Yoshifumi Kondō (1950–1998)

Studio Ghibli’s best -kept secret replaces screenwriter Hayao Miyazaki’s usual fantasy worlds with a romantic teen drama set in the Tokyo suburbs – but it’s no less magical for that. It’s the story of Shizuku, a teen bookworm inspired to find her own artistic expression by a violin maker, a statue of a cat, and John Denver’s ‘Take Me Home, Country Roads’. Ghibli’s painterly textures keep the delicate emotions of this minor-key treasure from tumbling into schmaltz, all the show more more moving because first-time director Yoshifumi Kondô died shortly after.
-Simon Kinnear show less

B+ (Very good).

A girl's more interested in reading stories than studying.

I don't know why I enjoyed this movie as much as I did. It was just a lovely, immersive place to be for a little while.

(Aug. 2025)