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REVIEW: Whisper of the Heart Blu-Ray + DVD


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TurnerJ



Joined: 05 Nov 2004
Posts: 481
Location: Highland Park, NJ
PostPosted: Wed Nov 19, 2014 12:12 pm Reply with quote
This is another one of my favorite Ghibli movies. The dub on this is quite enjoyable too; in fact it's among my top five. Seriously, this, LAPUTA, KIKI, MONONOKE, and TOTORO (both dubs) are my top favorite dubs of all time.
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dtm42



Joined: 05 Feb 2008
Posts: 14084
Location: currently stalking my waifu
PostPosted: Wed Nov 19, 2014 1:05 pm Reply with quote
One of my absolute favourite Ghibli films, and probably the best I've seen after Only Yesterday. I'm really glad this was finally reviewed here at ANN.
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thekingsdinner



Joined: 25 Sep 2010
Posts: 1069
Location: Geertruidenberg, Netherlands
PostPosted: Wed Nov 19, 2014 1:16 pm Reply with quote
This one is still my absolute favorite Ghibli film of all. If only the UK Blu-ray wasn't so damn expensive, I'd get it without a single doubt.
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kazenoyume



Joined: 18 Apr 2006
Posts: 425
PostPosted: Wed Nov 19, 2014 2:23 pm Reply with quote
I'm confused as to why it didn't get a straight up A? No negatives were cited in the review.

Anyway yeah, this movie is an an understated masterpiece.
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Gyt Kaliba



Joined: 25 Nov 2007
Posts: 712
Location: Arkansas
PostPosted: Wed Nov 19, 2014 2:30 pm Reply with quote
This is easily my favorite Studio Ghibli film of all time, and I'm always saddened to remember that Kondo didn't get to go on and give us many, many more works. I've also read the manga that inspired the movie, and to be honest...the manga just doesn't hold up. Maybe I'm biased because I saw the film first, but I just don't get the same feelings out of it that I do from the movie.

More people need to see this movie, that's for sure.
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PingSoni
Subscriber



Joined: 05 Dec 2008
Posts: 195
Location: Lansing MI
PostPosted: Wed Nov 19, 2014 2:39 pm Reply with quote
Wonderful review of one of my most favorite anime films! You really captured the subtle magic I feel every time I watch this. Thank you!
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kawaiibunny3



Joined: 10 Aug 2008
Posts: 534
Location: Houston, Texas
PostPosted: Wed Nov 19, 2014 2:41 pm Reply with quote
I remember the first time I watched it, maybe I just wasn't paying attention, but I didn't get it and I thought it was a boring love story, nice, but forgettable.

It wasn't until I was a senior in college when the blu-ray came out and I was working on my semester long thesis project - filled with all sorts of excitement and self-doubt- I watched it again and was blown away by how great it was and how much I could understand Shizuku's character and how it sort of pushed me a little during that time.

It may not be my favorite ghibli movie, but its definitely one that I relate to alot.

Its such a shame Kondo died so soon. I would've loved to see what more he had to say as a director.
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Lactobacillus yogurti



Joined: 17 Aug 2011
Posts: 845
Location: Latin America
PostPosted: Wed Nov 19, 2014 3:11 pm Reply with quote
My favorite bit, and I'm sad they didn't mention it, is when they have an improptu jam session using antique instruments (recorder, lute, tambourine, viola da gamba and another instrument I haven't been able to recognize), plus Seiji on the violin and Shizuku singing.
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Knoepfchen



Joined: 13 Dec 2012
Posts: 698
PostPosted: Wed Nov 19, 2014 3:38 pm Reply with quote
This must be my favorite first love/coming of age movie there is. It's romantic without being overly sentimental, full big dreams, yet emotionally grounded, has tons of wonderful details and magic around every corner - not the Hogwarts, but the real life's full of magic kind. It's totally unique, but totally Ghibli at the same time. Such a shame we never got to follow the director's evolution beyond this movie.
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Angel'sArcanum



Joined: 02 Sep 2010
Posts: 303
Location: Toronto, Ontario
PostPosted: Wed Nov 19, 2014 3:45 pm Reply with quote
This film didn't click with me actually as much as I really wanted it to sadly, but I will say the dub is exceptional. I'm the kind of guy who prefers really honed and well done slice-of-life-esque stuff if the emotions feel genuine and nuanced and the story - tender, but sadly this film came off as corny to me. The interactions certainly felt wholesome in the first 10-20 mins, but then the characters started to become really corny and too tsundere for me to care. When things were heading towards the ending, I was expecting something more realistic and melancholic with a sense of hope, but then it gets pretty sugar coated, sappy and too perfect. Heck, the whole romantic angle felt a bit hammy to me to begin with, idk; it can't hold a candle to Only Yesterday IMO, which even then suffered from a tacked-on romantic angle that soiled it somewhat. As far as Ghibli feature films go, Totoro easily sits at the top which is a bit disappointing because I figured I would be more of a Takahata guy, but I guess I need to see his WMT stuff and Princess Kaguya still.
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thecritter



Joined: 09 Nov 2003
Posts: 68
Location: Northwest GA
PostPosted: Wed Nov 19, 2014 4:34 pm Reply with quote
This film struck a chord with me when I first saw it more than a decade ago. I'd easily rate it as one of their best. I use it as my favorite example of how an extremely low-key film can be among the deepest.

It's a crying shame that the nearly-as-good Only Yesterday hasn't had a North American release.
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TurnerJ



Joined: 05 Nov 2004
Posts: 481
Location: Highland Park, NJ
PostPosted: Wed Nov 19, 2014 4:54 pm Reply with quote
I also have to say that the negative in the review that the dub handles Shizuku's lyrics in a different way really shouldn't be a negative at all, because in my opinion, how DO you make a film like this work in English? You certainly can't have her say she's going to translate the lyrics which are already English into English, and it wouldn't make sense to do so in Japanese for an English-speaking audience. Therefore I applaud the Hewitts for coming up with a compromise to the problem that really doesn't harm the essence of the original at all. The film's impact still stayed with me either way.
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Jayhosh



Joined: 24 May 2013
Posts: 972
Location: Millmont, Pennsylvania
PostPosted: Wed Nov 19, 2014 5:10 pm Reply with quote
Angel'sArcanum wrote:
This film didn't click with me actually as much as I really wanted it to sadly, but I will say the dub is exceptional. I'm the kind of guy who prefers really honed and well done slice-of-life-esque stuff if the emotions feel genuine and nuanced and the story - tender, but sadly this film came off as corny to me. The interactions certainly felt wholesome in the first 10-20 mins, but then the characters started to become really corny and too tsundere for me to care. When things were heading towards the ending, I was expecting something more realistic and melancholic with a sense of hope, but then it gets pretty sugar coated, sappy and too perfect. Heck, the whole romantic angle felt a bit hammy to me to begin with, idk; it can't hold a candle to Only Yesterday IMO, which even then suffered from a tacked-on romantic angle that soiled it somewhat. As far as Ghibli feature films go, Totoro easily sits at the top which is a bit disappointing because I figured I would be more of a Takahata guy, but I guess I need to see his WMT stuff and Princess Kaguya still.


Anybody who describes a Ghibli film with the term "tsundere" clearly isn't the audience their targeting nor care about.

Why do so many of the great visionaries of the anime industry leave us so soon? I'm still curious about what the state of Kon's The Dreaming Machine is.
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Sylontack



Joined: 09 Apr 2011
Posts: 193
PostPosted: Wed Nov 19, 2014 6:22 pm Reply with quote
This is and was by far my favourite Ghibli film.

It's not a wild fantasy, it's not a simple slice-of-life but it's just a wonderful story that speaks to anyone who has found themselves a little lost in life.
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Lord Dcast



Joined: 07 Nov 2014
Posts: 644
Location: 'Straiya
PostPosted: Wed Nov 19, 2014 6:38 pm Reply with quote
WOTH is my least favourite Ghibli movie, and I freakin' love it! That's saying something about the studio as a whole...
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