Whisper of the Heart
From Conservapedia
| Whisper of the Heart | |
|---|---|
| |
| Directed by | Yoshifumi Kondô (Hayao Miyazaki directed the fantasy sequence) |
| Produced by | Hayao Miyazaki, Toshio Suzuki |
| Written by | Hayao Miyazaki |
| Music by | Yuuji Nomi |
| Cinematography | Atsushi Okui |
| Editing by | Takeshi Seyama |
| Distributed by | Studio Ghibli; Disney |
| Release date(s) | 1995 |
| Country | Japan |
| Language | Japanese |
Whisper of the Heart (耳をすませば Mimi wo Sumaseba lit. "If You Listen Closely") is an anime feature film, produced by Studio Ghibli and is one of their releases that is not directed by either Hayao Miyazaki or Isao Takahata, but rather by Yoshifumi Kondô, a protégé of Miyazaki.
The screenplay was written by Miyazaki, based on a manga by Aoi Hiiragi. The film served as a prequel for "The Cat Returns."
Synopsis
The film, which is a simple tale about falling love and learning to believe in oneself, tells the story of Suzuku Tsukishima, who is reaching the end of the final junior high school year. She is a bookworm and dreams of becoming a writer. Although she is outgoing around her friends, she draws into herself when in the presence of her bossy sister and distant, studious parents.
She meets Seiji, who has an ambition to build violins in Cremona, Italy (another hint at Miyazaki's love of the country) as well as his grandfather, a kindly old man who owns an antique shop. In this shop, she comes across a strange statue of a cat with glittering eyes. Inspired by Seiji's utter determination to realize his own dream, she uses the statue to realise her own dreams an writes a story about the cat-shaped sculpture coming to life, which leads to a glorious fantasy scene, skilfully animated by Mizazaki.
Cast
| Character | Japanese Cast | English Cast |
|---|---|---|
| Shizuku Tsukishima | Youko Honna | Brittany Snow |
| Seiji Amasawa | Issei Takahashi | David Gallagher |
| Shirou Nishi | Keiju Kobayashi | Harold Gould |
| Shiho Tsukishima | Yorie Yamashita | Courtney Thorne-Smith |
| Yasuya Tsukishima | Takashi Tachibana | Jorey Burton |
| Asako Tsukushima | Shigeru Muroi | Jean Smart |
