A Whisper of the Heart

The feature film Whisper of the Heart by Studio Ghibli is about a Fourteen year old girl names Shizuku Tsukishima from a small school on the outskirts of Tokyo and her adventures that lead her to Italy.She is a typical flighty girl who does not apply herself to her studies, instead she uses most of her time reading fairy tales and her work in putting words to the song : â€Å"Take Me Home, Country Roads†.Another thing that preoccupies her is the writing of a fantasy novel that revolves around a cat figurine named The Baron, that she sees at Mr. Nishi’s antique shop. In relation to the quote â€Å" Despite the many exceptions, a general apathy to realism as a style is one explanation for the enormous popularity of manga and anime†, the film gains its audience from the escapist and anti-establishment appeal.For example Shizuku essentially abandons her studies to dedicate herself to writing a book. Given her age, 14, she is only in junior high school, abandoning her studies at this point will have dire consequence for her future.This is essentially a counter-culture in Japan where education is still valued and where many teenagers will beat their heads on the wall in collegiate entrance exam review schools euphemistically called â€Å"Cram Schools† in order to get into the finest universities. Their motivation is because those who come from good school are practically assured of a worthy corporate career.Another instance of this is Seiji a boy, who like Shizuku, abandons the traditional path of success (Study Hard to get a good Job etc.) and chooses to be Luthier. The career has an uncertain future in Japan and requiring an apprenticeship abroad.The films subplot involving a cat named The Baron, in Shizuku’s book is so popular that another film was made about the book. The Movie whisper in the wind is a head in the clouds adventure that many Japanese youths, disenchanted by the failures of the old ways because Japan has been in r ecession for more than a decade, sympathize with despite its unrealistic and flighty plot.