Facts About WHISPER OF THE HEART (1995)
The film is based on the 1989 manga of the same name by Aoi Hiiragi, which enraptured Hayao Miyazaki upon his discovering it. It is said that while on vacation, Miyazaki expanded upon the original story along with Studio Ghibli producer Toshio Suzuki, Ghost in the Shell director Mamoru Oshii, and Hideaki Anno, the creator of Neon Genesis Evangelion and eventual voice actor for Jiro Horikoshi in Miyazaki’s The Wind Rises.
Whisper of the Heart marked the first Ghibli theatrical release that was not directed by either Miyazaki or Isao Takahata. Instead, it was directed by Yoshifumi Kondo, who many at Ghibli hoped to become the successor of Miyazaki and Takahata. Unfortunately, Kondo passed away of a ruptured anuerysm in 1998 at only 47 years old.
The fantastical backgrounds in the fantasy sequence of Shizuku’s story were created by Japanese surrelist painter Naohisa Inoue. It was also these scenes that marked Studio Ghibli’s first use of digital composition, where some of the more planetary shapes were composed in a computer.
John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads” was actually translated for the film by Toshio Suzuki’s daughter, Mamiko. She also wrote the rewritten version sung by Shizuku in the film, along with the help of Miyazaki.
The movie was the highest grossing Japanese film in the 1995 domestic market.
Shizuku’s novel and the fantasy scenes in the film were so popular with fans that Ghibli went on to make a pseudo sequel following The Baron in 2002 called The Cat Returns.
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