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Taeko Okajima lives a nondescript life in Tokyo performing office duties in the day and then coming home in the evening to listen to her mother’s remarks on the phone about her unmarried status. In a bid to escape the monotony, Taeko decides to visit the countryside she once loved as a child and spend time on a safflower farm run by relations of hers. But her journey awakens memories she thought she had long abandoned, and Taeko must once again decide the kind of person she truly wants to be.
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What starts as a simple interview of a legendary actress becomes a journey through the history of Japan. But this is no ordinary lesson; from the perspective of this actress, we learn of the beauty and sadness of love, the pain and regret and joy of the Japanese people and their film, through this film: Millennium Actress.
Both Only Yesterday and Millennium Actress are nostalgic in their tone. They are about women looking back into their past, something neither have considered in a long time. The women are able to see the past with new eyes and rekindle something inside of them.
Both use interesting flashbacks that come into present day. However Millennium Actress is far more abstract as most of Chiyoko's story is told through the roles she played blurring the lines between reality and fiction. This actually adds to the sense of time has past and how the memories come into Chiyoko's mind.
Both of these anime are contemplative pieces about women looking back in events in their lives - in Only Yesterday's case, a woman's childhood, in the case of Millennium Actress, an entire life - and both films manage to be subtly affecting. One can't find better examples of mature anime in the best sense of the term.
Whisper of the Heart is a touching Ghibli slice-of-life story, about a young girl named Shizuku. While riding the train, she notices a fat cat riding alongside her. Following the cat, she finds a shop where she is told an enchanting story of a gold statue named "The Baron". WotH follows Shizuku in her struggles to grow, and her budding love with the shopkeeper's son.
Only Yesterday and Whisper... are created by the same studio, but this is not the only connection.Both are showing a way that every person must went - groving up. In very touching, slowly style, creators gives us a unique stories about changes in child life and mind.
Watching Only Yesterday instantly reminded me of Whisper of the Heart. Besides both being Studio Ghibli movies, both have that extremely slow pace they follow. They both also touch on the lives of children and their own kind of struggles. If you want to watch another calm movie, then the other should be the next one.
The Yamadas are an ordinary suburban family that enjoy shopping together, watching TV together, and sharing meals just like anyone else. Or so we think! With grumpy grandma Shige wisecracking at the worst times, and Mummy and Daddy Yamada testing each other’s patience at every turn, no family moment ends without a fascinating mishap. But nobody chooses their family, so the Yamadas must learn to savor the joys, forgive each other’s mistakes and, above all, learn lessons that only make them stronger.
Each of these films involve themselves in charming slice-of-life involving an ordinary Japanese family, complete with the rather distant father who reads the newspaper over the table - with occasional bursts of animated ingenuity. Both My Neighbors The Yamadas and Only Yesterday were produced by Studio Ghibli and directed by Isao Takahata, and have a strikingly similar feel. Only Yesterday actually has a plot, and ultimately focuses on one character - while Yamadas is a plot-less anthology about the whole family - but fans of the quiet pace of one will much appreciate the other.
My Neithbours the Yamadas has far more comedy and an eccentric watercolour picture book concept, while Only Yesterday is a stunning composition of hand-drawn cels, but they tend to leave the viewer with the same wistful and uplifted feeling. Both are directed by Isao Takahata so expect the same attention to detail in characterisation and equally realistic anecdotes. Generally, if it’s more homely and cute slice-of-life you’re looking for, then try one after the other.
In a quaint Japanese town, far from the footprints of tourists, an abandoned robot named Alpha lives a quiet life, while running a coffee shop left by her previous owner. With hardly a customer from day to day, she tends to focus on life's little pleasures, while sporadically wishing for her master's return. But one day, a delivery-robot brings Alpha a camera, and through the pictures inside, her eyes are opened for the first time to the world around her.
Neo Venezia, the pride of planet Aqua, is a quaint city filled with canals and easy-going people. Many companies operate their gondolas on the canals, giving tours to tourists and locals alike, but the most famous of them is the Aria Company. Follow the adventures of Aria's young apprentice, Akari, as she learns the tricks of the trade from her beautiful senior, Alicia. Together with her friends Aika and Alice, apprentices of rival companies, and their seniors Akira and Athena, they train their skills as gondoliers, meeting new people and learning new things about the city each day.
Aria and Only Yesterday are both slice of life titles where nothing earth shattering really seems to happen. The events in both animes are seemingly insignificant, but the events are meaningful and relatable, however subtle they are. If you have any sort of emotional attachment to either anime, the other will surely affect you positively.
