Whisper of the Heart Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		4.0

Whisper of the Heart Blu-ray Movie Review

In collaboration with Studio Ghibli and GKIDS, Shout! Factory has reissued Yoshifumi Kondô's Whisper of the Heart (1995), which was written and storyboarded by Hayao Miyazaki. The 2-disc Blu-ray and DVD set has ported over all of the same extras present on the 2012 Disney/Buena Vista release, has licensed a nearly five-minute featurette that appeared on both the Region B UK Studio Canal and AU Madman Entertainment editions, and has enclosed a slender leaflet. For thoughts on the highly acclaimed anime feature and a critique of a/v specs, you can see my colleague Kenneth Brown's review of Disney's BD/DVD twin pack here.

This edition comes with a slipcover, an Elite case for the discs, and an exclusive booklet (see centerfold photo in Screenshot #3). Cover art on the slip and keep case covers is identical (see #s 1 and 10).

Front of slip cover and back of BD case.

Whisper of the Heart Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Shout! presents Whisper of the Heart in the aspect ratio of 1.85:1 that mirrors its original theatrical exhibition. For reasons unexplainable, Disney encoded the main feature on its BD-50 at an average video bitrate of only 17.95 Mbps. Shout! has given the MPEG-4 AVC-encoded transfer a new encode that almost doubles its predecessor (a mean of 30000 kbps). The entire Shout! disc boasts a total bitrate of 40.76 Mbps. Frame grab #s 5-9 are taken from the new disc.

Shout! has divided the feature up into twenty-four chapter breaks.

Whisper of the Heart Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Whisper of the Heart's sound track options consist of the original Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Surround (3978 kbps, 24-bit), an English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 alternate mix (3998 kbps, 24-bit), and a Dolby Digital 5.1 (448 kbps) dubbed in French.

There are three subtitling options: English SDH for the English sound track, English subtitles for the original language version, and French subtitles.

Whisper of the Heart Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Feature-Length Storyboards (1:51:04, 1080p) - Miyazaki's complete storyboards framed in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen. All of the other BDs, including the US Buena Vista, incorporated them as solely a picture-in-picture option. (PiP is not available on the Shout!)

• "Four Masterpieces of Naohisa Inoue: From Start to Finish" gallery (34:46, 1080p)

• "Background Artwork from The Baron's Story" (4:47, 480i)

• "Behind the Microphone" featurette (8:02, 480i)

• Original Japanese Theatrical Trailers and TV Spots (10:51, 1080p) - the first is like an extended promotional featurette about Whisper of the Heart.

• NEW Exclusive Booklet - seven color stills accompany a statement by producer Toshio Suzuki and an essay on shōjo manga by Miyazaki.

Whisper of the Heart Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

For a time, Whisper of the Heart was arguably the rarest American Blu-ray in the Studio Ghibli library. Indeed, used copies of the B.V./Disney package go for over $70 while factory-sealed copies will cost you $150. Shout! Factory has rectified this scarcity with a fine reissue that features a new video encode and an illustrated booklet with original text translated into English. The re-release is a no-brainer and comes HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.