Studio Ghibli’s Hayao Miyazaki is a popular artist/director who has been responsible for some of the best-known animated movies and still continues to release some epic ones. Some time ago, Miyazaki announced his retirement before he decided to write and direct his twentieth feature film called The Boy and the Heron. Lately, some new information has been surfacing regarding the movie, and it looks like the director cried over a part of the movie while it was still in production.
This might come as a surprise to many, but he didn’t tear up because of the movie itself but because of the singer-songwriter Kenshi Yonezu. The artist was brought on board to take on the project of The Boy and the Heron’s theme song, and the demo of the track made Miyazaki sob. On his YouTube channel, Kenshi Yonezu shared his work on The Boy and the Heron, which is an hour long.
The popular artist shared that he first came to Studio Ghibli in 2018 and was formally requested to work on The Boy and the Heron after his song Paprika became a huge success in 2020. Yonezu continued to diligently work on The Boy and the Heron’s theme song before the arrival of its deadline and was surprised to see the way Miyazaki reacted to it. You can see his entire statement below:
"I asked Miyazaki to listen to a demo made from the source files. As Miyazaki only listens to music on CDs, I burned the demo onto a CD and went to him with it in my hand. I was so nervous I could have died. He was facing me as he listened to it. He was crying, tears flowing, as he took the card with the lyrics written on it. I won't say there wasn't any joy in his expression, but the face he showed me in that moment... it was probably the most memorable experience of my five years working with Miyazaki on this song for the film."
As it turns out, the demo of “Chikyugi” seemed to resonate with the director. Yonezu further explained how personal The Boy and the Heron was to Hayao Miyazaki and why it seemed to hit so hard. He further shared:
"I was only able to talk with four people [at Ghibli] in total [when writing the song]. But the very first time I reached out, Miyazaki took the opportunity to explain the film to me. However, there were no detailed explanations about the film itself, such as what the film was about-what happened in this film he was making with all his might. [...] According to him, this film opens the door to who he is. He said that there are various backward or dirty parts of him that he has been hiding throughout his life and that he has been making films with the door fully closed." [...] He talked about the philosophy behind making this film, which was to express all the aspects of himself that had not been expressed until now-which he had not talked about before."
In case you haven’t had the chance to listen to Chikyugi, it’s streaming on platforms such as YouTube. When it comes to The Boy and the Heron, the film is unfortunately available only in Japan as of right now but will release stateside shortly, as promised by GKIDS.
What’s The Boy and the Heron about?
Hayao Miyazaki’s The Boy and the Heron was released in Japan on July 14 and became an instant hit. The Japanese title provides a reference to Yoshino Genzaburō’s novel of the same name, but the movie has an original story that is not adapted from the book. The movie’s synopsis reads, “The film depicts the psychological growth of a teenage boy through interactions with his friends and uncle.”
The film follows the story of a 15-year-old boy known as Copper and shows how his interactions with his friends as well as his uncle, and the various events taking place at his school help in his growth as a human. He also reflects on the meaning of life and what his place is in society. Hayao Miyazaki was greatly moved by the book, even though his recent movie is not an adaptation. Overseas fans are eagerly waiting for the movie to release in their countries and can't wait to experience this movie themselves!
