Only Yesterday

Overview

The action skips back and forth between 1966 and 1982 as Office Lady Taeko Okajima, visiting the country for a working sabbatical on a farm, recalls events from her childhood-achievements, embarrassments, hopes, dreams, and people. She's trying to decide whether to return to the city and go on with her career or to marry and settle in the countryside, and her reminiscences, at first seemingly aimless, help to shape her decision just as those events and people helped to shape the person she has become.

Hotaru Okamoto's and Yuko Tone's original 1987 story, serialized in Myojo weekly, concentrated on the misadventures of the 10-year-old Taeko-the 1982 framing device was conceived by Takahata solely for the film. Beautiful animation and design are almost taken for granted in a Studio Ghibli production, and the script is excellent. The overall emphasis on the importance of marriage, and the assumption (still widespread in Japan at the time) that a real career and family life are mutually exclusive for women, may offend some viewers. Sexual politics aside, Takahata's tale of one woman's choice recreates everyday life in town and the Yamagata countryside with loving care and a marvelous eye for detail, imparting the weight of a historical document without overwhelming the delicate human story.

Soundtrack

Characters & Voice Actors

Hirota

Masuda, Yuuki

Okajima, Taeko

Honna, Youko Wiederhut, Angela Konstanze ...

Tsuneko, Tani

Iizuka, Mayumi

Staff

	Takahata, Isao
	Momose, Yoshiyuki
	Maeda, Mahiro
	Ohira, Shinya