Highlights
- “The Boy and the Heron” is Studio Ghibli’s latest film and has achieved unprecedented success globally, winning numerous awards.
- The film’s themes, such as grief, loneliness, and adapting to new situations, are universally relatable and accessible to all audiences.
- Unlike some other Studio Ghibli films, “The Boy and the Heron” balances atmospheric moments with action, creating an engaging and fast-paced story.
Warning: The following contains spoilers for The Boy and the Heron.
Studio Ghibli has long been an acclaimed animation studio, with box office movies that break records in Japan and abroad. Some Ghibli movies, like Howl’s Moving Castle and Spirited Away have huge fan bases around the world, and are enjoyed by people that don’t necessarily like other anime. Even with this background, though, Studio Ghibli’s latest film The Boy and the Heron has had unprecented success around the globe.
Since November 2023, The Boy and the Heron has been nominated for – and won – many awards, both at the smaller level like the New York Film Critics Circle Awards and the Imagine Film Festival, and also at huge award ceremonies like the Golden Globes. At the time of publishing, even more awards are being announced for early 2024 as well. But why has The Boy and the Heron done so well in the global market?
Impactful Metaphors Everyone Can Understand
Most of Studio Ghibli’s films are allegorical on some level, often with political or environmental messages for the audience woven into a fairy tale-like story. Sometimes, though, they are not that easy to understand, especially for children, or have themes that make more sense to Japanese people than to international audiences that don’t have a good knowledge of Japanese history or culture. While the movies can still be enjoyed, the deeper message may be lost, making them less meaningful and have less impact.
However, The Boy and the Heron is very accessible, even to foreign audiences. While the setting is still in Japan, the themes themselves are not hidden under many layers. The primary theme is the main character, Mahito, dealing with the lasting grief over losing his mother. Through the events in the movie, he is able to reconcile that grief by meeting with her again, and is able to tell her goodbye properly. None of that is kept secret, and is easy to follow. In case you are not able to put together through the huge amount of hints that Himi is his mother, right at the end, she even says she is happy to have him as a son. It leaves no room for question.
The other themes included loneliness and the difficulty of making friends, both of which Mahito was able to overcome by making friends with many other people on his journey, and the struggle of adapting to life with his stepmother. Mahito has to move to a new school, and on his first day he gets into a fight with his classmates, struggling to make friends. But once he goes on his magical journey, he is able to make friends with Himi, with Kiriko, and even with the Gray Heron himself.
Then, regarding Natsuko, his stepmother, while he is cold to her at the beginning, he risks everything to save her, and refuses to leave without her in the end. All of this is very easy to understand and does not need any extra cultural context, making the deeper parts of the movie accessible to everyone.
The Film is Filled With Accessible Universal Themes
Building on the previous point, the themes that are tackled in The Boy and the Heron are ones that people around the world experience, regardless of where they live or what their background may be. These issues are ones that people can understand and empathize with, no matter where they are from. Everyone has dealt with grief and loss before, and the difficulties associated with overcoming that. Many people have also had to overcome moving to a new place, feeling alone, or struggling with the realities of remarriage for whatever reason.
While the historical context of The Boy and the Heron may make it more understandable in regard to Japanese people, it is still set during WWII. That is old history, even in Japan, so while older fans may appreciate that on a more intimate level than most, the majority of people will see it as exactly that – historical. The Boy and the Heron does not need you to have been personally affected by WWII in order for it to mean something to you, it simply provides a setting, and it does not stay focused on that throughout the movie.
Compared to some other Studio Ghibli films, such as Grave of the Fireflies or The Wind Rises, The Boy and the Heron is more relatable with its content. You don’t have to be someone who grew up in Japan, and has a deep connection with Japanese history, for the movie to resonate with you. If you have ever felt lonely, sad, or out of place, then you will be able to understand the feelings of characters like Mahito. Being able to empathize with the main character is one of the main ways that movies find success with their audiences.
The Action Isn’t Sacrificed for the Atmosphere
Studio Ghibli films are famous for being atmospheric, showing the magic in everyday activities like cooking, commuting, or even just walking outside. Sometimes, though, this can cause the pacing of the movie to suffer, leading to complaints that compared to other animated movies, such as Disney, Studio Ghibli films can be boring. Even famous movies like My Neighbor Totoro have complaints about the movie being too boring, or too slow, or not enough happening throughout the story.
The Boy and the Heron does not suffer from this, though. While it still has atmospheric moments showing, for example, the beautiful old Japanese house Mahito moves to, or the mystery of the magical tower, it also moves forward with the plot line shortly after. The characters have plenty of dialogue, there are a lot of action scenes, and the stakes feel high. The characters are often running for their lives, fighting enemies, or having plot-related discussions. And there are still some good shots of delicious-looking food for all the Ghibli fans who look forward to that!
The Boy and the Heron even opens with a tragic fire, and it does not take long after that before the mysterious Gray Heron first appears. The majority of the movie is set in the magical land through the Tower as well, instead of in the reality that we know. That land is full of peril, between the man-eating parakeets, the electrifying stone, and even deadly paper. Mahito goes from challenge to challenge, keeping the audience on the edge of their seat and never bored.
It’s Fresh and New
A huge complaint in the movie world right now is that there are no new stories, and everything has just been exhausted. Especially regarding Marvel and Disney, many people are complaining about having fatigue – there are too many superhero movies, for example, or the stories in Disney are the same ones over and over again.
The Boy and the Heron avoided that kind of problem. While the story was easy enough to follow, it wasn’t just recycled from other movies, either. The story had twists and turns that were unpredictable, plenty of interesting characters to care about, and a unique world inside the magical tower. It did not need romance to sustain it, and the characters could still have meaningful relationships as friends or family. Rather than just being another one of the same movie in a world saturated with them, The Boy and the Heron brought something that was actually unique.
A Shift in Perspective Towards Japanese Animation
Another reason that The Boy and the Heron has likely done so well internationally is the timing of its release. In recent years, anime has become more mainstream and accepted around the world. It is no longer such a niche interest like it was even a decade ago. Anime merchandise can be found easily in shopping malls and stores, and anime is streamed by major platforms like Netflix and Disney+, not just Crunchyroll.
That means that more people are watching anime than ever before, and there is less of a stigma attached to enjoying it. While Studio Ghibli films were always toeing the line between anime and just being foreign animation, that line has blurred even more. It does not matter what they are considered to be, because both are watched by many people. With more people watching, The Boy and the Heron was able to break more box office records than previous Studio Ghibli films. It isn’t “weird” to go and see it, and the English dub cast has many major actors contributing their voices, like Mark Hamill, Christian Bale, Dave Bautista, Robert Pattinson to name just a few.
Of course, The Boy and the Heron is not the first Studio Ghibli movie to find love overseas, and it hopefully won’t be the last. But its success has been unprecedented, and it is sweeping through the awards circuit not only in Japan but abroad as well. People are talking about it, and for good reason. The Boy and the Heron is not only Hayao Miyazaki’s magnum opus; it is also accessible and understandable to people around the world, and is a beautifully animated film that has a little of everything. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll be on the edge of your seat – and along the way, you may learn a little about yourself, too.
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