Twenty-five year old Studio Ghibli film finally arrives in America, with Daisy Ridley

One of our favorite anime films out of Studio Ghibli is the film Whisper of the Heart, a romantic drama written by the great Hayao Miyazaki, based on a 1989 manga. The 1991 Japanese hit Only Yesterday has been compared to Whisper of the Heart in its theme and more mature target audience. Only Yesterday is a groundbreaking anime film, a realistic drama for adults, centered around women characters, unique for the time and the medium. And now after twenty-five years, for the first time American audiences have access to the film with its U.S. release this week on DVD and Blu-ray.

Fans of Star Wars: The Force Awakens star Daisy Ridley who can’t wait to see what’s next for the young actress will want to jump on the new release, as Ridley voices the lead role. Other actors dubbed into the 2016 version include Dev Patel (Chappie, The Last Airbender, The Newsroom) and Ashley Eckstein (Ahsoka Tano in Star Wars Rebels).

Only Yesterday is surprisingly slow to arrive as an English version particularly since it is a stand-out among Studio Ghibli films. Only Yesterday was the #1 highest grossing movie in Japan in its first year of release, netting nearly $2 billion. Miyazaki served as a producer, and the film was directed by the Academy Award-nominated Isao Takahata. With this week’s release Studio Ghibli completists can add the only remaining film from the studio to make it into their home viewing collections.

Check out this preview of Only Yesterday: