Well in terms of crazy but still bloody, Rin might be worth a shot. I personally prefered the first 4/6 OVAs but it only cost £6.95 new
Watched my copy of Whisper of the Heart this evening.
Gotta say without a doubt it's my favourite of the Ghibli films I have watched so far, not only is it charming, at times it is humourous, and it's heart is 100% in the right place.
The Bluray transfer is also absolutely lovely, visually the colour looks fine, and the amazing attention to detail and to 'life' really comes out. Gone are sterile, unlived in environments, and we're presented with places that feel full of life; things might be a little messy, the paint might be coming off some walls, there are weeds in the grass, but it feels alive, in a way that a lot of shows just don't manage.
The BD has a nice 5.1 Japanese DTS-MA audio track, the rear surrounds aren't used to heavily, but just accent touches at times, the clarity itself is absolutely fine.
The subs themselves have a little more oddity, but are actually fine, the font they've used is a little wierd though in that all the J, Ys and other such letters bounced 'above the line', as though the text was vertically centred, which is a little wierd. I also noticed one typo I believe, and also one point where I thought a tiny point was lost in translation
"It's a treasure"
"It's Grandfather's Treasure"
You could clearly hear ojiisan and tarakamono, so I felt it was a shame that's not preserved, because Im sure there is a line later in the film which vaguely references that line.
This being said I'm being overtly critical, the film is more than understandable and as someone who doesn't speak Japanese and only remembers a few 'other translations' that it doesn't feel like much has been lost, the visual transfer looks great and very smooth most of the time, sounds absolutely fine on the JP 5.1 and the heart of the film itself is timeless.
I am also glad to say the Studio Canal release preserves Seiji and Shizuku's declarations at the end of the film, I heard Disney in thier wisdom, cut them from some other earlier versions of the western release of the film, which somewhat surprised me.
It's a true shame that Ghibli lost a new director after the release of this film, because I genuinely believe based on Whisper, he might have produced some classics for them. His unexpected death was a real loss to the industry.
9/10
