This is a beautiful film about looking back at our pasts, rediscovering our dreams, and finding the courage to live them out. Taeko's visit at a farm for her vacation finds her learning about farming and the people who do it, connecting things that happen on the farm to stories about her childhood and growing up, and discovering what she truly enjoys in life.

iolence: At one point where her daughter is throwing a fit, her mother slaps her.

Nudity/Sexual Content: At one point, the main character and her grandmother visit a bathhouse. While the girl (and some background characters) are nude, it is completely undetailed, like Barbie dolls. There is also discussion about the main character getting her period.

Other themes: There is one use of the d-word.

Main Review
Only Yesterday is about a 27 year old female office worker named Takeo, who volunteers to work at an organic farm run by a relative of her elder sister-in-law in the country to help with the safflower harvest and get away from city life. During her trip and time on the farm, she reminisces about her past as a bratty child in 1960's Tokyo.


Comments
This story is by far one of Ghibli's most quiet films. While very little happens in this movie, it's still a well-done piece. I found it quite enjoyable and could easily see it as live-action. The movie will most likely bore all children younger than the audience I specified. The reason I specified 12 is that, by this time, most children will at least begun puberty and will, therefore, understand the discussion of it.



Only Yesterday is very nice, poignant film. I recommend it for any Ghibli fan.

Music
It fit the movie well. It's not a bad musical score. The highlight, though, was easily the closing song, The Rose.

Sub vs Dub
There is no dub, and, therefore, there's no comparison

Manga
Only Yesterday, by Hotaru Okamoto and Yuko Tone. I don't know if it's available in the US.

Related Movies
Isao Takahata also directed "Pom Poko" and "Grave of the Fireflies".

Violence Details
Taeko's father slaps her for being a brat and not wearing shoes outside (a taboo in Japan) at one point.

Language Details
None, unless Disney changes it, subtitle-wise.

Nudity Details
There is a short scene in a bathhouse, but, because Takeo is so young, nothing more than some very undetailed rear nudity is seen.

Sexual Content Details
Several schoolgirls are teased by their male classmates about their periods after the girls take a sex-ed class.

Religious Material Details
None, except that which you would expect to see in typical Japanese life