Studio Ghibli’s Only Yesterday Is the Perfect Film for Adults Who Have Lost Themselves

In 1985, Hayao Miyazaki, Isao Takahata, and Toshio Suzuki established Studio Ghibli. Since its founding, the company has grown to become one of Japan’s most renowned animation companies. Some of the most well-known animated movies produced by the company, including Howl’s Moving Castle, Spirited Away, and My Neighbor Totoro, were directed by Hayao Miyazaki.
Only three Studio Ghibli movies, all of which were directed by the company’s co-founder Isao Takahata, have garnered a perfect Rotten Tomatoes rating. Only Yesterday, Takahata’s second film and second to get a perfect score, has the same exquisite animation for which the studio is renowned, but it also contains a distinctive mood that affects spectators in a novel manner.
Studio Ghibli’s Only Yesterday Is the Perfect Film for Adults Who Have Lost Themselves
“You Sure Hang Onto Things, Don’t You?”

Released in Japan in 1991 and internationally in 2006, Only Yesterday In 2016, an English dub featuring Dev Patel, the breakthrough star of Slumdog Millionaire, and Daisy Ridley from Star Wars was published. In the movie, Taeko Okajima, 27, is followed as she vacations in the country to help out on her brother-in-family law’s farm. Taeko considers her former fifth-grade self and recollections from that time when riding trains, growing safflower, and climbing Mount Zao. Her history facilitates communication with the family of her brother-in-law, which also includes the adolescent girl Naoko and the organic farmer Toshio. Taeko discovers her ambitions and her place in the world through interacting with new people and opening up about her history.
Taeko is first shown leaving her bustling Tokyo office job to get ready for her journey to Yamagata at the opening of the movie. She says that her relationship status is nothing to worry about at her age while on the phone with her sister. Taeko feels excited about travelling to the countryside despite the talk. Her mind is overflowing with recollections of her younger self at the beginning of her adventure. She is certain that there must be some relevance to the fact that all of these memories seem to have occurred during her fifth-grade academic year. She is welcomed by Toshio, a guy a little younger than her, as soon as she exits the train. Even though he shouts her name, she doesn’t know he isn’t a bag thief until Toshio explains that he is a member of her brother-in-family. law’s After everything are resolved, Toshio takes Taeko to the farm where she has a second opportunity to rediscover herself.
“A Sunny Day or a Cloudy Day?”

Taeko Okajima’s recollections bring back a lot of memories for her. When Taeko was a little girl and learned that all of her friends were travelling to the country, she requested that her family go as well, even though she had no relatives there. She learnt about guy crushes and how they believed that menstruation was infectious. Taeko discovered that she had to accept what was handed to her, even if she didn’t like it. Despite not doing well in arithmetic class, she was a gifted writer who also briefly fell in love with the stage while playing Village Child #1. Taeko finally grew up and remained in Tokyo, where she discovered a 9–5 work that she didn’t have any connection to, but she did so because of family and what she had learnt to be essential. Taeko is able to put her interests back together when she left the city once again and encountered people who were curious about her recent remembrance of her fifth-grade history. She loves the countryside and everything that it offers in terms of independence, natural beauty, and people. The conclusion makes a suggestion that Taeko decided to remain in the nation and pursue a romance with Toshio.
Taeko’s situation forced her to work in the city at a job she disliked, but she followed her heart and discovered what she had been searching for her whole life. She was urged to try to fit in in a world where she felt like an odd child. However, Only Yesterday shows that it’s better to go with your gut and not what other people tell you to do.
Reference Sites:
- https://animesee.com/
- https://www.crunchyroll.com/
- https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/
- https://www.cbr.com/