Whisper of the Heart, Yoshifumi Kondō, Studio Ghibli

Whisper of the heart is a Japanese animation directed by Yoshifumi Kondō. The screenplay was written by Hayao Miyazaki. It was released in 1995. This was the first time that Studio Ghibli released a film that wasn’t directed by Miyazaki or Takahata. Sadly this was Kondō’s only film as a director as he died in 1998. He was considered as a director to join the ranks of Ghibli’s famous two directors. The film revolves around a girl called Shizuku studying at Mukaihara Junior High. She is best friends with Yuko. Her passion is reading and loves spending time at the library. Every time she checks out a book out at the library she notices the same name, Amasawa, has already taken the book out before her. Riding on the train one day she finds herself sitting next to a large white cat. She starts following the cat which leads her to an antique shop. Inside she sees a statuette called “The Baron”. She ends up befriending the old man who owns the shop.

The film follows the relationship between the antique shop owner’s grandson Seiji and Shizuku and their dreams. Seiji dreams of being a violin maker and Shizuko an author. There are some touching moments in this more romantic release from Studio Ghibli. Sieji starts playing the violin on the condition that Shizuku sings. As she starts singing Country Road the grandfather comes in with his musician friends and they all start playing together. There’s plenty of heart in the film and it seems that Kondō showed potential, although not quite yet at the level of Miyazaki and Takahata. It’s a shame that we will never get to see him develop.