Before she was to board the train to Yamagata, Taeko would have flashbacks---that of her ten year old self. Taeko was in her fifth-grade, and she would envy her classmates who would go to their parents' hometowns during the vacation break while she gets to stay in the boring city. She also had flashbacks of the little things her little self had encountered back then: how she had been a picky eater, how she had learned that one of their school's star baseball players had a crush on her, how their family had their first taste of a fresh pineapple and didn't like it, how the girls in their class where first taught about the female reproductive system, ergo the menstrual period, and how embarrassed they had been when the boys would tease them about it.

The older Taeko by then has reached the Yamagata station and was surprised that instead of her brother-in-law's brother, Kazuo, waiting for her, a man asked her name and made a grab for her bag. After a short awkward moment, the man finally introduced himself as Kazuo's cousin, Toshio. Toshio took her to the her brother-in-law's safflower farm in his cute little white car. On the way, Toshio told Taeko that he used to work in an office but gave it up because he discovered the joys of working as an organic farmer.

Taeko finally reached the saffron farm and immediately proceeded to help Kazuo and the other members of the family to pick safflower petals to be used to create dye. Once again, Taeko's work in the farm, her interactions with her brother-in-law's family, and even her candid conversations with Toshio were interspersed with recollections of her childhood, particularly her fifth-grade self: how she had thrown tantrums when she would only be given hand-me-downs, how she was hit by her father for the first and last time when she stepped out of the house with only her socks on, how she was bad in math, particularly in fractions and how she overheard her mother and her sister Yaeko musing that Taeko is probably not normal with her difficulty in mastering math.

Finally it was time for Taeko to go back to the city, and her brother-in-law's family, particularly the grandmother, urged her to stay, seeing how Taeko loves the countryside. And wouldn't it be nice if she and Toshio get married? It would be a perfect solution for Taeko to stay in the country. Now Taeko is confused and felt like a fraud; she loves her brother-in-law's family and loves spending time in the country, but does that mean she's prepared to spend the rest of her life there? And what about Toshio, what exactly are her feelings for him?

Only Yesterday is originally a manga by Hotaru Okamoto. It's a collection of short stories, mainly about the younger Taeko and how she had encountered the latest trends of that time, the time being 1966. The director, Isao Takahata, had difficulty condensing the manga into a movie, so he incorporated an older Taeko to act as the storyteller.

Only Yesterday is another realistic anime by Studio Ghibli, but unlike Ocean Waves, it has way too serious undertones. And by serious undertones, I meant nostalgia---the kind that older people appreciate. To anybody else, especially the younger audience, it would probably have been a big yawn. If I was younger, I would also have found the pace of the anime dragging. Then again when I was younger, I was a hopeless romantic (although I still am, but not that much), and would always expect realistic anime to have romantic arcs in it. This anime however has a teeny bit of romance in it, if you call Taeko and Toshio's sharing of childhood experiences romantic. Definitely not for an audience with raging hormones.

Once again the artwork has the signature cleanliness of Studio Ghibli. The scenery tried very hard to copy rural Japan, and is successful in that regard, because in my mind I can almost picture the real thing. The only gripe that I have is that the older Taeko is not pretty, which may lend more authenticity to the anime. After all, Taeko is an oridnary woman, and not all ordinary women are extraordinarily pretty. Taeko's younger self is cute though. As for the music, I absolutely love the ending theme (The Rose) which is actually an English original by Amanda McBroom with the translated Japanese version sung by Miyako Harumi.

Only Yesterday is a nice, nostalgic anime. If you're tired after a very long day---which is mostly the case with me---this is a good anime to watch. Just don't expect fluff from this anime though. It's a relaxing anime to see, if nothing else. Oh, and don't turn off the DVD when the credits start rolling in. It will show you what really happened to Taeko and Toshio up until after the last line of credits appears.