is just about my favorite movie ever.  besides fantasia ;)

What’s it about?  A girl who loves to read. :) This is probably the most romantic of all Ghibli movies.  It’s bursting at the seams with dreamy fairytale sparkles without blaring “I LOVE YOU” through a megaphone like Ponyo does.  It’s a close-your-eyes-and-wince-as-you-hug-her movie, which is literally the ending scene. =]  I like that sweet hesitant awkwardity of teenage crushes.

I also love the music in this film.  I love the characters.  You can almost touch the layers of interwoven symbolism that all refreshingly make sense and occasionally surface like background wind chimes after the ponyo bad hair day.  And I like the extras (walk-ons, scenery shots), as classically ghibli as they are, including the hinted environmental references.

“You got a plastic bag just for one carton of milk?!”

*shrug* “They just give it to you.”

“You could have said no thank you.”

Ghibli fans can also appreciate the Ghibli references.  I thought that The Cat Returns might be somehow connected to this movie, and it’s actually the sequel! (2002)  The other reference I spotted was the “Porco Rosso” (1992) engraving on the fairytale grandfather clock.  Porco Rosso is a very different movie altogether, incidentally based in Italy. ;) For a Ghibli timeline, click

Whisper of the Heart was made in 1995 and you can see through the setting that it’s an old fashioned one.  Besides the 20th century mindset of the Japanese characters with minds preoccupied on the future and marriage, Shizuku’s sister’s laptop looks like it’s from the stone age. But my favorite part about the remniscent attitudes is the pure, raw motivation the younsters each have.  There are many “lessons of life” paralleling the romance which may be over the top for the action movie types; following your dreams is one of them.  Literally.  Anybody over the age of ~20 can fully appreciate the refusal of Seiji and Shizuku to go down the beaten path of “respectable careerhood.”  Many people may feel some jealousy as Shizuku refuses to study for her tests and chases her dream instead.  This girl has a soulmate who will encourage her through the trials of carving out the artist inside of her.  You know they’ll have a happy life together, even if they don’t make a lot of money. =)  Pursuing a passion for happiness alongside your best friend is a dream come true for anybody.

Fairytales, books, violins, cats, this is the best movie.  Go rent it!