The Boy and the Heron, purportedly the last creation from renowned Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki, secured the Oscar for the best animated feature film at the 96th Academy Awards in Los Angeles.
Based on Genzaburō Yoshino’s 1937 novel “How Do You Live?”, the film loosely recounts the autobiographical tale of a young boy navigating the challenges of World War II while searching for his mother in a fantastical realm.
Upon its release in the UK, it was characterized as “a mysterious and enchanting fantasy that revisits Miyazaki’s timeless themes of childhood sorrow and loss” by Peter Bradshaw, the Guardian’s chief film critic.
Although a December visit to Miyazaki’s Studio Ghibli office by the Guardian hinted that the 83-year-old director might not be actively planning additional feature films, Ghibli’s vice-president, Junichi Nishioka, contradicted claims of Miyazaki’s retirement.
Nishioka asserted in September that Miyazaki is “already coming into the office with new ideas.” Despite being the most prominent Japanese animator in the Western world, Miyazaki has accumulated numerous accolades, including winning the best animated feature Oscar in 2003 for “Spirited Away” and receiving two additional Oscar nominations for “Howl’s Moving Castle” (2006) and “The Wind Rises” (2014).
