The Boy and the Heron

The Boy and the Heron (きみたちはどういきるか, Kimitachi wa Dō Ikiru ka, lit. "How do you live?") is an animated film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki and produced by Studio Ghibli. Distributed by Toho, it was released in Japan on July 14, 2023. The story follows a boy, Mahito Maki, negotiating the difficult relationship with his father and step mother. Throughout, he is regularly visited by a supernatural heron who makes observations about human life. It's title is from the 1937 book How Do You Live?.

Summary
The protagonist is a Japanese boy named Mahito Maki. In 1944, during the Pacific War, his mother was hospitalized and killed in an air raid on Tokyo, and the family was evacuated to the suburbs with his father's fighter plane factory. Mahito was unable to accept his mother's sister, who was pregnant with his father's child, as his new mother, and was isolated even at his new school. One day, at an evacuated house, he finds a book titled How Do You Live?

In the woods in the garden of the house, there stands an abandoned Western-style house. The house had been built by a legendary man who was also Masato's great uncle. Then a grey heron who spoke human language appeared before him and said, "Your mother is waiting for you. She is not dead." The grey heron leads Mahito into the Western-style house.

Cast and characters

 * Soma Santoki as Mahito Maki
 * Masaki Suda as The Gray Heron
 * Aimyon as Himi
 * Yoshino Kimura as Natsuko
 * Shohei Hino as Great Uncle
 * Kou Shibasaki as Kiriko
 * Takuya Kimura as Shoichi Maki, Mahito's father
 * Jun Kunimura as The Parakeet King
 * Jun Fubuki as Maid #2
 * Kaoru Kobayashi as Old Pelican
 * Karen Takizawa as Maid #4
 * Keiko Takeshita as Maid #1
 * Sawako Agawa as Maid #3
 * Shinobu Ōtake as Maid #5

Production
In 2013, Studio Ghibli president Koji Hoshino announced during the premiere of "The Wind Rises" that Hayao Miyazaki would retire from the producing feature films.

Miyazaki commenced animation work in July 2016, later confirmed by studio executive Toshio Suzuki.

By February 24, 2017, Toshio Suzuki made a statement during "Oscar Week 2017" (an event held a week before the Academy Awards), that Miyazaki is withdrawing from his retirement to produce a new feature-length animated film. Once Suzuki began working on “The Red Turtle” (2016), Miyazaki returned to the producer with a new idea for a feature. When a reporter asked about Hayao Miyazaki's next movie, Suzuki smiled and prefaced, "It didn't take a year to say that (Miyazaki) wanted to return to active duty (after announcing his retirement). I will never forget, July 1st (2016). (Miyazaki) brought a proposal to me. A feature film proposal. He said, "I'll draft the e-conte (storyboard) for the first 20 minutes, so Mr. Suzuki, please judge whether this is interesting.” At the end of last year, I read it. I was really worried. I was worried. The content was really interesting..."

The film was at one point suggested to be released around the time of the 2020 Summer Olympics.

By May 19, 2017, Ghibli's production department was reopened and began rehiring many of its past collaborators.

In October 2017, during a commemorative event at Waseda University for the author Natsume Sōseki, Hayao Miyazaki revealed to the thousand attendees that his the new film would be an adaptation of the novel, "How Do You Live?". The film is expected to take three to four years to complete. Suzuki revealed that Miyazaki is working with his grandson in mind after he (Hayao Miyazaki) passes on.

Suzuki revealed that Miyazaki still needs "about three or four years" to finish the film in August 2018. In December 2019, Suzuki, in an NHK interview with actor Takeru Satoh, said, "The film is 15% finished at the end of October 2019 after 3.5 years of production. There was a schedule for directing 5 minutes per month but that was not followed in favor of 1 minute per month. There were plans to finish in 2019, but that schedule was not followed anymore. At this rate, the film would be completed by 2037 at the earliest."

In May 14, 2020, as the world was affected by the Coronavirus pandemic, the film's production schedule was largely immune to its effects. Suzuki explains in an interview, "We still draw everything by hand. It takes more time to complete a single film because we have to draw more frames and more pictures. At the time of production of "My Neighbor Totoro" (1988), there were only eight animators, and it took eight months to finish with that number of people. The work of director Miyazaki currently working on is sixty."

"A human animator is involved, but I can only make 1 minute in a month, which means that I can only make 12 minutes a year. Actually, I have already spent three years making this work, so now however, it means that it is completed only in 36 minutes. I hope to complete it in three years."

In March 25, 2021, Suzuki revealed to Sight & Sound Magazine that half of the film's animation had been completed. "Around half the film’s 125 minutes are now animated", and he doesn't expect a release for another three years. He described the film as a “big, fantastical” work. When Miyazaki told Suzuki he wanted to come out of retirement, the producer insisted that he justify his comeback by trying something new. The result is that, exceptionally, the director is working at his own pace, exempt from the usual constraints of deadlines and budgets.

In 2021, the novel became available in English.

In November 23, 2021, an interview with the New York Times revealed scant details of the upcoming film. "Neither Miyazaki nor Suzuki will share much about the forthcoming film, beyond the fact that it is based on a 1937 novel by Genzaburo Yoshino... The actual content of the film could be anything — Suzuki has described it as “fantasy on a grand scale” — since Miyazaki doesn’t so much borrow stories as liberate them from their origins... All Suzuki will share is that he recognizes himself in one of the characters, who is not human." Towards the end of the interview, the author of the article, Ligaya Mishan, was allowed to ask Miyazaki one more question, "The title of your next film is 'how do you live'," “Will you give us the answer?”

(Miyazaki's) smile comes only after he speaks: “I am making this movie because I do not have the answer.”

In June 2023, Studio Ghibli confirmed there would be no marketing material or trailers before the film's release. The film skipped premiere at different film festivals. No information about voice actors or the plot would be announced. Suzuki criticized American film marketing, being frustrated at how the majority of a film's story is revealed before its screening. The teaser poster was the only piece of information revealed before the film's release.

Release
The film was release in Japan on July 14, 2023. On the same day, the English title for the film was announced as The Boy and the Heron for US release slated later this year.

Reception
Matteo Watzky for Full Frontal described the film's narrative as difficult to assess and wrote, "One of the film’s most striking aspects, and perhaps what might make it a difficult watch for some, is how slow it is. [...] There is none of the exhilarating energy one might find in Laputa or even the density of Spirited Away‘s world: the sense of wonder is still there, but it is far more contemplative".

On opening day in Shinjuku, the largest business district in Tokyo, dozens of of people lined up outside a cinema for the first screening. Multiple other cinemas had numerous people come and watch.

Taichiro Yoshini, grandson of author Genzaburo Yoshino, had attended a private screening of the film in February 2023, and had sat there in a daze, and struggled to digest the film’smesages. H e also described the film as a “separate work” but perhaps share the same theme – How to live with oneself and accept a world characcterized by conflict and loss.

Source Material
Yūzō Yamamoto originally wrote the novel as one of the final publications in the serial Nihon Shosan Bunko Bunko. However, he was unable to complete it due to an illness. Genzaburō Yoshino took over and completed How Do You Live?' in a book form and published the book in 1937. Following Miyazaki's announcement, the novel immediately sold out.

The story is about Junichi Honda, an intellectually curious boy 2nd year (15 years old) junior high school student who is known by his nickname Koperu (Koper-kun), which was named after the astronomer Nicholas Copernicus. Despite his academic and athletic achievements, his sense of mischief led him to not becoming class president. Meanwhile, his father is a bank executive until his death, and his mother is a maid.

After his father's death, Koperu moves to his uncle's house. There are many children of businessmen, university professors, and doctors in classmates, and topics of classes extend to ski areas, cinemas, Ginza, and summer resorts. Koperu experiences and observes various events in school life with friends. Following each chapter, the uncle who told the story of the day talked about themes such as "view of things", "structure of society", "relation", etc. Koperu is shown his journal under the heading "How to see things", "Think of your Earth as one of the celestial bodies in the vast universe, like Copernicus, or think that your Earth is sitting in the center of the universe. In fact, these two ideas are not just about astronomy. When I think about the world and life, I have to follow along."

On December 13, 2022, Studio Ghibli announced the film's released date to be July 14, 2023 for theaters in Japan.

Manga
The novel was adapted into a manga by illustrator Shoichi Haga and published by Magazine House on August 24, 2018. The manga became a best-seller, selling over 2 million copies upon release.

Like the original, it is tailored as a book that lets readers think about profound themes such as "how to see things", "experiences of truth", and "human troubles, mistakes, and greatness". Hisashi Maeda, the Editor-in-Charge of the Weekly Bunshun commented regarding the relevance of the adaptation, "I knew that the original novel was a favorite among young people and was loved by the older generation as well, including journalist Akira Ikegami and Hayao Miyazaki. The reason I took this project is because it was beloved by young editors in their generations. I thought that if a good book that had been read for generations was made into a manga, it would reach a wider audience. The original theme is Koperu's growth, but in the manga, we added an element that would allow the uncle to grow together while guiding Koperu."

Drama
It was adapted as a 30-minute live-action drama for TBS / MBS and was broadcast on May 1, 2018. Koperu was played by Seishiro Kato, the uncle was played by Tomoharu Hasegawa, and mother was played by Hiroko Nakajima.

However, they did not have the permission of the author's bereaved family, and the eldest son of Genzaburo Yoshino filed a protest against the production company.