Whisper of the Heart
Director: Yoshifumi Kondo
Year Released: 1995
Rating: 1.0
Sweet Valley High-type anime that involves a young girl's bibliophilia and her crush on a boy who wants to become a great violin maker. My not owning a vagina (or being 13-years-old) gets in the way of identifying with her story, and the lack of fantastic elements and comedy - which were featured in The Cat Returns, a pseudo-sequel and altogether different kind of film - force the film to be too stodgy. I guess for the whole high-school-love angle to work for me, it has to be surrounded by lunacy and exaggeration, which may explain my unabashed love for Oh My Goddess (goofy teenage awkwardness ... and magic!), Ranma ½ (men turn into women and animals) and Chobits (men fall in love with a robot). A special note for those keeping score at home: Extra points have been deducted for the inclusion of a Bob Denver song.
