Film Review: Whisper of the Heart

i am sorry, this will be my first publication in english, please excuse my english!
Attention! May contain spoilers!

So here i am, at 12.44 a.m, typing about this film that i just watched for the second time. So yeah, while i am still at it, i will share you my personal opinions 'bout this movie. :)


The Whisper of the Heart
Synopsis:
A love story between a girl who loves reading books, and the boy who has previously checked out all of the library books she chooses.

photo credit: www.imdb.com

Whisper of the Heart (literally "If you listen closely") is a 1995 japanese animated romantic drama 

film directed by Yoshifumi Kondō and written by Hayao Miyazaki based on the 1989 manga of the same name by Aoi Hiiragi.

If you wanted to know, I've watched until now all the movies of Studio Ghibli, including The Wind Rises but i would say that this movie is my favourite of all. ( Second would be Howl's Moving Castle) I am always a fan of Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata. Mr Miyazaki has even been nicknamed, Walt Disney of Asia, and I couldn't agree more ( i love all his work and arts!)! This movie, even been directed by Yoshifumi Kondo, is also a masterpiece of Studio Ghibli! This movie is just perfect for me considering its animation, is just as neat and realistic as i always imagined. Not the big-eyed characters that i saw regularly in mangas and animes.

Why would i love this movie? Simple. Personally, what interest me the most is, these two elements combined together: Violin and books. I didn't realize this in the beginning of the film, of course, but it stayed in my mind even several days after watching this.I first watched this movie when i was 18 years old, and then today for the second time.  Shizuku Tsukishima, the protaganist, is a bookworm and is keen in writing. Being a regular visitor of libraries, she saw on the library card that there is always a boy named Amasawa Seiji who had checked out all the books before her. There is not a single book that she borrowed without this name over them, until one day she found a book of fairytales written 'Donated by Amasawa Collection' . Until then, this journey to the mystery boy leads her to a cat called Muta and an antique shop run by Shiro Nishi.

A shop and a house where we would feel like walking in the sky

This movie generally tells us about following our own passion. But the passion itself needs effort and patience; which is shown by the character of Amasawa Seiji and later, by Shizuku Tsukishima. The plot of the story begin with Shizuku, where we can see her having a talent of writing poems and songs. Even all her juniors like her translations of Take Me Home, Country Roads song by John Denver. Then, she met the Baron (a statuette) and the real Amasawa Seiji, talented in violin crafting, who inspired her to listen to the whisper of her heart. What i really like about Shizuku is that, i think her character ressembles me, or is it me who ressembles her? It's funny, but there are several scenes in which she reacted the same way I thought i would did. For instance, the moment when she meets Seiji for the first time but saw him reading her song and how is she mad to him after that. Secondly, when she first meets Muta, the wandering cat in the train and how she follows him around.Thirdly, the way how she is immersed in books that she paid no attention at all to her surroundings. Plus, she can be excited over nothing too,just like me, lol.
 Me too, i do have dreams of becoming an author, but like Shizuku said, " Books don't excite me the way they used to be." Thus, I abandoned this dream, but still continued then to read and write in leisure time. Throughtout this character, i learnt also that to become a writer, you must first do a research, haha. (i never thought about this before) . even if you are writing a fiction, you must stay assured about the details you are writing about in your stories. ( Thanks Shizuku). Then again, Seiji, the violin apprentice is just the image of the ideal man character for me.. Haha. he is passionate with whatever he is doing either if it is in craftmen or in seeking Shizuku's attention lol. He is patient and determined, leading him to find out if he has talent or not, and later inspiring Shizuku to challenging herself. Plus, he is good-looking and loyal too! haha. A guy who is hard to know, but good-looking and smart is my ideal hero character :)

I will now show parts of song translation written by Shizuku, Take me home, country roads;

,,had a dream of living on my own
with no fear of being all alone
pushed my sadness down inside of me
and pretend I was as strong as I could be
country road, this old road...
if you go right to the end
got a feeling it'ill take me
to that town, country road
it doesn't matter to me how sad I might be
I will never ever let a tear show in my eye
if my feet are moving faster that's
because I only want to
put away memories
 country road, this old road
 would go right to my hometown
 I won't go there, I can't go there
 country road, when tomorrow comes
 I'll be like I always am
want to go back there, can't go back there
fare thee well, country road

Shizuku has also written another version of this song;

concrete roads everywhere,
'cut dowb all trees, filled in the valleys
Western Tokyo 'Tama Mountain
my home town is concrete road

(i love it when they never failed to insert some environmentals messages here)


Also some phrases quoted from the movie; 

"You don't need a ( plastic) bag for just a milk!"

" Looks like springtime has come to Tsukishima at last!"

" Books don't excite me the way they used to"

"Violin's shape hasn't changed in 300 years. the sound comes from the craftsmen's skill."

" It's too good to be last. Two people read the same books. Except one is going forward while the other stays behind."

He's going to find if he has talent. So will I!"

"Whisper of the heart; Listen to what heart says"

It is the same for craftsmen. Don't expect perfection at first."

"Rough stone is inside you. You have to find it and then polish it."

" The ore that makes up the most of the stone; you could polish that, but what you'd get would be worthless. The smaller part inside is purer. There might even be a better stone deep inside where we can't see."

"Where air currents mingle in the afternoon, you can touch the sky!"

"Not everyone has to do the same."

"But it's not easy to walk your own road, you've only got yourself to blame."

"I am no man's burden, I want to be of use."

If you want to watch this film, here is a link of an online streaming:
https://kissanime.to/Anime/Whisper-of-the-Heart/Movie?id=42576

( You might have to pause the adblock to watch on this website)


Okay that's all from me right now. If you enjoy this movie like I did, or maybe not, please share your thoughts on the comments below! Thank you ;)


 Until next time, ciao.


Amalzain