The Boy and the Heron: How Do You Live? | A Studio Ghibli Video Essay

[@vengefulaug]

What you said about the bravery required to face a violent world and still seek human connections connects this movie very much to the wind rises to me. There’s so much that’s parallel with that movie to Heron. Wind drew criticism for seeming to romanticize war machines, but that was not the point at all, the point was that, even though there are terrifying things that can result from our actions, we should never stop TRYING. Same with Jiro and Naoko’s decisions regarding her illness. And same for the relationships in Heron. Both movies are masterpieces.

[@renrants]

What a beautiful connection to draw! I totally agree that the movies have a lot of common themes, and are definitely both masterpieces. The earthquake scene is still one of my favorite moments in animation for the beautiful, kinetic way it gives you the feeling of the quake. They also share so many anti war parallels while still humanizing the people living their lives in Japan during that time as well

[@fynchandrus5492]

Have you seen the theories that this film may be an ode to his son? Hayao being the granduncle and Goro being Mahito, his attempts to pass down ownership of this world (studio ghibli) to his relative and failing but being okay with that decision. it seems that in this final scene he says to Goro ‘you don’t need to follow in my footsteps, it’s okay for this world to die with me.’ With this theory i’ve seen this with Goro’s film Tales from EarthSea, where the son’s first action is to kill his father, as evidence of a strain with their relationship so Hayao apologizing and setting his son free from his expectations feels fitting.

[@renrants]

Oh wow, that's lovely! That definitely makes sense as an interpretation, especially considering he seems to have some regret for how much pressure he put on his son

[@tsukuneboy]

Good observation. I think Goro has finally found his place designing Ghibli theme park, which ironically was due to his father's work that he got the opportunity. But it's more inline with his degree in garden-scaping so hopefully he'll find peace with himself and his father, doing something that he likes not because of the pressure as the son of Hayao Miyazaki

[@skullseeker3013]

And Ren you did a magnificent job with this video, plz continue

[@renrants]

Thank you so much! ❤️❤️

[@gmatgmat]

I really admire your analyses of the many different ideas and themes in this movie. I feel like a boy who walks in a house suddenly discovering a window. Things that I wouldn't have imagined. Thank you. I usually take things at face value and don't delve too deeply. Your analysis of how nature is presented and how contact with mankind can corrupt it sticks to mind.

[@renrants]

Thank you so much for your kind words! It's definitely the product of a lot of research because I left the movie as confused as everyone else 😅

[@stephaniefriedman9375]

Thank you! Your explanations helped me gain such a deeper appreciation of the movie.

[@renrants]

Thank you, that means a lot to me ❤️❤️

[@haileyham1209]

I love your analysis and how much work was put into it!! It makes me really sad when I see people not like this movie because it was “too confusing”. It’s important to have more people like you that continue to love and analyze art :)

[@renrants]

Thank you so much for your sweet comment! ❤️❤️❤️

[@Pajarocaro]

Thank you so much for this analisis, it was really well made and made me appreciate this movie more then I already did.

[@renrants]

Thank you for your kind words! ❤️ Comments like this one make my day 🥺

[@DanCreaMundos]

yeah, I'm like 4 films away from watching every Miyazaki film and watched this one on cinema last week, I'm glad I was able to almost not get anything spoiled, because this was an incredible film that took small things from every single film he ever made which is amazing when you think about it.

[@renrants]

I didn't use it in the video, but I saw one post comparing shots in The Boy and the Heron to shots from his other movies and there are so many little callbacks! It's amazing

[@DanCreaMundos]

@@renrants I think this film will be analyzed for many many years to come, there's so much to see

[@renrants]

Totally agree, I can't wait to see it again

[@UnseamedComet]

This is a great analysis of the movie. Upon an initial watching a lot of this came across as very weird and surreal experience, but this really helped all the pieces fall into place regarding what Miyazaki was trying to impart 👏👏👏

[@SpookiBabi]

15:38 "i will cry at anything" babes ive been tearing up this whole video bc studio ghibli breaks all my walls down. Nothinnnnggg makes me cry but studio ghibli lmao.

[@renrants]

I'm just constantly buried under an avalanche of feels, but Ghibli definitely gets them going 😭😭

[@skullseeker3013]

I really love Boy and the Heron, and its music from Joe Hisaishi, i love it as much as other Ghibli creations

[@renrants]

It's such a beautiful movie!

[@grmgt]

The video barely started but i just wanted to say i loved the little touch of using a shirt with birds on it lol

[@renrants]

Thank you so much!

[@dominiciancabatit6012]

Great analysis! That moment Natsuko lashed out at Mahito also made me tear up a bit. It was really her true feelings made manifest in the Tower. And I like the explanation that the wizard is also a self-insert of Miyazaki - someone looking for a successor. I wasn't a big fan of the Heron though. He acted out as a guide of sorts, but I never can pinpoint what his goals were. What did he gain after the whole thing? And his character design is probably Ghibli's weirdest. The Parakeets also creep me out especially the sounds they make breathing through their noses haha. And the poop! There were lots of those when the birds finally escaped the tower haha! Anyways, loved this! Subscribed! :D

[@renrants]

Thank you for your kind words! It's definitely interesting how unsettling some of the character designs were for sure, it's not exactly an easy, cozy watch like Kiki or Ponyo 😅

[@nsalh8750]

Heron have different meaning in different culture.. i read about it in the Native American culture and it is very interesting i think it blend well with the story..maybe it’s intended maybe its not but the fact that it has different meaning and each meaning can fit the story.. very interesting

[@renrants]

I'll definitely look into it, thank you for sharing! :)

[@lukeluke333lukeluke]

Loved my time with the movie. Many things to think over after watching. Love the visuals and characters. Has many great themes. I take the main point is live, create, and treasure the time you have. I watched it with subs and after the credits. I saw the cast for English and want to rewatch again with dubs. Ghibli and Miyazaki are truly something spacial and try to get anyone to watch one of there films. They are amazing. Spirited Away maybe my favorite but I love so many others. Where do I rank this one. not sure. I think pretty high. I already want to rewatch it again which is a great sign. Great video with some great insight. The movie makes me think and feel emations. Its a strange movie but also feels very real.

[@renrants]

Thank you! Totally agree with you about Miyazaki and Ghibli, and also about this movie! It's so dreamlike, but also so relatable. I'm hoping to re-edit this video now that the movie is out on streaming, because the clips I could get when it was in theaters were so limited, but we'll see, haha 😅 I think my favorite Ghibli movie is either Mononoke or Howl's Moving Castle, but it's so hard to pick! They're all so amazing

[@grmgt]

Ok loved the video. But the moment that made me subscribe was "so i looked up the meaning of the inscription at the door""... ME TOO hahaha

[@arraine]

Thank you so much for breaking this down. I created this big grand theory based on the timeline to explain a lot of pieces of the story, but there are much simpler ways to explain them. For example, I saw Natsuko's attitude during the delivery room scene as part of the magic of the world they were in. In my mind, she was drawn there to provide a male heir that was "uncorrupted" by the outside world, because while the granduncle accepted Mahito as a viable heir, the parakeets wanted to raise an heir that would bow to their whims unquestioningly. Mahito's acceptance was the only thing that could break her out of that trance. Or, as you said, it was simply her own grief.

[@renrants]

That theory is really interesting though! I love it

[@arraine]

@@renrants thank you! Yeah I built an entire theory around the search for a successor and the nature of the alternate world itself. Granduncle brought the pelicans there to eat the wara wara (according to the injured and dying pelican), plus he was very distressed by the real world, implying to me that his goal was to prevent the dead from returning to the real world. Mahito's journey into his world was driven by his grief for his mother and escapism, but he left after demonstrating he accepted that she was gone and was ready to improve reality. To paraphrase The Amber Spyglass aka my favorite book ever, we have to build the republic of heaven where we are. There is no elsewhere.

[@renrants]

Honestly I like some of that analysis better than mine! Very cool reading of the movie, and so much of it is up to interpretation I think you picked up on some stuff a lot of us missed! I love your thoughts on the Warra Warra, it didn't even occur to me that the Pelicans were SUPPOSED to eat them, I thought it was an unintended consequence but it makes more sense that it's on purpose if Granduncle controls the world

[@arraine]

@@renrants I actually went back to the theater to watch the sub after leaving it with so many questions after the dub, and I think that detail about the purpose of the pelicans was missed/changed in the dub. It unlocked a lot for me!

[@renrants]

Oh wow that definitely makes sense, I only saw the dubbed version! I'll have to check out the subbed version once it's on streaming :o

[@AkechiWorld]

your channel is so underrated

[@renrants]

Thank you 🥺❤️

[@windgraceproject]

Ugh. Watching on my phone made me miss the glorious Bird Pattern you were wearing. D'OH!

[@renrants]

I'm just glad someone appreciates it! 🤣

[@gerheartthefirst5195]

People who say "This movie was confusing! Therefore its bad!" you are a hypocrite. If you are a big Ghibli fan you would know that his movies are supposed to be confusing, they are not in this world, of course you will be confused, and thats a good thing. Not every little detail should be hand fed into the audences ear, the most popular criticism of modern movies is that "Oh that movie was good but they told instead of showed too much" aka not following "Show don't tell" and yet the largest criticism of this film I see is that the movie should have just told you whats happening every other second. I mean hell two of the best anime Cowboy Bebop and Neon Genesis Evangelion both leave off at times (In Cowboy this is less so) with a similar feeling to the end of this movie, yet they are some of the highest rated anime of all time. Also, there seem to be only two camps from what ive seen the "Its his best work" camp and the "Its his worst work" camp. And while this may be a discovery of the participation of radicals being higher then the moderate, why cant this movie be one in the middle, maybe not the best, but still really really good. I mean everyone has a diffrent #1 ghibli film.

[@renrants]

I think it's a masterpiece but my favorite will personally always be Princess Mononoke. I think since The Boy and the Heron is so weird it's naturally polarizing and there's so much going on it's easy to get lost in it all. I always appreciate a movie that takes big swings and does something unusual.

[@shiroko6333]

I had many ways to interpret this film but one of them was metaphor for artist's life xD It probably have no sense, but I think good movies could have thousands of interpretarions and it will still work somehow. Old Uncle gave all of his life to this creation, trying to balance different aspects of his life, but for some reason staying alone and not understand by others. If you create something big, you would like to find someone, who'll contitnue this in the future. Those little white things I saw as "just born ideas", which artist need to feed and take care of them. In this case pelicans are symbol of things, that make creation process harder or even kill ideas (such as lack of time, people who tease your art etc.). Himi and Kiroko could be symbols of those things and people, who help you with creating, giving you support - they take care of various aspects in your life, so you could focuse on your goal. Parrots are symbol of copying, stealing ideas, this is something near to AI generated things. Heron is the mentor, who guides you and protects on the way to become artist, sometimes you couldn't understand him, but if you grow up as a person and artist you see how helpful he was. Mahito could be a young artist, but because of trauma his true potential is hidden. We can see that he is pretty skilled and could observe world around him (he made bow and arrows by himself, the way he find out how to sharpen knife, he found out something is off with Heron..). During his journey he finds his own balance (something that Old Uncle was unable to find) and he refuses to just continue something already existing. He risk a lot cuz he could fail, but it's his own choice (in terms of artist he found his own style) :3

[@Porifera-Jaymen]

🎉 nice analysis. Hugely dissatisfied with B&H, hoping to enjoy it more on rewatch

[@renrants]

I hope you get more from it with another approach! I definitely left the theater like "wtf" 😅

[@rogue265]

For your laugh, my (now 97 year old grandfather), when his wife died, then had a great relationship with his wifes sister until they also died. My family gave great ribbing over that. Every now and then he is a little bitter, going - i'm going through the 4th batch of older friends dying... I'm over it. He still lives in a 3 story house on a 1,200m2/13,000sqf block, and still driving with an every 6 month driving test haha. I do want to see this movie after listening to your review again heh. Robert Pattison is a very good actor just tainted by association - kinda like Hayden Christensen. Birds need to poop rapidly, as they use an active system to remove water from it, so they have very limited storage space for it haha (and it's also why it absolutely stinks) - compared to most primates that don't try and water recycle (one of the ways to make a bird lighter for flying). A few years ago i was driving across a bridge when the car in the adjacent lane to me had a pelican sitting on the overhead light pooped, and completely covered their windscreen - they managed to swerve across all 3 lanes, twice, and crash into both crash barriers before coming to a stop. Also love seeing the cockatoos on your shirt... You must have paid a fortune for it!

[@renrants]

Thank you for your wonderful and insightful comment! Glad no one was hurt by the pelican poo! 😅

[@rogue265]

@@renrants Well imagine 9ft lanes and 45mph speed limits... The car didn't fare well hah.

[@renrants]

Oh no 🤣 and you can't even sue the Pelican's insurance

[@rogue265]

Act of God "baby" of course

[@renrants]

Act of something 🤣

[@YumLemmingKebabs]

I liked Princess Mononoke a lot when I first saw it, but a lot of Miyazaki's other work feels way too vague for my tastes, so I haven't gotten around to seeing this yet. I feel like after watching this I might actually get a lot of stuff I otherwise wouldn't have if I do eventually watch it though. Thanks! Eager to see what you do next!

[@renrants]

Thank you so much! I actually really like the ambiguity in his work a lot, especially because he rarely totally flattens villains to be just evil, which makes it feel like he gives everyone their due complexity

[@linkthai1995]

This movie is actually the vaguest one yet.

[@renrants]

I would tend to agree, it's the least straightforward by far

[@stephaniewilliams6756]

Expert analysis! I was left confused and crying from the beauty and complexity of this movie after leaving the theater. He outdid himself this time, the whole team did. Jesus wasnt the only divine figure, Miyazaki is imbued with a god given talent for thoughtfulness and artistic ability. Wow

[@renrants]

Thank you so much! I agree it's a very special film from a very special director!

[@windgraceproject]

I want to read this story now. I have yet to look for it, I hope it might be easy to locate.

[@renrants]

I was able to get it on my e-reader. It's a lovely little read

[@windgraceproject]

I should break out my e-reader again. That's a good idea, thanks!@@renrants

[@renrants]

@windgraceproject I've recently started making a point to read a bit every day for fun and it's been so nice to get back into it

[@windgraceproject]

@@renrants I was doing that as well before a series of unfortunate ev...um... occurrences caused me to lose momentum. I have a stack of books, though haha

[@renrants]

I've been incorporating more of a mix of audio and ebooks so that it's easy to squeeze in some reading on the go.

[@Jeeshansameer2165]

This Movie Is A Complete Masterpiece

[@renrants]

Totally agree

[@BioluminescentTree]

Actually there is indeed poop depicted in the aftermath of the pelicans' attack.

[@renrants]

Good eye, I must have missed it 😅

[@anamariefalk3796]

excellent choice of shirt you got there

[@renrants]

Thank you! 🥺❤️ I'm pleased people noticed 😅

[@DanCreaMundos]

this is a really interesting video, I liked the way you presented it, I'd advice you, though, that you try to edit out the parts where you read, because it really breaks immersion with the video and gets the viewer really distracted, it's better to make it look as if you are looking at them all the time.

[@renrants]

Unfortunately, my scripts are so long I have to read off a prompter (I couldn't keep making videos consistently with the time it would take to memorize them) and there's no way to make the set up look more organic that I can afford at the moment, but don't worry, I'm aware of it and once I've saved up for some new equipment I'll address it :)

[@AnointedFlow]

14:42s I wanted to know why she went in there too. That's an explanation I can deal with.

[@renrants]

It was definitely perplexing in the moment!

[@jennanetroe607]

Nah because Howl is a bird!!!!

[@renrants]

Sometimes! :o

[@emmanuelpaz3283]

You should watch these two videos on The Boy and the Heron they are really good, I recommend watching the metaphor video first: This focus on the metaphor in the film: kzbin.info/www/bejne/oHqQeZeipd9qjLcsi=RpAAzOMu3yFjPdha And this focus on the visual details and there inspiration: kzbin.info/www/bejne/aGSrZHiXZq2nrKcsi=mmvW8cW1z4hNxboG

[@renrants]

I've actually seen the second one! It's a great video. I'll check the other one out though now that I've made my video, I try to avoid watching too many videos on a subject when I'm making a video because I don't want to unintentionally steal their original ideas 😅 so I usually wait until I have a solid script at the very least

[@giyanvice]

How come you did not add or mention or talk about the movie "When Marnie Was There (2014)"? Have you watched this movie or not? Well you should have. As this movie was the most relatable to that movie. "When Marnie Was There (2014)" is also one of my favorite movies. I still like his older movies then the newer movies, because his older movies were more Si-Fi, extra ordinary and supernatural. 13:20 Regarding the loss, well I personally have lost many people of my own, so that is just life for me, but I never cried. Good things never last long, so I try to keep myself far away from other people.

[@renrants]

When Marnie was there is a lovely film and it is a Ghibli film, but it isn't a Miyazaki movie, because this project was so personal to Miyazaki, I chose to focus on the movies he worked on personally rather than Studio Ghibli generally Loss hurts, but as the quote goes "tis better to have loved and lost" big love is worth big pain imo, and crying is good!

[@giyanvice]

@@renrants Okay, yes, fair, it is not a Miyazaki movie, but still you could point at it, because it is closely relatable to this movie as they share similar stories. Never mind, its fine. No crying!!! Hahaha

[@renrants]

@giyanvice the video can only be so long 😅

[@giyanvice]

@@renrants Okay. :)

[@renrants]

I might mention it when I re-cut the video after the film comes out on streaming

[@pnr2736]

Yoo

[@trinimusa4069]

Good attempt at commentary but really dislike the use of references outside of the source material ie national geographic and Forbes. Wish this was more of how you felt about the movie vs you trying to become an expert at ghibli content and the author.

[@renrants]

I was basically just trying to unpack the movie, because there was so much that was confusing on first blush (and I only got to see the movie in theaters once and made this before it was available on streaming) so this video was me unpacking the themes of the film and it's source material and symbolism so I and others could better understand it. I do have content that is more explicitly just reviews with my opinions, but the goal here was to make a video essay delving into the various interpretations of the film

[@gbagel9663]

Reddit moment. Review's completely fine