Only Yesterday

Only Yesterday (Japanese: おもひでぽろぽろ, Hepburn: Omohide Poro Poro; lit. 'Memories Come Tumbling Down') is a 1991 Japanese animated drama film written and directed by Isao Takahata, based on the 1982 manga Omoide Poro Poro by Hotaru Okamoto and Yuko Tone. Produced by Toshio Suzuki, it was animated by Studio Ghibli for Tokuma Shoten, Nippon Television Network and Hakuhodo, and distributed by Toho. The film follows a twenty-seven-year-old Taeko Okajima as she takes a holiday with her relatives in the country, during the course of her trip she reminisces about her life when she was ten. The ending theme song "Ai wa Hana, Kimi wa sono Tane" (愛は花、君はその種子; "Love is a flower, you are the seed") is a Japanese translation of Amanda McBroom's composition "The Rose". The film was released on July 20, 1991. A surprise box office success, it attracted a large adult audience and became the highest-grossing Japanese film of 1991 in the country. It has also been well received by critics outside of Japan—maintaining a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. To celebrate the film's 25th anniversary, GKIDS released the film for the first time in an English-language format on February 26, 2016, featuring the voices of Daisy Ridley, Dev Patel, Alison Fernandez, Laura Bailey and Ashley Eckstein. A stage musical based on the film toured Japan in 2011, and a 2021 live-action sequel follows a 64-year-old Taeko with her daughter and granddaughter.