FAQ

The image of friendship between the heroines may seem ambiguous, already at the time when you read the original novel. This is due to the fact that the original story was written back in the 1960s, at a time when lesbian relationships were considered something strange or even wrong, therefore, close and emotional relationships between young girls were perceived as something innocent and not defiant thoughts about the romantic nature of the affection between them.

Thus, at the time of writing the story, their relationship shouldn't have been perceived as romantic, but rather relevant to such a concept as "romantic friendship", which was invented by historians and literary critics in our time to describe the old-fashioned idealized and melodramatic attitude towards friendship in those times.

Given that Japanese culture has retained a similar attitude toward female friendship in some ways and romantic metaphors is widely used in Japanese culture to describe the power of emotional and sisterhood bonds between girls, this only made the story even more "romantic" outwardly thanks to film adaptation from Ghibli.

Thus, it is the combination of these factors that creates similar "romantic" atmosphere or seeminghomoerotic subtext in this film, especially if the movie is perceived outside its context. In fact, the adaptation of Ghibli creates an idealistic perception of friendship and emotional bonds between two girls, such as they were seen in the West of the 60s or viewed in modern Japanese culture.