I came home from college in time to catch an unexpected Studio Ghibli anime on TV. Its one of the lesser known Ghibli production, called 耳をすませば or Whisper of the Heart, but it's just as awesome. For some reason, Ghibli animes never fail to make me feel nostalgic.

It brings to mind innocent feelings and long-forgotten childhood dreams.

Shizuku spends most of her time reading books borrowed from the library her dad works at, and discovers a name in the library card of every book she borrows (Amasawa Seiji). One day, she accidentally left a book on a bench and went back to find a guy reading it. Of course, said guy turns out to be Amasawa Seiji himself. Typical girl-meets-boy scenario, but coming from Ghibli, it's really not that corny. Quite "aww"-inducing, really. She doesn't know he's the guy till much later though, but watching/reading enough love stories, you'll definitely know.

One day, she met a cat on a train (no kidding) and follows it all the way to a mysterious antique shop. One can only wish we had adventures like this too. This is my favorite part; when she met the old man who owns the shop and he shows her a grandfather clock. He winds it and tells her a story of the King of Dwarves who fell in love with the Fairy Queen but they cannot be together as they live in different worlds. However, when the clock strikes every hour, they can meet.. and the clock slides open to reveal the King of Dwarves who stares longingly up at the Fairy Queen, who stares back, looking equally as sad. Then we find out the old man is Seiji's grandfather. We also find out that Seiji has actually known Shizuku for a long time and has been purposely checking out all the books from the library to get her attention. (Interesting...)

Anyway, I'm getting too carried away. The animation was, as usual, beautiful. The soundtrack is good too, though recognizably not by Joe Hisaishi. I loved the part when Seiji played the violin and Shizuku sang the Japanese version of 'Country Road'.