Young love sprouts amidst efforts to save a beloved campus clubhouse in this charming, small-scale schoolyard drama from Studio Ghibli. The product of a single-parent household, Umi is a responsible teenager whose dedication to preparing family meals takes precedence over her after-school activities. That changes when she meets Shun, a similarly bright, composed boy who introduces her to bustling afternoons in the Latin Quarter, a dusty, three-story, common meeting ground for extracurriculars. Drawn together, the two nurture a spark, but something comes up before they can make anything of it. In its aftermath, they’re forced to step back, reassess their feelings and try to move forward as friends when they were so close to becoming something more.

Like the very best Ghibli locales, the Latin Quarter brims with life, color and delightful peculiarity; a chaotic mess of excited kids with diverse tastes. The students’ enthusiasm for the building, and for preserving it when the administration threatens to have it replaced, brings essential flavor to a film that might otherwise seem too softly-spoken. Its relief allows the simple beauty of Umi and Shun’s relationship, and the poignant resolution of their individual stories, room to unfold at a more appropriate pace. A dueling narrative that serves both, short-changing neither. And, in between the heady personal drama and the energetic activities around the old building, there’s sill time to explore the peaceful, everyday life around 1960s Yokohama. Rich rewards for those with the patience to soak it all in. It’s a real delight.