The live-action adaptation version of Whisper of the Heart (耳をすませば) was released in Japan today. Based on a single-volume manga of the same name, it is most famous for its anime adaptation by Studio Ghibli. I really like the anime adaptation, and was thus very interested in this live-action adaptation that tells the story of the main characters, Shizuku and Seiji, 10 years after their story in the anime. So I booked a ticket for the first show at the nearby cinema, and braved the rain (okay, it was a drizzle) to watch it this morning.
Oh, spoiler alert. This post will have comparisons with the anime adaptation and thus there will be many spoilers.
First, a general feel. The movie contains flashbacks to the time when Shizuku and Seiji were in junior high school, although it is weighted more toward the "10 years later" part of their story. I guess this is because the movie doesn't want to make the assumption that viewers have watched the anime adaptation or read the manga. Telling the "10 years later" without a background story would have been confusing, so these flashbacks are probably there to try and fill in the blanks. I did wonder why they didn't just do a quick telling of the junior high school days at the start of the movie, so that the entire movie follows a more chronological order instead of jumping around in time. But I guess the junior high school part of the story would have probably taken up quite a bit of time, lengthening the movie, plus diluting its supposed focus on "10 years later".
Another thing that anime fans will note immediately. The song has been changed from "Take Me Home, Country Roads" to "翼をください" (Tsubasa wo Kudasai), although it is a more lighthearted rendition (the version played at the credits was performed by 杏 Anne Watanabe). "翼をください" is a famous song in Japan but it can sound quite melancholic, and personally, I thought "Take Me Home, Country Roads" would be more fitting for the overall story. Still, the reason for choosing "翼をください" (which means "give me wings") is probably because in the original manga (or rather, the sequel of the original manga), there was a part about feathers and wings.
While Shizuku's dream remains to write stories, the live-action adaptation changed Seiji's dream from becoming a violin maker (in the anime adaptation) to becoming a celloist. (I am not very sure, but I think in the original manga, Seiji was aspiring to be a painter.) I don't think this change has any significant impact on the overall story, though, if the goal is to make a comparison: Seiji, who has achieved his dream, versus Shizuku, who has not made much headway in becoming a writer.
Watching the movie, I was trying to figure out what the director (the same person who did the live-adaptation of The Promised Neverland) wanted to say with this movie, what story he wanted to tell. Frankly, I am not sure. It looks like a story about Shizuku finding courage to continue to pursue her dream of becoming a writer. But it ended up making 25-year-old Shizuku more like a naive lady who never grew up beyond junior high school. She met setbacks at work, ran off to look for Seiji in Italy, returned to Japan after thinking Seiji is better off in Italy with his pretty fellow celloist, but eventually Seiji came back to Japan to look for her and all ends well in a happy ending. There is no real character development, no real challenge that the main character overcomes to make it a gripping tale. In short, there is no real story, unless the story is to end with a "and they got married and lived happily ever after."
Compared to Laid-Back Camp: Movie, I think this movie didn't do a proper "10 years after" story. Laid-Back Camp: Movie may not be super, but as a "X years later" story, it brings back the characters for a credible challenge which they worked together to overcome. The characters in Laid-Back Camp: Movie also grew and developed during that X years, and are not longer the high schools girls. In this live-action adaptation of Whisper of the Heart, though, the only real main character who has grown and is no longer a junior high school student is Seiji.
The only saving grace is Anne's rendition of "Tsubasa wo Kudasai" at the
end of the movie. Although I prefer the more melancholic version, this
lighthearted rendition was an interesting take at the same song. Since you can listen to this rendition on YouTube, there is no real reason to go watch the movie.
Update 15 Oct 2022: This is another post touching on some of the things which I really didn't like about the movie.
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