Robinson had previously been cited by Hayao Miyazaki as one of his favorite children's novels. For the first time, Anna calls Yoriko her mother.ĭuring the end credits, Anna says goodbye to her friends and promises to visit again next summer before seeing Marnie at the mansion window, waving goodbye to her. Yoriko tells Anna about the government payments, but reassures her that they have always loved her. This revelation brings closure about her identity. When Anna sees Marnie's name written on the back, she realizes that she is Emily's daughter and Marnie's granddaughter. She gives Anna a photograph of the mansion and says it belonged to Anna's grandmother. Marnie raised her granddaughter, who was placed in foster care after her death.Īt the end of the summer, Yoriko arrives to take Anna home and is delighted to see Anna having made new friends in Hisako, Toichi and Sayaka. In her adulthood, Emily ran away from home and had a daughter herself, but she and her husband were killed in a car accident. Marnie recovered but preteen Emily was resentful for her mother abandoning her. With no other family to care for her, Emily was sent to a boarding school. When Anna recovers, Hisako reveals Marnie's story: Marnie married Kazuhiko and had a daughter named Emily, but he died from a sudden illness and Marnie committed herself to a sanatorium to cope with her loss. Marnie says she is sorry for leaving her and that she cannot see Anna anymore. They bring her back to the Oiwas, where Anna confronts Marnie. She and her brother find Anna unconscious with a high fever. Sayaka finds the missing pages from Marnie's diary, which include passages about Kazuhiko and the silo.
Marnie conquers her fear and Kazuhiko comforts Marnie. Anna leads Marnie to the silo to confront the latter’s fear of it. The maids bully her and threaten to lock her in the silo near the mansion. Marnie shares how her parents are always traveling abroad, and how she is left behind with her cruel nanny. She makes the assumption that they only pretend to love her for the money, and says she can’t forgive her biological family for leaving her behind and dying. Anna tells Marnie she found documents that show her foster parents are paid to take care of her. During the move-in, Anna meets a girl named Sayaka, who gives her Marnie's diary that had been hidden in a drawer. Hisako comments that Anna's sketches look like a girl whom she knew when she was young. Marnie invites Anna to a party at the mansion, where she sees Marnie dancing with a boy named Kazuhiko.Īnna meets Hisako, an older woman who paints. The two agree to keep their meetings secret. On the night of the Tanabata festival, she meets the girl, Marnie. She finds it familiar but gets trapped by the rising tide until she is found by Toichi, an old fisherman. At the doctor's recommendation to send Anna to a place where the air is clean, her parents decide to have her spend summer break with Yoriko's relatives, Setsu and Kiyomasa Oiwa, who live in a rural seaside town located between Kushiro and Nemuro.Īnna investigates an abandoned mansion across a salt marsh. One day, she suffers an asthma attack at school.
It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature at the 88th Academy Awards, but it lost to Inside Out.Īnna Sasaki is a 12-year-old girl with low self-esteem living in Sapporo with foster parents, Yoriko and her husband. It was released in theatres on 19 July 2014, and on Blu-ray and DVD in Japan on 18 March 2015. The film received positive reviews from critics, praising its animation, music, vocal performances, and emotional story. It was also the final film that Yonebayashi directed for Ghibli before he left and joined Studio Ponoc. The film featured the final work for Studio Ghibli animator Makiko Futaki, who died in May 2016. As the summer progresses, Anna spends more time with Marnie, and eventually Anna learns the truth about her family and foster care. Anna comes across a nearby abandoned mansion, where she meets Marnie, a mysterious girl who asks her to promise to keep their secrets from everyone. The film follows Anna Sasaki staying with her relatives in a town in Kushiro wetlands, Hokkaido. When Marnie Was There ( Japanese: 思い出のマーニー, Hepburn: Omoide no Mānī, "Marnie of Memories") is a 2014 Japanese anime psychological drama film written and directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi, produced by Studio Ghibli for Nippon Television Network, Dentsu, Hakuhodo DYMP, Walt Disney Japan, Mitsubishi, Toho and KDDI and distributed by Toho.