History Anime / WhenMarnieWasThere

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The film became Yonebayashi and producer Yoshiaki Nishimura's final film for Ghibli before its restructuring caused the duo to leave and form Creator/StudioPonoc. It is also the final film to feature longtime key animator Makiko Futaki, who died four years after the film's release.

* AdaptationalLocationChange: The original novel is set in Norfolk England. The movie changes it to a rural seaside town in Japan.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/when_marnie_was_there_2.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"Promise we'll remain a secret, forever."''[[note]]Anna on the left, Marnie on the right.[[/note]]]]

-->-- '''Anna'''

The film (and novel) tell the story of Anna (Sara Takatsuki), an introverted, alienated and severely asthmatic twelve-year-old girl from Sapporo, who only finds solace in her talent for drawing. To aid her health, Anna's guardian sends her to stay with relatives living in a rural seaside part of Japan (Norfolk, England in the book), where Anna soon becomes fascinated by a large Western-style manor looming near the marsh next to the village she stays in. The first time she goes there she finds it abandoned and run-down but on her second visit, the house is suddenly full of life and light. More importantly, it appears to be home to a blonde girl named Marnie (Kasumi Arimura), who looks exactly like the girl Anna had been seeing in her dreams.

* AnguishedDeclarationOfLove: "[[TearJerker I love you, Marnie! And I won't ever forget you!]]"

[[caption-width-right:350:Anna and Marnie]]

-> ''"Promise we'll remain a secret, forever."''

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[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/marniecover.png]]

* TimeTravel: [[spoiler:Combined with LivingMemory. Both seem possible in the beginning and the difference matters in the end.]]azc.lion

* TimeTravel: [[spoiler:Combined with LivingMemory. Both seem possible in the beginning and the difference matters in the end.]]

* AdaptationalNameChange: Bar Anna and Marnie, all the character's names are changed from English names to Japanese ones, reflecting the location change. Sandra becomes Nobuko, Scilla becomes Sayaka, Mrs. Preston becomes Yoriko, etc.

** Probably takes place around the time when the film released, you can see cordless telephones and a widescreen television.

* WhenSheSmiles: Anna's laugh is quite sweet, since at best she gives a repressed smile.

* AdaptationalNameChange: Outside of Anna and Marnie, all the character's names are changed from English names to Japanese ones, reflecting the location change. Sandra becomes Nobuko, Scilla becomes Sayaka, Mrs. Preston becomes Yoriko, etc.

* AdaptationalSkill: Anna is shown to be an artist who enjoys sketching in the film. This is exclusive to the film and was not present in the original novel.

* {{Arcadia}}: Anna is sent to the countryside to improve [[IllGirl her health]]. She (and the audience) is treated to some [[SceneryPorn beautiful shots of rural Japan]].

* IllGirl: Anna, though she works her way up to PluckyGirl by the end.

The film (and novel) tell the story of Anna (Sara Takatsuki), an introverted, alienated and [[IllGirl severely asthmatic]] twelve-year-old girl from Sapporo, who only finds solace in her talent for drawing. To aid her health, Anna's guardian sends her to stay with relatives living in a rural seaside part of Japan (Norfolk, England in the book), where Anna soon becomes fascinated by a large Western-style manor looming near the marsh next to the village she stays in. The first time she goes there she finds it abandoned and run-down but on her second visit, the house is suddenly full of life and light. More importantly, it appears to be home to a blonde girl named Marnie (Kasumi Arimura), who looks exactly like the girl Anna had been seeing in her dreams.

* AlcoholHic: Anna gets one after accidentally drinking wine, and gets drowsy.
* AmbiguousDisorder: Anna is frequently noted to act oddly for a child or focus on strange things. As the book begins, she acts detached from other people, enjoys spending time alone, has little time for the family she lives with, and sends postcards to her guardian that are only a few sentences long. She views the world as being a circle with people on the "inside" and on the "outside", believing herself to be on the outside and separate from everyone else. At one point, she goes into a fury over an insult which everyone, even the narrator, considers to be silly. She also doesn't seem to have many friends, but the people she does meet and bond with (Marnie [[spoiler:and, later, the family that moves into her house]]) she's able to form very close ties to. Some of her behavior can be attributed to her [[spoiler:fearing that her foster mother is only keeping her for the money]], but her reaction to that still comes across as unusual for an upset child.

* {{Arcadia}}: Anna is sent to the countryside to improve [[IllGirl her health]]. She (and the audience) are treated to some [[SceneryPorn beautiful shots of rural Japan]].

* DotingGrandparent: [[spoiler:Marnie]] died when her granddaughter was very young, but was a caring grandmother for the time they spent together. She had an estranged relationship with her own daughter due to her daughter believing she [[ParentalAbandonment abandoned]] her. [[spoiler:Marnie's love for Anna is a focus of the film, though Marnie is presented as Anna's age until TheReveal at the end that she's Anna's grandmother.]]

** Marnie's maids - while horrible, abusive women who have no business taking care of a child - get some credit because they don't just leave Marnie at the silo on the night they get too scared to go near it themselves. The same maid that forcibly dragged Marnie by the arm to the silo also explicitly makes sure she has Marnie's arm when they run like hell. It's a small gesture that doesn't get any focus, but it seems to indicate some sort of limit to the amount of abuse they're willing to inflict on Marnie. Though how much of that is genuine concern for her and how much is fear of her employers' reaction should any harm come to Marnie is debatable.

* GildedCage: Marnie lives in a luxurious mansion with wealthy parents, but her governess is abusive and the maids bully her. [[spoiler:Hisako]] explicitly says that Marnie was neglected.

* CryCute:
** Marnie while in the silo with Anna because she's terrified.
** Anna and Sayaka when [[spoiler:Hisako tells them Marnie's story]].
** Yoriko when she [[spoiler:confesses to Anna about the subsidies.]]

* HauntedHouseHistorian: The uncle alludes to the hauntedness of the silo and the mansion.

* HistoryRepeats: Marnie [[spoiler:repeats her parents' mistakes, sending her daughter off to boarding school at a young age due to Marnie being ill, leaving her daughter Emily to grow up independent and estranged. Emily, like her mother, went off to get married in a rush, only to die in a car accident with her husband and leave their baby alive. The cycle finally breaks when Anna makes up with her foster parents]].

The film became Yonebayashi and producer Yoshiaki Nishimura's SwanSong for Ghibli before its restructuring, and is also the final film to feature longtime key animator Makiko Futaki, who died four years after the film's release.

* DotingGrandparent: [[spoiler:Marnie]] died when her granddaughter was very young, but was a caring grandmother for the time they spent together. She had an estranged relationship with her own daughter due to her daughter believing she [[ParentalAbandonment abandoned]] her. [[spoiler:Marnie's love for Anna is a focus of the film, though Marnie is presented as Anna's age until TheReveal at the end that she's Anna's grandmother.

* DotingGrandparent: [[spoiler:Marnie]] died when her granddaughter was very young, but was a caring grandmother for the time they spent together. She had an estranged relationship with her own daughter due to her daughter believing she [[ParentalAbandonment abandoned]] her. [[spoiler:Marnie's love for Anna is a focus of the film, though Marnie is presented as Anna's age until TheReveal at the end that she's Anna's grandmother. Due to a RelationshipWritingFumble their affections come off as romantic more than familial, which has [[IncestSubtext awkward implications]].]]

** Probably takes place around the time when the film released, you can see cordless telephones, and a widescreen television.

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Anna comes to terms with her abandonment issues and learns to appreciate her adoptive family but only at the price of learning the tragedies that consumed her biological family. She finally appreciates what she has because it represents everything her parents and grandparents lost.]]

* BreakTheCutie: Happens to [[spoiler:Marnie prior to the film. She was a sweet girl growing up whose parents were never around and who was left supervised by abusive staff. When she grew up she married her [[ChildhoodFriendRomance childhood sweetheart]] but he ended up dying when their daughter was young. Marnie broke down so badly she was sent to an asylum for several years, which ruined her relationship with her daughter as she felt she had been [[ParentalAbandonment abandoned]]. They never mended that bond however after her daughter's [[OutlivingOnesOffspring death]] she took in her young granddaughter Anna before dying herself. She was a DotingGrandparent but everything caused her to 'come back' as a ghost child and befriend Anna, while she visited the countryside.]]

* CatchYourDeathOfCold: Sayaka when remembering Anna is in the rain worries that she'll get pneumonia.

* CoolBigBro: Sayaka's brother takes her out into the rain to find Anna and then runs for help when they find a feverish, soaked Anna.

* DotingGrandparent: [[spoiler:Marnie]] died when her granddaughter was very young but was a caring grandmother for the time they spent together. She had an estranged relationship with her own daughter due to her daughter believing she [[ParentalAbandonment abandoned]] her. [[spoiler:Marnie's love for Anna is a focus of the film, though Marnie is presented as Anna's age until TheReveal at the end that she's Anna's grandmother. Due to a RelationshipWritingFumble their affections come off as romantic more than familial, which has [[IncestSubtext awkward implications]].]]
* DramaticThunder: Twice at the silo. First a powerful thunder [[PaperTiger prevents the two maids to go through with their plan]] to [[BreakTheCutie force Marnie to enter the detested silo]] as a prank. Later a dramatic thunder scares Marnie big time when inside the silo with Anna.

** Marnie's maids - while horrible, abusive women who have no business being in care of a child - get some credit because they don't just leave Marnie at the silo on the night they get too scared to go near it themselves. The same maid that forcibly dragged Marnie by the arm to the silo also explicitly makes sure she has Marnie's arm when they run like hell. It's a small gesture that doesn't get any focus, but it seems to indicate some sort of limit to the amount of abuse they're willing to inflict on Marnie. Though how much of that is genuine concern for her and how much is fear of her employers' reaction should any harm come to Marnie is debatable.

* TheFerryMan: Alluded to. The first time Anna visits the manor she found herself stranded on the other side of the bay after the tide came in. A silent fisherman finds her and brings her back to the village.

** Marnie dresses in a vintage fashion that resembles styles from the early to mid-20th century. It's unusual for a girl her age, but not particularly unheard of and it establishes her [[GirlyGirlAndTomboy the girly girl to Anna's tomboy]]. [[spoiler:It also foreshadows that Marnie is DeadAllAlong and not a modern child]].

* HauntedHouse: Marnie's house and, to some extend, the Silo.
* HauntedHouseHistorian: The uncle alludes the hauntedness of the silo and the mansion.

* ImaginaryFriend: Anna come to this conclusion about [[spoiler:Marnie]] when reading her diary.

* LongLostRelative: [[spoiler:Marnie is Anna's grandmother. Kazuhiko is therefore her grandfather and Marnie's mother and father are Anna's great-grandparents.]]

* MeaningfulEcho: [[spoiler:On the boat Sayaka's wants the diary to be her and Anna's secret which echoes the scene earlier at the same place where Marnie asked to keep her relationship with Anna a secret. The connection is that Marnie's diary brought Anna and Sayaka together as friends.]]

* NewParentNomenclatureProblem: Anna calls her foster mother "auntie". Towards the end Anna, who has resolved all of her issues, addresses her with "mother".

* SecretDiary: [[spoiler:Sayaka finds Marnie's diary and shows it to Anna upon which the latter realize that she just imagined her encounters with Marnie.]]

* ShrineToTheFallen: A variation of the living. The uncle and aunt have kept their daughter's room as it was when she left the house.

** Anna is this around everyone, hiding her feelings unless provoked because she knows that she has a good life and thus she shouldn't complain. The few times that the façade breaks is heartbreaking, like when she tells Marnie that [[spoiler:she found out her foster parents were being paid to look after her, but they use it to take care of her, and she hates that it was being kept a secret.]]
** Marnie is a CheerfulChild, up to the point where she reveals that [[spoiler:her Nan and the maids were abusive and her parents while good people aren't always around to protect her]].
* SuddenlySpeaking: [[spoiler:The fisherman at the end when hearing the name "Marnie".]]

* TrueBlueFemininity: Marnie favors wearing blue dresses. [[spoiler:Her style of dress could be {{foreshadowing}} to the fact she's not a modern-day child]].

* TheVoiceless: The fisherman apparently hasn't said a single word for quite some time but [[SuddenlySpeaking breaks his silence at the end]] when hearing the name ''Marnie''.

* WhenSheSmiles: Anna's laugh is quite sweet since at best she gives a repressed smile.

* WriteBackToTheFuture: [[spoiler:Marnie's diary]] in effect though not in intent.

* AdultFear:
** Having an IllGirl who always seems to collapse at any time as a foster kid, who in turn is worried about costing you money with doctor visits. Setsuko recounts that Yoriko would call her every day to ask for advice on how to raise Anna.
** Anna is found multiple times lying unconscious on the ground while in the countryside. Setsuko doesn't think twice about it.
** Thinking that even though your foster parents are sweet, that [[spoiler:they get a subsidy to take care of you and may be OnlyInItForTheMoney]] which makes your relationship complicated because of abandonment issues.
** Suffering [[spoiler:a nervous breakdown due to your husband dying, which ruins ties with your daughter. Then just as you get a second chance with your granddaughter, to raise her, you die and leave her in foster care.]] Marnie is in tears when she has to tell Anna [[spoiler:that she's sorry for leaving her, and that she can't stay longer.]]
---> '''Marnie''': So please, Anna, I need you to forgive me.
** Your child being abused by the people who are supposed to care for her while you are away.