Only Yesterday

Aired: 1991

A theatrical anime directed by Isao Takahata for Studio Ghibli, adapted from the manga by Hotaru Okamoto and Yuko Tone. Twenty-seven-year-old Tokyo office worker Taeko visits the countryside to help with the safflower harvest, and as she works the fields she finds herself revisiting her own fifth-grade summer of 1966. The film weaves present-day Yamagata, rendered in soft watercolour, with carefully observed memories of childhood disappointments, first crushes and family quarrels, inviting viewers to reflect on their own lives. Harumi Miyako's heartfelt ending theme 'Ai wa Hana, Kimi wa Sono Tane' (a Japanese rendition of 'The Rose') deepens its quiet, contemplative beauty.