Movies are the backbone of connecting people. With complex images complimenting intricate themes and stories, we are able to follow along with one another and experience something as one. Different franchises have been able to achieve this in cinema, but the one that has been able to capture all ranges of people is Studio Ghibli. Hayao Miyazaki, co-founder of Studio Ghibli, has announced a new Studio Ghibli movie coming out called The Boy and the Heron as his retirement film supposedly debuting December 8, 2023.

However, Miyazaki has said multiple times that he’s retiring only for him to retract the statement and release a new movie. Nevertheless , fans of Studio Ghibli are more inclined to believe that this is truly his retirement film with the way Studio Ghibli is handling the promotion compared to other films.
The Boy and the Heron has, by request, been rarely reported on in the media. Only fourteen images of the film along with small clips of it have been released to the public after the grueling seven years it took to make the film. Miyazaki made sure that he could keep the same style and work ethic that he did with his other blockbuster films such as My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki’s Delivery Service, and Princess Mononoke by hand drawing everything.

The studio itself is known for turning manga, Japanese comic books or graphic novels, and other books into works of art which is exactly what they are doing with The Boy and the Heron. The movie is based on the book How Do You Live? by Genzaburo Yoshino. According to Travis weekly, the film – originally rumored to have the same name as the novel – takes place during World War II and is about a boy named Mahto who moves to a different town and ventures on into new adventures after he encounters a gray heron that dubs him the “long-awaited one”” who instructs him to go and travel to a “ magical underground world” to save his family. The majority of Studio Ghibli movies are rooted in both realism and fictional artistry.

Overall, whether Miyazaki is truly retiring or not, The Boy and the Heron is set to have just as much popularity as his previous films. With his roots in groundbreaking works that spread throughout the world, Miyazaki is bound to make another blockbuster hit of his supposed retirement film.