When Marnie Was There (思い出のマーニー, Omoide no Marnie, lit. "Memories of Marnie") is a 2014 Japanese anime film written and directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi, produced by Studio Ghibli, and based on the novel When Marnie Was There by Joan G. Robinson. It was released on 19 July 2014. It was the final film for Studio Ghibli before they announced that the film division is taking a short hiatus after the box office disappointment of The Tale of Princess Kaguya, and the retirement of Hayao Miyazaki a year before the film was released.
The film opens to a 12-year-old girl named Anna, sitting alone on a park bench, sketching in incredible detail a scene of children playing on the playground equipment as part of a school assignment. Looking over and comparing herself to a group of girls laughing and talking amongst themselves on another bench while sketching the same assignment, she goes into a soliloquies, "There is a magical circle in this world that no one can see. Those girls are in the circle, and then there's me, on the outside. But I don't care about any of that. I hate myself," and begins to cough, goes into excruciating pain, then collapses.
She is then taken home, and is looked at by a doctor. A woman, Yoriko, reveals that Anna suffers from asthma and that she doesn’t have any friends because she is very quiet, and closed-off to others. Yoriko explains to the doctor that it seems like she doesn't know who Anna is anymore, because she used to be so happy and full of emotion, but is now always making the same, emotionless face. In order to help Anna, Yoriko decides it's best to put her on a train and send her away from the polluted air of her home city of Sapporo, to a small village on the shores of northern Hokkaido and have her stay with her relatives, Kiyomasa and Setsu for the summer.