The Boy and the Heron

Aired: 2023

A fantasy adventure by director Miyazaki Hayao, following Mahito, a boy who loses his mother in a fire during wartime Tokyo. He moves with his father to a sprawling estate in the countryside, where he struggles with his relationship with his new stepmother Natsuko — his late mother's younger sister — before being guided by a mysterious grey heron into a fantastical world where life and death intertwine. This feature-length animated film by Studio Ghibli also drew enormous attention for its unprecedented release strategy of forgoing all advance promotion. Through encounters with various beings in this otherworld, the boy confronts the meaning of living, portrayed through breathtaking visual artistry. The theme song 'Chikyuugi' was composed and provided by Kenshi Yonezu as an original work for the film.