Whisper of the Heart, known in Japan as is a Japanese manga

Manga

Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...

 series written and illustrated by Aoi Hiiragi

Aoi Hiiragi

is a Japanese manga artist born in Kamifukuoka, Saitama Prefecture, Japan, though she grew up in Mibu, Shimotsuga, Tochigi Prefecture. Hiiragi currently resides in Hakodate, Hokkaidō....

. The manga was serialized in Shueisha

Shueisha

is a major publisher in Japan. The company was founded in 1925 as the entertainment-related publishing division of Japanese publisher Shogakukan. The following year, Shueisha became a separate, independent company. Magazines published by Shueisha include Weekly Shōnen Jump, Weekly Young Jump,...

's shōjo manga magazine Ribon

Ribon

is a monthly Japanese shōjo manga magazine published by Shueisha. First issued in August 1955, its rivals are Nakayoshi and Ciao. Its target audience is young girls roughly 9–13 years old. In 2009, the magazine's circulation was 274,167, down from the previous year's circulation numbers of 330,000...

between August and November 1989. A single bound volume

Tankobon

, with a literal meaning close to "independently appearing book", is the Japanese term for a book that is complete in itself and is not part of a series , though the manga industry uses it for volumes which may be in a series...

 was released in February 1990. A second manga by the same author titled Mimi o Sumaseba: Shiawase na Jikan was serialized in Shueisha's Ribon Original

Ribon Original

Ribon Original was a shōjo manga magazine published by Shueisha. It was a sister magazine of Ribon, and was published from 1981 until 2006. New and up-and-coming Ribon manga artists often had their first short stories published in this magazine...

in 1995; a single volume of this manga was released in February 1996. A single volume containing both manga under the title Mimi o Sumaseba was released in July 2005.

A novel, written by Masami Tanaka, was published by Shueisha in June 1995 under the title Mimi o Sumaseba. In 1995, the original manga was adapted into an anime

Anime

is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....

 feature film of the same name

Whisper of the Heart (film)

is a 1995 Japanese animated drama film based on the manga of the same name by Aoi Hiiragi. It was directed by Yoshifumi Kondō and written by Hayao Miyazaki. It was the first theatrical Studio Ghibli feature to be directed by someone other than Miyazaki or Takahata, and the only film to be directed...

 by Studio Ghibli

Studio Ghibli

is a Japanese animation and film studio founded in June 1985. The company's logo features the character Totoro from Hayao Miyazaki's film My Neighbor Totoro...

. Although the film shares similar instances and plot, it is not based strictly on the manga itself.