I was interested in finding out the start and end dates for the movie because I was basing a fanfic on it, set one year on, and I wanted to arrange the time period of my fanfic correctly. Finding a scanlation of the original manga helped - thanks due to Roarkiller for that. We also see the calendar in Shizuku’s bedroom in several scenes. This is a great device to show the viewer when things are happening. We are shown the calendar clear enough to read it three times. Once in September, once in October and once in November. The calendar is completely consistent with known real dates (there are several internet sites that will tell you the day of the week from any give date). We also get some clear dates from the library book cards.

~Roarkiller - You can also countercheck dates using your computer's desktop time/date program. Just remember not to save. Also, the calendar in her room is seen more than three times- if you can catch it.

Evidence in the movie allows us to pin the start date down to between the 15th and 21st of August 1994. The original manga gives a date of the 18th which is the evening Shizuku comes home with the carton of milk. Oh, and it's a Thursday.

So Whispers timeline goes like this:

Thursday 18th Aug 1994 (evening) - Shizuku goes out to buy milk and discovers a person called Amasawa Seiji has borrowed several library books before her. The dates written on the three library book tickets Shizuku looks at show us a date booked out of 15th August and a date due back of 22nd August. As this is evening it can’t be the evening of the 22nd as the library book will be overdue and somehow Shizuku strikes me as not the kind of person who would take library books back late. So from the movie we know this day is in the period 15th to 21st August 1994. I’ll be able pin the date down to the 18th from evidence tomorrow. ~Roarkiller - The book she was holding in the beginning is the one on the far left, "Usagi-gou no Bouken", roughly translated to "The Adventures of Brer Rabbit". As you can see, Seiji borrowed it on June 18th, while Shizuku borrowed it on August 10th. Also note the that for this paricular book, the return date was in two weeks, instead of one week like the other entries. Later in her room, we get a glance of her calendar, although the months cannot be seen. For now, it is located on the far wall. On a side note, the one on the right is entitled "Honoo no Tatakai" or "Flame Wars", which Seiji checked out on July 20th and Shizuku August 15th, while the center one is entitled "Tokage Mori no Ruu [5]" or "Ruu of the Lizard Forest [5]", which Seiji checked out on July 26th and Shizuku August 15th. Another thing to note is that all these cards appear in the manga as well; however, the staff at Ghibli made a small mistake in the name entries. The entries in the left card appear on the right, and vice versa (middle remains the same). Also, Shizuku was readng Flame Wars in the manga, not Brer Rabbit, although the latter was the card she first noticed the name on in both versions.

Friday 19th Aug - Shizuku borrows a rare book at school. We find out that this day is the 19th because that is the date that Kousaka Sensei the librarian-nurse writes on the ticket in the original manga although we don’t see this in the film. Shizuku then meets Yuko and gets annoyed by Seiji being rude about her song lyrics. ~Roarkiller - In the manga, Kousaka-sensei said "E-to, hachi-gatsu jyuukyuu-nichi kashi dashi to." And yes, that's my scanlation you see.

Saturday 20th Aug - Shizuku follows Moon to the Earth Shop and she meets Mr. Nishi. She takes another book out of the library and finds the mysterious Amasawa Seiji has got to this one before her as well. ~Roarkiller - The book she holds now is "Hanburugu no Poo", translated as "Po of Hamburg". In this case, Shizuku got to the book first, checking it out on May 11th while Seiji took it out on June 12th. And yes, the same book appeared in the manga in the same scene. Here, though, Seiji won again, checking it out on April 20th while Shizuku got to it on May 22nd. As we can see, the original entry for Seiji has now been shifted all the way down to last entry. Later, we also see a calendar in the cafe at the counter, but since all it does is confirm the month to be August, we are not including the picture here.

Early Sept (the probability points to this being the week ending Saturday the 10th) - it's raining and Shizuku’s mother Asako says "it has rained every day this term" (beware, in the English dub she says something else which is misleading, use the original Japanese to get the sense of this). It probably hasn’t rained for that long, just a few days possibly and probably the term began on the 1st, the previous Thursday. Unfortunately these three days are key to the story and they are three days it’s not possible to pin down the exact dates for. On this day Sugimura talks to and upsets Yuko. I am fairly confident that the gentleman Seiji is with when he blanks Shizuku in the corridor is his father. Dr. Amasawa is in school to talk about his son taking two months off. The next day - Yuko off school. Sugimura tells Shizuku he loves her. Shizuku goes to the Earth Shop in the evening, meets Seiji and sings in the workshop. The next day - Seiji & Shizuku talk on the school roof. He tells her he's going to Italy. He makes it clear that he’s fond of her, and she responds. Shizuku visits Yuko and resolves to write a story. ~Roarkiller - In the manga, that first date is confirmed as September 16th 1990, Saturday. We see proof of this twice; during her class on the blackboard, and later when Shizuku checks out a book in the library. Initially, Martin guessed the date to be Monday 5th based on the English dub which mention the day to be the first day of the new term, presumably the first Monday of the month, which unfortunately was misleading. Fortunately, while we will never know if this really is the first day of school, the date proved to be correct, as will be explained later. As mentioned, in the manga, this day was a Saturday, which means it's impossible for Yuuko to miss school the next day; it would be Sunday. However, in the manga, Shizuku and Yuuko met the next day which was a Sunday, not that night. On this Sunday, Shizuku was revealed the identity of Seiji, in a more hilarious manner I might add. Which means Yuuko would miss school on Monday, and is also the day Seiji had a talk with Shizuku, although the topic was far from romantic. Sugimura confessed to Shizuku later that day, so the timeline of three days still stands, although the time and sequence of events took place differently. When Shizuku first arrived in school, we get a glimpse of the board, which, aside from indicating an hour of free period and the work to be completed, also showed the date on the right- September 7th. Unfortunately, whoever was on duty that day forgot to write the day down as well, but we can countercheck against a real calendar and find that it is a Wednesday. The note on the board, by the way, can be translated as, "1-hour free period: Do p32-33 of Workbook B".

I think there is now a gap of about a week here, could be more, could be less, but certainly a few days pass. Mid-September - Shizuku visits Mr. Nishi and asks permission to use the Baron as a character in her story. Mr. Nishi agrees but on the condition that he can be the first to read it when it’s finished. He talks to her about digging inside herself to discover and improve her talents. Shizuku goes to the library and we see the sun setting. Seiji comes in. That evening they say goodbye as Seiji is flying to Italy the next day. Working back from a known date revealed later in the movie(*) I calculate this day to be around Thursday 15th September. Now we enter an undefined period during which Shizuku focuses her whole energy into her writing, neglects her studying and begins her slide towards a minor breakdown due to lack of sleep and proper food. A couple of weeks pass. In the scene where Shizuku blanks out in class, we see the students are now wearing the winter school uniform. My guess is winter uniform is worn from 1st October. ~Roarkiller - When they start wearing winter uniform is hardly important. Personally, I think it's more important to understand that it might reflect change, both in time and attitude (in Shizuku).

Tuesday 18th Oct - Shizuku crosses off the 18th on her calendar. As she’s an eager youngster she may consider "coming home from school" to be the end of the day and perhaps this day is Tuesday the 18th. She is beginning to exhibit signs of overwork, heightened stress levels and irritability with her family. On Monday 24th October her mom visits school to discuss her grades. That evening Shiho, her older sister, argues with Shizuku in her room and we get another useful look at her calendar. ~Roarkiller - We can interpret the crossing off in three ways. One is as Martin mentioned, except it is clear that Shizuku has been home long before that, since she has changed, and it was dark, indicating at least evening time. Two, Shizuku forgot to cross out the date the day before. Personally, the latter seems unlikely, although still possible, given the high-strung state of tension Shizuku was in. The third explanation is one I believe the most in, that is, Shizuku crossed out the date earlier so she would not forget later on. Given the lighting, I would say it was already night, so her crossing it out then seems perfectly acceptable.

We can see that up to Saturday 22nd is crossed out, however we can’t see the Sunday date column so we don’t know if Sunday is crossed out. However Monday 24th definitely is not crossed off. We know today isn’t Sunday 23rd because Shizuku went to school so this must be Monday 24th. That evening her parents discuss the problem with Shizuku and Shizuku lets slip to us that Seiji will be back in three weeks. Seiji will therefore return some time just before 14th/15th November. That night her sister Shiho tells her she will be moving out the next Sunday - 30th October.

Some time after 30th October (she has the room to herself now) Shizuku suffers a near collapse from overwork, lack of sleep and a bad diet and lies on her bedroom floor, identifying herself with the violin maker in prison in the woodblock carving. Or perhaps she is thinking of Seiji. We now jump about three weeks to Thursday 10th November. After school Shizuku takes her finished book to Mr. Nishi. We learn the full story of Louise and the Baron doll. That night Mr. Nishi cooks noodles for them and this is the first proper meal we see Shizuku eating for some time. We also see a jet plane fly over... it’s a hint Seiji is coming home. It’s not just eye-candy - I’m discovering that nothing is eye-candy in Ghibli films, particularly as Miyazaki did the storyboarding for this film. After Mr. Nishi drives Shizuku home we see her calendar in her bedroom one final time. ~Roarkiller - Personally I think he's reading too deep into the airplane thing. If there's anything that strikes me as odd, it's the fact that they showed three modes of transport in those few moments: automobiles, followed by the train, and finally the aeroplane. I'd say they were done on a whim, but that's just my opinion. Just a little trivia. Later, when Mr Tsukishima was laying the blanket on Shizuku, we see a glimpse of the calendar in the background. Interestingly, while chronologically accurate, the dates aren't crossed out.

It’s November. Dates up to the 9th are crossed out and there is a red circle around Saturday 12th - perhaps the day Seiji is due to return? So this is confirmation that today must be Thursday 10th November. Shizuku falls asleep in her clothes. Despite all the heartache and worry she has put her parents through, the love and support of her father shows wonderfully in this scene. Friday 11th November 1994 - early in the morning when dawn is just breaking Shizuku wakes, sees Seiji waiting on his bike outside and they ride to the hill top and see the sun rise. Seiji tells her he flew home a day early (thus the circled 12th of November on the calendar was significant). He also tells Shizuku he loves her and asks her to marry him. She agrees. The end. As a final piece of trivia, November 11th is Armistice Day, internationally celebrated as the anniversary of the end of World War One - the day the great struggle ended and peace came. Possibly just a co-incidence but then again possibly not.

(*) The night Shizuku argues with her sister Shiho and discusses her problems with her parents she lets slip that Seiji will return in three weeks. At the end of the movie we find out that Seiji was due to return on 12th November so working back approximately eight weeks from 12th November gives us approximately 15th September for Seiji’s departure. We know Seiji is away for "two months" but we never get a firmer period. "Two months" could vary a week either side of eight weeks I think, so with an intended return date of 12th November the earliest Seiji could have left is about 10th September and the latest would be about 24th September. Earlier than the tenth (in fact earlier than the 15th) and we are struggling to start term and fit in the events before he goes, later than the 24th is possible because this is the Shizuku writing phase of the story and days are not defined clearly, but I think that a period of less than seven weeks would not be considered by the average person as "two months".

~Roarkiller - That's all for the explanation of the movie timeline. Please do note that a lot of the suggested time that certain events occur is pure guesswork. Some events that seem to occur on the same day can easily occur in a span of two or more days. So take this article with a pinch of salt.