Omohide poro poro (1991)

Director:

Isao Takahata

Writer:

Isao Takahata (writer)

Release Date:

20 July 1991 (Japan)

Genre:

Animation | Drama

Plot:

A 27-year-old office worker travels to the countryside while reminiscing about her childhood in Tôkyô. |

Plot Keywords:

Flashback Sequence | Country Life | Anime | Folk Music | Childhood Memory

Cast

Miki Imai	...	Taeko (voice)
Toshirô Yanagiba	...	Toshio (voice)
Youko Honna	...	Taeko (Child) (voice)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Mayumi Iizuka	...	Tsuneko Tani, Taeko's stuck-up friend (voice)
Masahiro Ito	...	Father (voice)
Chie Kitagawa	...	Taeko's Grandmother (voice)
Yoshimasa Kondô	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Yuuki Masuda	...	Hirota (voice)
Yuki Minowa	...	Yaeko (voice)
Kazuo Takahashi	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Michie Terada	...	Mother (voice)
Yorie Yamashita	...	Nanako (voice)

Also Known As:

Memories of Teardrops
Memories of Yesterday
Only Yesterday (USA)

Runtime:

118 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

German | Japanese | Hungarian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Germany:12 | UK:PG | Australia:PG | South Korea:All

Company:

Nippon Television Network Corporation (NTV)

Trivia:

Although the Walt Disney Company paid for the US distribution rights as part of its deal with Studio Ghibli, executives later decided that it could not release "Only Yesterday" in the US because the film contained references to menstruation (a clause in Ghibli's distribution contract prohibited Disney from altering the scene to remove the references).

Quotes:

Taeko: The king of fruit is... the king of fruit is...
[the scene flashes from 1966 to 1989]
Taeko: ...the banana!

Movie Connections:

References "Hyokkori hyotan-jima" (1964)

Simple and Moving

This is one of Studio Ghibli's less known films. It tells the story of middle-aged Taeko's gradual realization of her love for the Japanese countryside. Through frequent funny and realistic childhood coming-of-age flashbacks we see that even during moments when life seems hopelessly complicated, it's really quite simple. On a similar note, the ability of anime to refine the needlessly complicated to its essence is one of its great qualities in my opinion. The scene in which little Taeko merrily walks into the sky is an (exaggerated) example of this ability. A live action attempt to show childhood elation would be much more strained. The film does glorify farm living, but doesn't gloss over the difficulties to the extent that most films do. I was skeptical of any animated film's ability to inspire emotion for the beauty of the countryside. I mean... it's just drawings that presume to represent the real thing right? Well, the animators obviously did their research. The scenery isn't artificially...scenic, but it is very beautiful in a subdued, natural way. What most impresses me is the constantly calm mood of the film. Where other films would escalate certain situations to cheesy melodramatics, this film keeps it's feet on the ground (except for little Taeko... I love that scene). On a final note, the voice acting was superb, and the famous (among otaku) ending sequence is very uplifting. If Miramax releases a subtitled version of this, do yourself a favor and pick up a copy.