Who could ever say no to Studio Ghibli? For more than two and a half decades, the Japanese animation studio set-up by Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata have continued to put out success after success, becoming quite probably the best-known non-English language animation studio in the world.

With the advent of Blu-Ray, the studio’s earlier films are slowly getting re-released in the High-Definition format, and Whisper of the Heart is the most recent to do so, and it is an absolutely fantastic film that has had a wonderful transfer.

Based on the manga of the same name by Aoi Hiiragi, Whisper of the Heart was written and storyboarded by Miyazaki and directed by the late Yoshifumi Kond?, and marked the second Ghibli film that wasn’t directed by either of the co-founders when it came out in 1995.

The film tells the tale of a young girl, Suzuku Tsukishima (Y?ko Honna), living in Western Tokyo, who learns at times the hard way about growing up and falling in love. True to the wonderful Ghibli spirit, the film is not without its elements of fantasy, and Suzuku’s love of reading soon transforms into an unflinching dedication to write a story of her own, bringing to life a figurine of a gentlemanly cat, known as the Baron, who would later be given a Ghibli film of his very own in The Cat Returns.

Stories that revolve around fifteen-year-old girls falling in love, in my opinion, usually tend to be pretty poorly dealt with. And this is for one of two reasons (and often both): fifteen-year-old actors and actresses often aren’t yet talented enough to deal with the subject convincingly; and/or they’re almost always centred in a stereotypical American high school with an unoriginal storyline that we’ve all seen before.

Whisper of the Heart is different. The story is and isn’t about Suzuku learning about love, because it’s so much more than that too, as you might expect from Ghibli. The film opens on a beautiful picture of a cityscape, and the film’s theme song, ‘Take Me Home, Country Roads’, plays in the background. Like the song, the film has moments of melancholy that reflect on the change that had been taking place across the world in the years before its release, with the rapid development of technology making many things obsolete. And whilst I admit that I was only five when the film was first released, I can imagine that as beneficial as the progression was in many ways, in a lot of others, there must have been at least a partial longing for the days gone by, and this is an idea that is beautifully explored in many big and small ways through the course of the film.

When people think of animated films, it is perhaps natural to consider them largely aimed at children, but again, this is where Ghibli outdoes everyone else. They make them easily accessible to children whilst also developing a much deeper story beneath that surface that people of all ages can enjoy. It may sound like a cliché, but it’s true. They do it like no other films I’ve seen before, and Whisper of the Heart is a prime example.

It has both moments of seriousness and moments of joy, and you relish in them all whilst watching. Particularly, a stray cat that goes by many names – known to Suzuku as Moon – is a delight to watch on screen. He teases the dogs in the neighbourhood, and gets around by taking the train from place to place. He is somewhat reminiscent of Tramp, from Disney’s Lady and the Tramp, in that he is known by several names and is fed by many families. And if you haven’t seen the film already, you’re going to love him. I’ve never seen a cat that can look simultaneously so stubborn yet so adorable before; perhaps the benefits that animation grant over live-action.

My personal preference with foreign language films is to watch them with subtitles, which is how I enjoyed Whisper of the Heart. I can’t stand dubbed films, but I do know that Ghibli are well-known for taking time and effort to make sure that a good dubbed version is produced, and Whisper of the Heart is no different. If you choose to watch it in English, you won’t be disappointed, with the lovely Brittany Snow providing the voice for Suzuku. (But if you’re like me, you’ll be pleased to know that the Japanese version is available too with English subtitles.)

I came to Whisper of the Heart not knowing anything about it beyond that it was a Ghibli film. I had high expectations of a great film ahead of me, and they were exceeded every step of the way. The animation is beautiful, and its Blu-Ray release helps to magnify that beauty even more than what I imagine the original must have first looked like. There is a meaningful story here, and it’s one that can be enjoyed by everyone. I can’t recommend it enough.

Whisper of the Heart comes out on Blu-Ray/DVD Double Play today, 9th January, and is released simultaneously alongside Ghibli’s latest film, Arrietty, which can also be bought on either DVD or Blu-Ray/DVD Double Play.

[Rating:5/5]

 

Special Features:

The special features for this latest Blu-Ray/DVD edition include: Picture-in-Picture Storyboards, Background Artwork from ‘The Baron’s Story’, 4 Masterpieces of Naohisa Inoue: From Start to Finish, Behind the Microphone, TV Spots, Original Japanese Theatrical Trailers, and Studio Ghibli Collection Trailers.

The Picture-in-Picture Storyboards allow you to see the storyboards on the screen in real-time whilst watching the feature, and offer a lovely insight into how the film first looked to Miyazaki as he was writing it.

The Background Artwork from ‘The Baron’s Story’ gives a short look at some of the artwork created for Suzuku’s imaginary tale, and it’s clear from the images that she has a vivid imagination. Naohisa Inoue’s masterpieces are similarly a delight to watch being brought to life, layer-by-layer, as the film’s background artist.

Behind the Microphone takes a look at the English-language cast lending their voices to the film, and the Studio Ghibli Collection Trailers offers a ten-minute montage of trailers from some of the studio’s best- and little-known works over the years.

I’m always a big fan of director’s commentaries on the special features, but sadly director Kond? passed away in 1998, which is a real tragedy. Understandably, any Blu-Ray exclusive features can’t involve the director. Getting an insight into his creative process would have been fascinating, even more so since this was his feature directorial debut, having worked with Miyazaki and Takahata since the early 1970s, even before they founded Studio Ghibli. A truly brilliant film from inspired and genius filmmakers.

[Rating:4/5]