The Boy and the Heron

When World War II forces the city into chaos, teenage Mahito is sent from Tokyo to live with his new stepmother, Natsuko, in a quiet rural house. He carries the weight of his mother's recent death and meets a woman who resembles that mother in unsettling ways. As Mahito attempts to fit into a place that feels both familiar and foreign, inexplicable events multiply, centering on a persistent gray heron that keeps appearing and calling him the "long-awaited one." The film follows Mahito as he copes with grief, strange visions, and a shifting line between everyday life and uncanny encounters, without giving away where those mysteries lead.

Directed by Hayao Miyazaki and released in 2023, the movie reunited the filmmaker with longtime collaborators and a new generation of voice actors, including Soma Santoki, Masaki Suda, and Ko Shibasaki, under the Studio Ghibli banner.

The film did strong business globally, attracting audiences across many territories and contributing to renewed attention for theatrical animation in the wake of Miyazaki's return to feature filmmaking.

Critics and audiences rated the film positively, reflected in an average score around 7.4 out of 10 from thousands of votes. Reviewers often praised its visual ambition and emotional weight, while some noted its pacing and dense symbolism could be challenging. Major themes include grief and memory, the scars of war, and the porous border between imagination and reality, all conveyed through layered, sometimes surreal imagery.

Visually rich scenes and the enigmatic gray heron quickly became focal points for discussion, fan art, and essay-length readings online. Miyazaki's comeback also prompted renewed interest in Studio Ghibli's catalog, sparking conversations about how a veteran director handles loss and memory in an animated, often dreamlike form. The film has become part of ongoing debates about animation as an art form for adults as well as families.