Whisper of the Heart - 2003-08-07 8:16 p.m. I'm back!! Thank you, all. It was a false alarm, nothing serious, alhamdulillah! Thanks again! Oh, and starting this week, I am going to review some anime movies by Studio Ghibli. :) Whisper of the Heart (1995) personal review An animated movie by Yoshifumi Kondou, written and produced by Hayao Miyazaki - Studio Ghibli, Japan. We are accustomed to the fact that animated movies or cartoons have to be childish and funny in nature, but in actuality, there are things that sometimes only animation can express, and that is why Japanese animation or animes are different than western-based cartoons. Studio Ghibli is the equivalent of Disney in Japan, although - believe it or not - that is an understatement from a creativity point of view, so much so that the Disney animators consider Hayao Miyazaki as a god of animation. The late Yoshifumi Kondou was an apprentice under Miyazaki and another Studio Ghibli founder - Isao Takahata, and he did a wonderful job directing this movie. Even Miyazaki himself directed a small portion of the film himself, but instead of taking anything away from Kondou's work, he adds another welcomed dimension to the movie. First and foremost, this is not your typical action-packed anime that most people relate to. As a matter of fact, most of Studio Ghibli's titles are very subtle, quiet and poignant. This is a movie about young people and growing up. "Whisper of the Heart" is centered around 14-year old Shizuku, a bookworm who aspires to be a writer when she grows up. Every time she checks a book out of the library (and that's a lot), she will notice a name - Seiji Amasawa - on the book card. Of course, eventually or rather, inevitably, they will meet and fall in love with each other through a series of events. It sounds simple doesn't it, but like all Studio Ghibli movies, it's more intricate and complex than what's on the surface. Seiji's ambition is to make violins, and in order to reach it, he has to go to Italy to study violin-making. The thing is, this is not a common love story about long-distance relationship, but more about discovering a person's self and learning his/her limits. When Shizuku looks at Seiji, she does not only see a young man determined to succeed, but also as a measure of what she is and her future. So, these things change her and the people around her, and in the end, everything falls in the right place. What makes it more compelling is the fact that we could relate to all the characters, even though they are actually just a drawings on pieces of paper and film prints. The action and conversations are very normal, and the dilemmas are real and honest. One of the things that make Studio Ghibli's production stand out from the rest is the drawings themselves. There is full little things that are very life like, and the scenes linger a little bit longer than usual because people's actions does not stop when a conversation or plot is over. There's a scene when Shizuku and Seiji were on the top of the school and everything was quiet, actionless and still, but at the same time, that moment conveyed more emotions than you would feel during a whole Pauly Shore movie. To me, that is the whole point of a movie. A scene does not have to be full of noises and actions to get points across. A master movie maker should be able to use the screen like an artist uses his canvas. One advantage an animated movie has over others is that there is no limits to what a creator or director can do. Nothing is impossible. But that's a double-edge sword. A master animator and a creator must know how to utilize the tools that he is given, and here, Kondou uses it wisely. The view of the city (Tokyo) is rich with details. Everything works seamlessly perfect in a real-world kind of way. It is just plain gratifying and fulfilling to experience the movie. Some may consider the pace a little bit slow, but that was the purpose actually. Growing up is not easy, and most of us felt that it took a long time to pass through those teen years. But somehow, I got through it, and somehow, I know that Shizuku and Seiji will get through it in one piece, too.