From Up on Poppy Hill

From Up on Poppy Hill (Japanese: コクリコ坂から, Hepburn: Kokuriko-zaka Kara, lit. 'From Coquelicot Hill') is a 2011 Japanese animated drama film directed by Gorō Miyazaki, written by Hayao Miyazaki and Keiko Niwa, animated by Studio Ghibli for the Nippon Television Network, Dentsu, Hakuhodo DY Media Partners, Walt Disney Japan, Mitsubishi, and Toho, and distributed by the latter company. It is based on the 1980 serialized manga of the same name illustrated by Chizuru Takahashi and written by Tetsurō Sayama. The film stars the voices of Masami Nagasawa, Junichi Okada, Keiko Takeshita, Yuriko Ishida, Jun Fubuki, Takashi Naito, Shunsuke Kazama, Nao Ōmori and Teruyuki Kagawa. Set in 1963 Yokohama, Japan, the film tells the story of Umi Matsuzaki (Nagasawa), a high school girl living in an old hospital turned boarding house, the 'Coquelicot Manor'. When Umi meets Shun Kazama (Okada), a member of the school's newspaper club, they decide to clean up the school's clubhouse, the 'Latin Quarter'. However, Tokumaru (Kagawa), the chairman of the local school board and a businessman, intends to demolish the building for redevelopment for the 1964 Summer Olympics, Umi and Shun, along with class president Shirō Mizunuma (Kazama), must persuade Tokumaru to reconsider. From Up on Poppy Hill premiered in Japan on July 16, 2011. It received positive reviews from most film critics and grossed $61 million worldwide. An English version was distributed by GKIDS; it was released to theaters on March 15, 2013, in North America.