We listen, we watch, we learn. We open our hearts and we open our minds, open our souls.
Whisper of The Heart
Based
on the manga with the same title, this animated film follows Shizuku
(Brittany Snow), an inquisitive young girl and a voracious reader, who
longs to be a writer when she grows up. One day she notices that all of
her library books have previously been taken out by one Seiji Amasawa
(David Gallagher).
Amid chasing after a large cat, befriending an eccentric antiques
dealer (Harold Gould) and writing her first novel, Shizuku aims to find
this mysterious boy who may well be her soul mate.
Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day
A group of six sixth-grade-age childhood friends drift apart after one of them, Meiko "Menma" Honma, dies in an accident. Years after the incident, the leader of the group, Jinta Yadomi, has withdrawn from society, does not attend high school, and lives as a recluse.
One summer day, the ghost of an older-looking Menma appears beside him
and asks to have a wish granted, reasoning that she cannot pass on into
the afterlife until it is fulfilled. At first, he only tries to help
her minimally because he thinks he is hallucinating. But since Menma
does not remember what her wish is, Jinta gathers his estranged friends
together once again, believing that they are the key to resolving this
problem. All of the group join him, though most of them do so
reluctantly. However, things grow increasingly complicated when his
friends accuse him of not being able to get over the death of Menma,
for Jinta is the only one who can see Menma's ghost and his friends
think he is seeing things. But as matters progress, it is realized that
Jinta is not the only person in the group who is having trouble letting
go of the past. It is revealed that all of the group members blame
themselves for Menma's death and long-hidden feelings are rekindled.
The group struggles as they grow from trying to help Menma move on and
help each other move on as well.
Angel Beats!
The
story takes place in the afterlife and focuses on Otonashi, a boy who
lost his memories of his life after dying. He is enrolled into the
afterlife school and meets a girl named Yuri who invites him to join
the Afterlife Battlefront, an organization she leads which fights
against the student council president Angel, a girl with supernatural
powers.When
mysterious shadow monsters begin attacking the SSS, Takamatsu gets
devoured by one, only to reappear as an NPC. Otonashi reasons with the
other SSS members and many of them agree to pass on in lieu of becoming
an NPC, including the rest of Girls Dead Monster, Chaa of the Guild,
and several unnamed members. Yuri destroys the computers responsible
for the shadow program, which was programmed to activate when love was
detected in the world, to prevent it from becoming a true paradise and
maintain its limbo state. Those who are left—Otonashi, Yuri, Kanade,
Hinata and Naoi—hold a graduation ceremony where they thank each other
for their support. After Naoi, Yuri and Hinata pass on, Otonashi learns
that Kanade's regret was not being able to thank him for the heart she
received from Otonashi after his death. Otonashi is heartbroken after
she thanks him and passes on, as he has fallen in love with her. In the
epilogue, two people resembling Otonashi and Kanade meet each other on
the street in the real world. In an alternative epilogue, Otonashi is
shown to have stayed behind in the afterlife to help people pass on.
Spirited Away
In
this animated feature by noted Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki,
10-year-old Chihiro (Rumi Hiiragi) and her parents (Takashi Naitô,
Yasuko Sawaguchi) stumble upon a seemingly abandoned amusement park.
After her mother and father are turned into giant pigs, Chihiro meets
the mysterious Haku (Miyu Irino),
who explains that the park is a resort for supernatural beings who need
a break from their time spent in the earthly realm, and that she must
work there to free herself and her parents.