Many Slice of Life-type shows overload the viewer with main characters and rarely manage to develop all of them fairly. That's just not the case in Only Yesterday, though. It's about just one character's life from childhood to adulthood with so much development that no amount of words can accurately depict what I'm trying to say.

Needless to say, Only Yesterday is yet another Ghibli great. Isao Takahata, the man behind such films as My Neighbors the Yamadas and Grave of the Fireflies, manages to take the story and bring it to create a whole new level in the Slice of Life genre. Had it been done by anyone else, it probably would have been a flop (well, except for Miyazaki), but Takahata was able to use that magic in Ghibli to create something exceptional.

The technical aspects of Only Yesterday will disappoint no one. The artwork is amazing, and it easily lives up to the reputation of Studio Ghibli's seemingly masterful animation crew. The music is also great, and always sets the perfect mood throughout the movie. In fact, the music was so well done that even the parts where the music DIDN'T play had just the right mood.

What I liked the most about the movie, though, was just the amount of work that went into developing Taeko's character as much as possible. Through the use of both flashbacks and present-day scenes, we watch how she grew into the woman that she became, and how she as an adult is still growing. Though some people may find the whole Slice of Life idea to be boring, I was very engrossed with the story. True, it has no action, plot twists, or anything elements that require you to really think about what's going on, but it just has that calm, inviting feel to it that many viewers can really appreciate.

If there was one thing in the anime that really bothered me, it would have to be the voice of the character Toshio. He always made this really annoying sound akin to someone licking their lips and making a little clicking noise. He would make this noise almost every time it talked, and it grated on my nerves somewhat.

If you're a fan of the Slice of Life genre or you want to give it a try, you should definitely see this movie. However, if you're an anime fan coming off of seeing Dragonball or Naruto, you should probably check it out anyway. If it's not your cup of tea, there's no harm done, but you should never dismiss it just because it doesn't have action elements.