Taeko spends her holiday from Tokyo on a farm picking safflowers and realizing a richer sense of self.
Originally released in Japan in 1991, Isao Takahata's thoughtful Studio Ghibli anime Only Yesterday now receives its North American release, complete with newly dubbed English voices.
The animation is marked by a simple sort of elegance; the story lucidly and lyrically moves back and forth from 1982 to 1966 – unexpected nostalgia in the mind of a 27-year-old single woman who makes a train journey from city to countryside, with her flashback fifth-grade self along for the ride.
The woman is Taeko (voiced by Daisy Ridley, from Star Wars: The Force Awakens), who spends her holiday from Tokyo on a farm picking safflowers and realizing a richer sense of self.
As a young girl Taeko struggled with math, menstruation and a taciturn father. As an adult, she remains a late bloomer, her purpose yet to be defined.
A butterfly metaphor is employed by the time-flipping Takahata, a filmmaker whose delightful Only Yesterday took 25 years to arrive right on time.