'If You Listen Carefully') is a 1995 Japanese animated romantic drama film directed by Yoshifumi Kondō and written by Hayao Miyazaki based on Aoi Hiiragi's 1989 manga Mimi o Sumaseba.

She lives in Tokyo with her parents Asako and Seiya and older sister Shiho, and is keen on creative writing.

One evening, she looks through the checkout cards in her library books and discovers they were all checked out previously by someone named Seiji Amasawa.

Seiji admits that he admires Shizuku's talents and that he had been checking out a large number of books in the hopes that she would eventually notice him.

Shizuku concocts a fantasy story featuring herself as the protagonist, the Baron as the male hero looking for his lost love, Louise, and the cat from the train (a neighborhood stray who is, among other names, known as "Moon" and "Muta") as the antagonist.

[3] A second manga by the same author titled Mimi o Sumaseba: Shiawase na Jikan was serialized in Shueisha's Ribon Original in August 1995 and released in a single volume on February 20, 1996.

A spin-off of Mimi o Sumaseba, titled Baron: Neko no Danshaku, was published in March 2002, and an animated film based on that story was released in July 2002 under the name The Cat Returns.

At times during the film, Shizuku translates John Denver's song "Take Me Home, Country Roads" to Japanese for her school's chorus club.

[7] She writes her own humorous Japanese version of the song, called "Concrete Road," about her hometown in western Tokyo.

The songs were actually translated by producer Toshio Suzuki's daughter Mamiko with Hayao Miyazaki writing supplemental lyrics.

Whisper of the Heart was released in Japan on July 15, 1995, as the first film in the country to use the Dolby Digital sound format.

[12] The reason for the long delay was due to rights issues surrounding "Take Me Home, Country Roads", as it is a major plot point in the movie.

The North American Blu-ray was released by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment on May 22, 2012, alongside Castle in the Sky and The Secret World of Arrietty.

[20] On Anime News Network, Michael Toole gave it an overall grade of A−, calling it "beautiful and evocative; a fine tale of adolescent yearning and aspiration.

"[21] Over the course of the film, Shizuku is working on a fantasy novel that revolves around a cat figurine, named The Baron, which she discovers in Mr. Nishi's antique store.