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When Maki Shouichi (CV: Kimura Takuya) brings his son Maki Mahito (CV: Santoki Souma) out of Tokyo during the war, Mahito isn’t exactly overjoyed about the prospect of having a new mother, or a younger sibling. However, he quickly realises that the grey heron (CV: Suga Masaki) that lives by the pond isn’t a normal bird after he hurts himself.

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I watched The Boy and the Heron while sick during the first week of the year. I was shuffling through Netflix when I saw it, and decided to watch it because I love Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki. I didn’t know what to expect because the films Ghibli makes are often whimsical, yet deep (think Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea, or My Neighbour Totoro), or serious, yet beautiful (such as Princess Mononoke or the pre-Ghibli film Nausica of the Valley of the Wind), so I went in with both no expectations and high expectations.

This story is both; it’s whimsical to the point of almost bizarre, but serious, covering themes of grief, loss and discoveries. It’s certainly one of Ghibli’s darker and more thought-provoking films.

Thoughts

The opening scene is quite action-filled. We’re placed right in the middle of the war, when the hospital Mahito’s mother, Hisako (CV: Aimyon), works at is on fire. She, unfortunately, died in that fire. Mahito later finds himself in the countryside with his father, moving to the home of his aunt, Natsuko (CV: Kimura Yoshino). His aunt… who will be his new mother.

This transition from the catastrophic moment in Mahito’s life, giving a backstory to his reluctance and grief, to the everyday life of moving to a new location is both powerful and slightly jarring. That said, the animation with Mahito rushing through people to get to the hospital is gorgeous. It’s truly animation at its finest.

The environment, the food and the characters are all so iconic for Ghibli that I feel like there’s no real reason for me to say much. The sombre mood is also well depicted despite the colourfulness of the style, and the grief that Mahito feels is definitely visually there, with the body language offering a lot of cues.

Unfortunately, specifically with Mahito, I noticed he sounded really stiff. Of course, this could have been on purpose, and in some scenes, I get that, although I’d say that it was a bit too stiff at times even considering the circumstances and Mahito’s exhibited characteristics. But there are other scenes that didn’t quite have the liveliness Mahito exhibited visually. One that especially stood out to me was when he was at the tower the first time and I just felt like there was absolutely no emotion conveyed. He didn’t even sound curious despite asking the housekeepers questions. Nothing.

This is something that sometimes happens when actors, such as Santoki Souma, voice characters in animated films. Because they’re used to conveying things using their body language, their voices can fall a bit flat. It doesn’t happen with all of them, but voice acting and acting in film need different skills. From what I could find, this was Santoki’s first animated film and it might be because of that and he didn’t have the experience or developed the proper skills. It’s just a bit painful when it’s the main character whose voice is more monotone than it ought to be. Basically, I could hear it wasn’t someone experienced in voice acting. Or maybe I’ve just watched way too much anime over the past 20+ years.

Overall, however, it doesn’t affect the film. The way the tower works reminds me a lot of Diana Wynne Jones’ House of Many Ways, a favourite book of mine (warmly recommended if you like Howl’s Moving Castle), although this film is loosely based on something else. It’s whimsical and one turn will take you where you didn’t which you’d be. I like how it seems to act upon dream logic. It’s fun and a great adventure to follow Mahito through the tower in search of Natsuko together with the maid, Kiriko (CV: Shibasaki Kou).

I do need to mention, though, that when the credits came, I cried. I just wept. The thing is, it’s not just a tale of Mahito searching for his aunt, but it’s also an allegory of pain and loss and how you overcome the grief of the loss of a loved one. It’s a story about admitting your faults and being self aware. Mahito went through many emotions from betrayal to jealousy to anger, none which were explicitly expressed, but at least an adult viewer ought to see, some of it based upon Miyazaki’s own experiences as a child.

It’s really a beautiful film that I enjoyed. I was asked what I thought of it and my answer was:

I was crying at the end. 10/10

And that’s the takeaway you probably should have from my experience of the film. However, it can likely be difficult to follow at times if you’re used to a strict three-act structure, but to me the plot was fairly straightforward in the end.