Only Yesterday

Hara, Kunio (2026). Quotation of time: Music and memory in Isao Takahata’s Only Yesterday (1991). Mechademia: Second Arc, 18(2), 89-108.

"Takahata Isao’s 1991 animated film Only Yesterday (Omohide poro poro) is an unconventional coming-of-age story about a young Japanese woman from Tokyo, Okajima Taeko, who travels to the countryside to experience the life of a traditional farming family. Throughout the film, Taeko recalls humorous and at times bittersweet episodes from her childhood. To reinforce the distinction between the two temporal planes, Takahata inserts popular songs from the late 1960s in the flashback scenes and folk music from Eastern Europe in the scenes that unfold in the present. The constant shifts in styles and genres in the soundtrack, however, create a confusing aural impression. What motivated Takahata to design the music of Only Yesterday in this highly eclectic manner? How exactly do Takahata’s musical selections enhance (or contradict) the themes articulated in the verbal and visual components of the narrative? Does the repertory of music included on the soundtrack carry specific cultural and historical connotations for the film’s original audience? If so, what are they? How do we make sense of Takahata’s perplexing musical choices today? The article attempts to answer these questions by analyzing key passages from the film against Takahata’s own writings about music."

Kellermann Williams, Idris. Hypermediacy, minimalism, and memories in Only Yesterday. Mechademia: Second Arc, 18(2), 129-150.

"Only Yesterday (1991) marks a turning point in Takahata Isao’s career, with the minimalism of its flashback scenes and the playful integration of different visual styles clearly prefiguring his experimental later works. With reference to Takahata’s own statements I will demonstrate that, in Takahata’s work, these formal techniques serve to encourage the audience to engage with the film in a manner that promotes reflection and interpretation, a kind of active spectatorship that was important to Takahata throughout his career. Through formal analysis referring to animation theory and media theory, I will argue that, in Only Yesterday, the formal distinctions between flashback and present-day scenes, and the minimalism of the flashbacks, serve to present and distinguish multiple perspectives on the film’s character study, in a manner intended to make the audience reflect on their own experiences. This represents an evolution of the techniques Takahata had attempted in earlier films. This article thus demonstrates how an approach combining formal analysis and examination of primary sources can yield new insights into his works."

Desser, David (2025). Only Yesterday, nostalgia, and the Ozu-esque.
in Lindsay Coleman, Rayna Denison, & David Desser (eds.). The Many Worlds of Takahata Isao (pp. 147-174). Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press.

Hecht, Roger W. (2015). Only Yesterday: Ecological and psychological recovery. Resilience: A Journal of the Environmental Humanities, 2(3), 166-171.