosso • Princess Mononoke • Spirited Away • Howl's Moving Castle • Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea
Screenplay and storyboard: Panda! Go, Panda! • Whisper of the Heart
Chief animator and concept artist: Gulliver's Travels Beyond the Moon • Hols: Prince of the Sun • Puss in Boots • Flying Ghost Ship • Animal Treasure Island • Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves
TV series
Director, screenplay and storyboard: Lupin III • Future Boy Conan • Sherlock Hound
Scene design and layout: Heidi, Girl of the Alps • 3000 Leagues in Search of Mother • Anne of Green Gables
OVA
Director, screenplay and storyboard: Lupin III's Greatest Capers
Manga
Miscellaneous
Director, screenplay and storyboard: On Your Mark • Mei and the Kittenbus • Mizugumo Monmon
Future projects
v • d • e
Studio Ghibli films
Pre Ghibli films
Ghibli films
Studio Ghibli short films
Ghibli Museum Library
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