Young Love At Its Best...

Whisper of the Heart or Mimi Wo Sumabesa (If You Listen Closely) is a captivating, charming and poignant tale about a school girl Shizuku Tsukishima. In this movie she is working on the translation of John Denver's "Country Road" song. The whole plot begins when Shizuku discovered a name -Seiji Amasawa- written on several library cards. She became curious. One day she met an unnamed boy at the school. She seemed to be irritated by the boy's aloofness towards her. Then one day while sitting on the train to go to the library, Shizuku comes across a cat sitting on the train by itself. The cat gets off at her stop, and Shizuku decides to follow the cat. Upon following the cat, Shizuku is lead to an antique shop. Gradually, she learned that the unnamed boy is actually Seiji Amasawa ! And thus begins the wonderful, heartwarming journey, about one's girl journey about growth and self-discovery.

Though this movie wasn't directed by Miyazaki, I would have to say this movie is very similar to Miyazaki's movie Kiki's Delivery Service. These two movies tell a tale about coming of age and self-discovery. Again with this being a Studio Ghibli film, the animation of the movie is very detailed and colourful. Even though the movie doesn't use orchestrated music the music of the movie was simply noteworthy. The background music was mainly of soft violin,flute and string guitar themes. I really adore the scene where Shizuku sings along Seiji's violin's performance. In the final analysis, this is another brilliant masterpiece by Studio Ghibli, that is suitable for the whole family. Most importantly, the ending leaves a nice feeling in the stomach, so it comes highly recommended. Never thought puppy love could ever be this profound...