Whisper of the Heart
Short description
Whisper of the Heart follows Shizuku Tsukishima, a Tokyo middle schooler who spends her summer reading and writing. She notices that the same name, Seiji Amasawa, appears on the library cards of nearly every book she borrows, and she begins to wonder about the boy who shares her tastes. After following a cat onto a train and later to an antique shop, she meets Seiji in person: a classmate who has teased her and who is training to become a violin maker. His determination pushes Shizuku to search for a purpose of her own, and she starts writing a story about the cat figurine called the Baron.
The film was directed by Yoshifumi Kondo from a screenplay by Hayao Miyazaki, and produced by Toshio Suzuki for Studio Ghibli. It is Kondo's first feature as director and his second film with the studio after working under Miyazaki as an animator. The voice cast includes Yoko Honna as Shizuku and Issey Takahashi as Seiji, with 22 credited cast members and 55 credited crew. It runs 111 minutes and was released in Japan in July 1995.
On IMDb, the film holds a rating of 7.8 from around 82,000 votes, while on TMDB it has 7.9 from roughly 2,356 votes. A critics' rating of 8.2 from 21 reviews places the film slightly above both audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- In the watch factory scene, the inscription 'Porco Rosso' can be read on the clock face.
- This is the first film in the history of Studio Ghibli to use computer graphics, and one of the first films in the history of Japanese cinema for which sound was recorded in the Dolby Digital system.
- Yoko Honna, who played Shizuku, was the same age as her character during the making of the film.
- The fantastical scenery in the film was created by artist Naohisa Inoue. Inoue had always greatly admired Miyazaki's work, so he sent an invitation to Studio Ghibli to visit his exhibition. Miyazaki fell in love with Inoue's work at first sight. In addition to an offer to collaborate, Miyazaki also purchased one of Inoue's paintings.
- The Baron figurine actually exists. The manga author, Aoi Hiragi, once saw it in a shop but couldn't buy it because she didn't have enough money. She later returned for it, but it turned out that the Baron had already been sold. It was bought by Hiragi's then-boyfriend to give to her as a gift. They are now married.
- Takashi Tatibana, who played Shizuku's father, is not a professional actor, but a well-known journalist. Like his character, he passionately studies the history of his region and writes articles and books about it.
- The song playing at the beginning of the film is performed by Olivia Newton-John.
- The film is the second, after 'I Can Hear the Ocean,' attempt by Miyazaki and Takahata to delegate the direction of a large project to someone else. This time, the job was offered to Yoshifumi Kondo, the chief animator at Studio Ghibli.
- In the manga, Seiji had two skinny black cats – Moon and Luna. Hayao Miyazaki removed the second one, as the whole story with two “lunar” cats began to resemble the plot of Sailor Moon stories. As a result, Moon became a stray, fat cat.
- The fictional city where the heroes live is located in the same place where the film “Pom Poko” (1994) takes place.
- Overall, the film follows the manga, but differs from it in a number of important details. For example, in the manga, the main character paints pictures, not makes violins. Accordingly, the trip to Italy is also absent. However, Miyazaki preferred a more “conflicting” and difficult option for the characters. Similar changes were made in other similar cases to make the film more dynamic.
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