Whisper of the Heart (1995)
耳をすませば
Animation, Drama, Family • 1h 51m
Director: Yoshifumi Kondo
Cast: Yoko Honna, Issey Takahashi, Takashi Tachibana, Shigeru Muroi, Minami Takayama, Mayumi Izuka, Yorie Yamashita, Keiju Kobayashi, Naohisa Inoue, Shigeru Tsuyuguchi, Toshio Suzuki, Maiko Kayama, Yoshimi Nakajima, Mai Chiba, Satoru Takahashi, Akiko Sakaguchi, Hiromi Yasuda, Tatsuya Okada, Yoshihiro Imai, Suguru Egawa, Shiro Kishibe, Mitsuaki Ogawa
Best video release
2011 Japan Studio Ghibli Blu-ray
Upcoming
4K restoration shown in cinemas in 2026, no home release yet
Compare the discs
slow.pics (opens in a new tab)Overview
Shizuku lives a simple life, dominated by her love for stories and writing. One day she notices that all the library books she has have been previously checked out by the same person: "Seiji Amasawa."
2014 Japan "Hayao Miyazaki Collection" Studio Ghibli Blu-ray
Japan Studio Ghibli 4K Blu-ray announced for a November 25, 2026 release
Japanese audio: 2014 Japan "Hayao Miyazaki Collection" Studio Ghibli Blu-ray/US GKIDS Blu-ray
English dub (Disney): 1998 US Disney VHS has better sounding vocals despite altered music and sound effects, the US Disney LaserDisc has limited audio, and 2003 DVD is a fake 5.1 upmix
Releases from 2010 onward have the original music and sound effects, but distorted vocals
English dub (Streamline): 1996 Japan remastered LaserDisc, available in Ghibli Ga Ippai Collection boxset
Director: Michael Arias
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
GKIDS 4K Blu-ray is a sharpened upscale. Caps
GKIDS 4K Blu-ray has a true lossless English dub and correct volume levels for the Japanese audio
Director: Mamoru Oshii
US GKIDS 4K Blu-ray authored by FiM
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
US GKIDS/Australia Umbrella 4K Blu-ray authored by FiM with identical encodes
UHD vs BD comparisons
4K restoration includes a high-fidelity Dolby Atmos remix sourced from new transfers of original magnetic elements, with inconsequential content differences from the original mono mix. Umbrella 4K Blu-ray only includes a 5.1 mixdown of the remix, other discs have it in Dolby Atmos.
Umbrella/GKIDS 4K Blu-ray's 2.0 track is a stereo downmix. Older BDs and LDs have the original mono mix in varying quality, but are all inferior in fidelity to the new Dolby Atmos remix. The digital track on the Bandai/Emotion Japan LaserDisc BELL-942 is the best of the bunch.
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=23714400&postcount=159
Only the GKIDS 4K Blu-ray has the English dub.
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
Director: Jérémie Périn
Video format: UHD Blu-ray
Video format: UHD Blu-ray
Japan King Records 4K Blu-ray
Japan King Records 4K Blu-ray / US GKIDS Blu-ray
US GKIDS Blu-ray for the Amazon English dub
US OOP Funimation Blu-ray for the older Funimation English dub
Japan King Records 4K Blu-ray is an upscale, but has less compression artifacts, it also includes the theatrical cut (:2.0) on standard Blu-ray as a bonus.
Video format: UHD Blu-ray
Japan King Records 4K Blu-ray
Japan King Records 4K Blu-ray / US GKIDS Blu-ray
US GKIDS Blu-ray for the Amazon English dub
US OOP Funimation Blu-ray for the older Funimation English dub
Japan King Records 4K Blu-ray is an upscale, but has less compression artifacts, it also includes the theatrical cut (:1.0) and the DVD cut (:1.01) on standard Blu-ray as bonuses.
Director: Makoto Shinkai
Caveat: Songs are only in Japanese, even with the English dub selected.
JP Toho 4K Blu-ray for the alternate Japanese audio with English songs, and US OOP Funimation Blu-ray for the English dub with English songs
(US GKIDS 4K Blu-ray has a higher bitrate than the Japan Toho 4K Blu-ray, but improvements are minimal, if visible.)
Directors: Katsuichi Nakayama & Kazuya Tsurumaki & Mahiro Maeda & Hideaki Anno
US GKIDS/UK Anime, Ltd. 4K Blu-ray
US GKIDS/UK Anime, Ltd. 4K Blu-ray for both the original Japanese and the Amazon English dub
US GKIDS/UK Anime, Ltd. 4K Blu-ray has higher bitrate and better encoding than the Japan King Records 4K Blu-ray. Japan King Records 4K Blu-ray on the box set has inferior encoding, but includes the theatrical (:3.0+1.0) and streaming (:3.0+1.01) cuts on standard Blu-ray as bonuses.
More Animation on Blu-ray
TV series
TV series
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Video format: UHD Blu-ray
2026 Japan Studio Ghibli (remastered) Blu-ray
France 4K Blu-ray announced
Remastered Blu-ray only included as a pack-in with the 4K Blu-ray. Includes English subtitles and a dub, which the 4K Blu-ray does not.
Japan Studio Ghibli 4K Blu-ray
UK StudioCanal Blu-ray for the English dub
4K Blu-ray includes the original 5.1 mix in its unaltered form, all other releases after the LaserDisc, as well as the remastered Blu-ray, had its dynamic range lowered.
For the English dub, the UK StudioCanal Blu-ray is the least limited mix.
Video format: 1080p Blu-ray
Director: Martin Rosen
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
TV series
4K restoration from Original Camera Negative for all episodes
Director: Ralph Bakshi
Director: Mamoru Oshii
Video format: UHD Blu-ray
Bandai 4K Blu-ray? vs 2008 Japan Bandai Blu-ray (BCXA-0085): same video but includes Bandai English dub and original mix
2026 Bandai 4K Blu-ray
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Researched and maintained by
vanshady,JojoTheMovieOtter,Daniellemgm,Hydra Spectre· last reviewed 4 months ago
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