and evocation of both the emotional ambiguities of childhood and the twisting path to becoming an adult We American millennials were blessed to have the films translated and distributed in English just as we were growing up and so movies including “My Neighbor Totoro,” “Princess Mononoke,” and “Spirited Away” are nigh-universally recognizable touchstones of our youth Any Ghibli imagery is primed to make us feel a combination of pleasurable nostalgia and mournful shivers and missed connections featured in Miyazaki’s cinematic story lines that sense of poignancy quickly erodes when you are bombarded with thousands of Ghibli-esque copycat images thanks to OpenAI’s latest version of its ChatGPT tool and softly creasing clothing familiar from Miyazaki’s films The effect was uncannily convincing; any flaws—pixelated chin scruff say—revealed themselves only on close examination Slatton’s post now has nearly fifty million views and has inspired a rash of other Ghiblified scenes including ones very unbefitting of the Miyazaki cinematic universe—a Ghibli Donald Trump raising his fist defiantly in the aftermath of an assassination attempt; a Ghibli airplane hitting the Twin Towers The bizarre nadir of the trend may have been reached when the official White House X account posted a Ghibli-filtered photo of a sobbing alleged drug dealer from the Dominican Republic getting arrested This is the same Administration that previously posted an A.S.M.R or an A.I.-generated version of Jay-Z’s voice singing a retro rap track the technology’s failure to produce flawless verisimilitude was part of the charm one can almost enjoy the winsome color palettes and line work for their own sake forgetting that they are the ersatz creations of a machine for training its tools on their artwork and infringing on their styles; those lawsuits are still making their way through the court system and their outcomes will determine much of how A.I.-generated images are treated going forward one case set a precedent that A.I.-generated art cannot and surrealism that probes the artist’s very urge to create something that will outlast him The film’s energetic abstraction—accelerating into the deepest ineffable parts of our souls—is one way art can respond to the challenge of technology Even as Miyazaki’s style proves memetic in this moment his work might foretell the future of aesthetics A long-ago crime, suddenly remembered A limousine driver watches her passengers transform The day Muhammad Ali punched me What is it like to be keenly intelligent but deeply alienated from simple emotions? Temple Grandin knows The harsh realm of “gentle parenting.” Retirement the Margaritaville way Fiction by F. Scott Fitzgerald: “Thank You for the Light.” Sign up for our daily newsletter to receive the best stories from The New Yorker. Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. Hayao Miyazaki of Japan, director of the animated film “Ponyo,” poses at a special screening of the film in Los Angeles on July 27, 2009. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, File) But the trend also highlighted ethical concerns about artificial intelligence tools trained on copyrighted creative works and what that means for the future livelihoods of human artists. Miyazaki, 84, known for his hand-drawn approach and whimsical storytelling, has expressed skepticism about AI’s role in animation. Janu Lingeswaran wasn’t thinking much about that when he uploaded a photo of his 3-year-old ragdoll cat, Mali, into ChatGPT’s new image generator tool on Wednesday. He then asked ChatGPT to convert it to the Ghibli style, instantly making an anime image that looked like Mali but also one of the painstakingly drawn feline characters that populate Miyazaki movies such as “My Neighbor Totoro” or “Kiki’s Delivery Service.” “I really fell in love with the result,” said Lingeswaran, an entrepreneur who lives near Aachen, Germany. “We’re thinking of printing it out and hanging it on the wall.” “We added a refusal which triggers when a user attempts to generate an image in the style of a living artist,” it said. But the company added in a statement that it “permits broader studio styles — which people have used to generate and share some truly delightful and inspired original fan creations.” Studio Ghibli in Japan declined to comment Friday. “Every morning, not in recent days, I see my friend who has a disability,” Miyazaki said. “It’s so hard for him just to do a high five; his arm with stiff muscle can’t reach out to my hand. Now, thinking of him, I can’t watch this stuff and find it interesting. Whoever creates this stuff has no idea what pain is.” He said he would “never wish to incorporate this technology into my work at all.” “I strongly feel that this is an insult to life itself,” he added. Josh Weigensberg, a partner at the law firm Pryor Cashman, said that one question the Ghibli-style AI art raises is whether the AI model was trained on Miyazaki or Studio Ghibli’s work. That in turn “raises the question of, ‘Well, do they have a license or permission to do that training or not?’” he said. OpenAI didn’t respond to a question Thursday about whether it had a license. Weigensberg added that if a work was licensed for training, it might make sense for a company to permit this type of use. But if this type of use is happening without consent and compensation, he said, it could be “problematic.” Weigensberg said that there is a general principle “at the 30,000-foot view” that “style” is not copyrightable. But sometimes, he said, what people are actually thinking of when they say “style” could be “more specific, discernible, discrete elements of a work of art,” he said. “A ‘Howl’s Moving Castle’ or ‘Spirited Away,’ you could freeze a frame in any of those films and point to specific things, and then look at the output of generative AI and see identical elements or substantially similar elements in that output,” he said. “Just stopping at, ‘Oh, well, style isn’t protectable under copyright law.’ That’s not necessarily the end of the inquiry.” “That’s using Ghibli’s branding, their name, their work, their reputation, to promote (OpenAI) products,” Ortiz said. “It’s an insult. It’s exploitation.” Ortiz was further enraged when President Donald Trump’s administration jumped into the meme trend Thursday, using the White House’s official X account to post a Ghibli-style image of a weeping woman from the Dominican Republic recently arrested by U.S. immigration agents. The White House and OpenAI didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment on how the image was made. “To see something so brilliant, as wonderful as Miyazaki’s work be butchered to generate something so foul,” Ortiz wrote on social media, adding that she hoped Studio Ghibli sues “the hell out of” OpenAI for this. O’Brien reported from Providence, Rhode Island. AP writer Yuri Kageyama in Tokyo contributed to this report. ‘Whoever creates this stuff has no idea what pain is whatsoever’ said Miyazaki I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice Thanks to a new version of ChatGPT, users can transform popular internet memes or personal photos into the distinct style of Ghibli founder Hayao Miyazaki, a renowned critic of AI who has strongly condemned the technology in the past However, the trend also highlighted ethical concerns about artificial intelligence tools trained on copyrighted creative works and what that means for the future livelihoods of human artists as well as ethical questions on the value of human creativity in a time increasingly shaped by algorithms known for his hand-drawn approach and whimsical storytelling has criticised AI's role in animation in the past One of the most famous instances was in a 2016 documentary called Never-Ending Man: Hayao Miyazaki a group of developers showed Miyazaki a crude AI-generated animation demo of a zombie that could be used for a video game which showed a writhing body dragging itself by its head explained that AI could “present us grotesque movements that we humans can’t imagine.” I see my friend who has a disability,” he said “It’s so hard for him just to do a high five; his arm with stiff muscle can’t reach out to my hand I can’t watch this stuff and find it interesting.” Miyazaki added: “Whoever creates this stuff has no idea what pain is whatsoever I am utterly disgusted… I strongly feel that this is an insult to life itself.” If you sign up to this service we will earn commission This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent The viral AI trend has been shared across various social media platforms with the White House posting its version of the craze on Thursday (27 March) which has drawn widespread criticism The White House used the tool to illustrate a picture of a 36-year-old woman from the Dominican Republic Although the image has been viewed more than 45 million times on X/Twitter many have called the post “evil” and “ghastly” This isn’t the first time that Studio Ghibli-inspired AI has caused controversy In October an AI-generated trailer of the 1997 film Princess Mononoke sparked backlash after going viral on social media. The AI trailer, which uses the English voice acting from the original film, featuring talents like Billy Cudrup, Clare Danes and Minnie Driver, has completely reimagined the hand-drawn animation of the Japanese movie as if real people were playing the parts, albeit with CGI. Additional reporting by the Associated Press. Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies that allows the program to create high-quality images I’ve been surprised by how effective the tool is: It follows directions precisely renders people with the right number of fingers and is even capable of replacing text in an image with different words Almost immediately—and with the direct encouragement of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman—people started using GPT-4o to transform photographs into illustrations that emulate the style of Hayao Miyazaki’s animated films at Studio Ghibli and Spirited Away.) The program was excellent at this task generating images of happy couples on the beach (cute) and lush illustrations of the Kennedy assassination (not cute) backlash soon followed: People raised concerns about OpenAI profiting off of another company’s intellectual property pointed to a documentary clip of Miyazaki calling AI an “insult to life itself,” and mused about the technology’s threats to human creativity yet they didn’t feel altogether satisfying—complaining about a (frankly quite impressive!) thing doesn’t make that thing go away also the Barbara and David Thomas Distinguished Professor at Washington University in St This interview has been edited and condensed Damon Beres: Let’s start with the very basic question You could construe them as immoral or unseemly Where does that get us in our understanding of contemporary technology and culture We have backed ourselves into this corner where fandom is so important and so celebrated Adopting the universe and aesthetics of popular culture—whether it’s Studio Ghibli or Marvel or Harry Potter or Taylor Swift—that’s not just permissible but good and even righteous in contemporary culture Damon: So the idea is that fan art is okay so long as a human hand literally drew it with markers But if any person is able to type a very simple command into a chatbot and render what appears at first glance to be a professional-grade Studio Ghibli illustration Ian: It’s not different in nature to have a machine do a copy of a style of an artist than to have a person do a copy of a style of an artist But there is a difference in scale: With AI you can make them fast and you can make lots of them That’s changed people’s feelings about the matter I read an article about copyright and style—you can’t copyright a style it argued—that made me realize that people conflate many different things in this conversation about AI art People who otherwise might hate copyright seem to love it now: If they’re posting their own fan art and get a takedown request I’m just trying to spread the gospel of your creativity But those same people might support a copyright claim against a generative-AI tool Damon: As I’ve experimented with these tools I’ve realized that the purpose isn’t to make art at all; a Ghibli image coming out of ChatGPT is about as artistic as a photo with an Instagram filter on it I’m putting a dumb thought into a program and seeing what comes out There’s a low-effort delight and playfulness But some people have made this point that it’s insulting because it’s violating Studio Ghibli co-founder Hayao Miyazaki’s beliefs about AI Then there are these memes—the White House tweeted a Ghiblified image of an immigrant being detained But the image is not distasteful because of the technology: It’s distasteful because it’s the White House tweeting a cruel meme about a person’s life this embrace of the intentional fallacy—the idea that a work’s meaning is derived from what the creator of that work intended that meaning to be people express an almost total respect for the intentions of the artist It’s perfectly fine for Miyazaki to hate AI or anything else but the idea that his opinion would somehow influence what I think about making AI images in his visual style is fascinating to me Damon: Maybe some of the frustration that people are expressing is that it makes Studio Ghibli feel less special Studio Ghibli movies are rare—there aren’t that many of them the aesthetic being everywhere and the aesthetic being cheap cuts against that But you’re still in intentional-fallacy territory Studio Ghibli has made a deliberate effort to tend and curate their output and they don’t just make a movie every year and I want to respect that as someone influenced by that work Damon: What we haven’t talked about is the Ghibli image as a kind of meme They’re not just spreading because they’re Ghibli images: They’re spreading because they’re AI-generated Ghibli images Ian: This is a distinctive style of meme based less on the composition of the image itself or the text you put on it but the application of an AI-generated style to a subject I feel like this does represent some sort of evolutionary branch of internet meme You need generative AI to make that happen you need it to be widespread and good enough and fast enough and cheap enough And you need X and Bluesky in a way as well Damon: You can’t really imagine image generators in a paradigm where there’s no social media These are things that are made to be posted Damon: Maybe that’s what people don’t like that accusation is equivalent to selling out Damon: Leave me with a concluding thought about how people should react to these images and if we refuse to give ourselves the opportunity to even start engaging with why and instead jump to the most convenient or in-crowd conclusion CEO Sam Altman is slamming the haters — including the OpenAI cofounder claimed that the "trade-off is worth it." He then claimed that it was "impossible" to make videos — or as they used to call it back in the stone age being a filmmaker — just a few decades ago "Think what it was like to try to do what you do 30 years ago," Altman implored Mayya you'd need like a camcorder and like VHS tapes and then you'd have to like edit it in some complicated way because there was no internet and no YouTube." several disconcerting inaccuracies being presented as universal sentiment there The internet absolutely did exist 30 years ago — and has existed for more than 40 years — and its advent did indeed help filmmakers learn editing tricks and distribute their work it wasn't "impossible" to make video recordings in the year 1995 — many people old enough to remember at least part of the 90s recall their parents' home videos — and most high schools had audio/visual clubs and classes for those who wanted to learn how to edit video as well Altman's asininity didn't end there anyone who has "something interesting to say We're not exactly sure how creating Ghibli-style images of historic disasters benefits the world does significantly increase the number of people that can contribute to society," the millennial tech mogul asserted Were AI doing anything to democratize art and speech for every instance of compelling generative art we've seen there has been an endless stream of slop and bullshit that imitates existing styles rather than charting new territory In the face of prescient past criticisms from the greatest living illustrator in the world Altman chose to extend half-baked platitudes — and frankly it barely sounded like he believed his own conceit More on the irksome Altman: This Appears to Be Why Sam Altman Actually Got Fired by OpenAI Articles may contain affiliate links which enable us to share in the revenue of any purchases made. Registration on or use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Service. © Recurrent Ventures Inc, All Rights Reserved. Your Ads Privacy ChoicesIMDb By Vanessa Armstrong Hayao Miyazaki’s adaptation of Eiko Kadono’s Kiki’s Delivery Service is heading back to theaters as part of this year’s Studio Ghibli Fest The 1989 anime feature is a coming-of-age story centered on a resourceful young witch who uses her broom to create a delivery service only to lose her gift of flight in a moment of self-doubt and will have both English dubbed and Japanese language with subtitles screenings You can see if it’s playing at a theater near you (and buy tickets if so) by following the link here which will be making its first return to theaters since its original release You can learn more by heading to GhibliFest.com The Reactor newsletter is the best way to catch up on the world of science fiction “There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb For compliance with applicable privacy laws: What are your favorite movies from this auteur filmmaker I did not come to Hayao Miyazaki movies as a kid after I had a roommate obsessed with Studio Ghibli He's considered a major figure in animation and international filmmaking and his films are more than just animated features; they're cinematic poems I wanted to go over them and ask my favorites My buddy in college was obsessed with this movie and had it on all the time It's about taming a childhood spirit as your friend A picturesque and deep tale about nature and and humanity It's basically a metaphor for conservation and being good stewards of the earth A semi-autobiographical movie; I love how much magic we can tell the doctor seeds in the world and how he's able to translate that into an emotional journey for us this is a coming-of-age story follows Kiki a young witch who moves to a new city to complete her training It's more about young adult life and very charming It's one of the more famous titles since the American dub had a ton of stars It has some of the most stunning cinematography I've seen in an animated movie This is like another deep anti-war movie that is about the search for a mythical city in the sky It tells the story of orphans on the run from rogue pirates Another look at our complex relationship with the environment and war: this is a post-apocalyptic animated movie that has a character who can talk to giant bugs Another movie here that feels wholly unique is about Jiro Horikoshi the designer of the Mitsubishi A5M and A6M Zero fighter planes which were used in WWII Miyazaki's take on The Little Mermaid follows a goldfish boy who wants to escape the sea kingdom of his father and become human It's pretty weird but also kind of charming and this one follows a WWI pilot who is cursed to have the head of a pig He's now defending a fleet against pirates with a casino heist and forgers and lots of other stuff Miyazaki is an auteur whose work has spanned a few decades and whose influence has no measure Making favorites among his films was really hard and I would encourage everyone to watch as many of them as they can and to form their own lists Let me know what you think in the comments Fletcher shares his wisdom on the written word He tells tales of suburban America that I think are cutting Perrotta's novels, such as Election and Little Children, thrust him into the spotlight after they were adapted into critically acclaimed films; Perrotta co-wrote the screenplay for Little Children with Todd Field earning an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay about the aftermath of a Rapture-like event was adapted into a Peabody Award-winning HBO television series which he co-created and produced.Other notable works include the novels The Abstinence Teacher Mrs.Fletcher (also adapted into an HBO mini-series) along with the short story collection Nine Inches I wanted to look at the video of Perrotta giving writing advice and see what we could glean from his words I think it's extremely valuable to listen to authors, especially ones who have worked in both film and TV. There's a real demystification of the act of writing and lots of great advice on finding yourself and your voice Perrotta found early inspiration in his life by just reading anything and everything he recalls the profound impact of diving into worlds like Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings Perrotta describes a sense of ease and natural ability that had eluded him in his other pursuits This feeling solidified his ambition; by college Once you have that spark and that love of writing you have to nurture it to run it into a blaze Gobble up all the work you can and see how it makes you feel and what parts of yourself it helps bring out of your mind Perrotta says he didn't have a particularly "literary" childhood in the traditional sense. However, he credits encouragement to read and influential English teachers, who introduced him to authors like the great Raymond Chandler, as vital supports It helped him find his style on the page and the way he'd form his prose Finding those friends and mentors who thought like him kept him on the path. And they didn't turn him off becoming a writer, they helped keep him moving forward. Coupled with this is the idea that writers also must be avid readers. It's through immersing oneself in the works of others that a writer truly hones their own craft. You get better and find out who you are just by reading other people's works. To Perotta, the one sign that someone is going to be okay as a writer is that they read vociferously. Tom Perrotta's story is a reminder that the path to finding your creative voice can be winding. You have to try a lot of things, read a lot of things, and then you have to sit down and do the hard work. It involves exploring different interests, recognizing where your natural affinities lie, and embracing the power of reading and mentorship. Let me know what you think in the comments. Part 2: Superhuman abilities and opportunistic behaviors Part 3: Playing roles and altering fates Can you please give us a quick self-introduction Inc.: A game development and publishing company They have developed games such as Elden Ring™ and have released Dark Souls™: Remastered on Nintendo Switch please tell us what led to this title being developed for Nintendo Switch 2 we had the opportunity to meet with Nintendo to discuss ideas we presented a rough outline for The Duskbloods It was still very bare-bones at the time—more a loose string of ideas than a proper presentation The concept itself was different from anything we had done before and Nintendo seemed very interested in helping make it a reality At first it was being worked on by a small team as a title for Nintendo Switch However just as the game started to take shape we were approached by Nintendo with talk of Switch 2 which led us to revamp our development path with this new hardware in mind The new hardware’s focus on online features allowed us to stay as true to the original vision as possible It sounds like the game differs from most of your previous titles Can you give us a little more detail as to what type of game it is with both player vs player and player vs enemy gameplay (2) An acronym referring to a style of fighting where in addition to players fighting each other players also fight enemies (CPUs) that appear in the game Did you always have some desire to make a PvPvE type game I’ve always found the PvPvE structure very interesting It allows for a broad range of game-design ideas while also letting us leverage our experience of designing challenging enemy encounters this is an online multiplayer title at its core but this doesn’t mean that we as a company have decided to shift to a more multiplayer-focused direction with titles going forward The Nintendo Switch 2 version of Elden Ring (3) was also announced and we still intend to actively develop single player focused games such as this that embrace our more traditional style (3) Nintendo Switch 2 software planned for release in 2025 Elden Ring is a fantasy action RPG set in a massive open world where you develop your character according to your playstyle Please tell us about the game’s characters and setting are known as “Bloodsworn.” The Bloodsworn are a group whose members have achieved super-human abilities through the power of special blood but they are not portrayed as the horrifying monsters you might associate with traditional vampirism We tried to extract the sort of romantic aspects we found interesting from concepts such as vampires and “blood” and reinterpreted them as the Bloodsworn the Bloodsworn are competing for something known as “First Blood.” As human society reaches an end First Blood flows in an event known as the “Twilight of Humanity.” The Bloodsworn are summoned to the Twilight of Humanity across a variety of different times and places in a bid to obtain First Blood there is no fixed era or location in which The Duskbloods takes place There are more traditional Gothic- or Victorian-style maps as well as those depicting the closing years of the early modern period like the one glimpsed in the trailer with the train running through it Can you let us know the meaning behind the title The Duskbloods The Duskbloods directly refers to the Bloodsworn themselves the Bloodsworn are summoned to the Twilight of humanity in a battle for First Blood “Duskbloods” is a collective term for these characters controlled by the player It sounds like blood plays a pretty big role in the game as opposed to literal meanings like physical depictions of injury Blood symbolizes one of the game’s key themes—the history it holds the fates it weaves and the marker of those who have surpassed the limitations of their own humanity Read more in Part 2: Superhuman abilities and opportunistic behavior *Any Nintendo Switch Online membership (sold separately) and Nintendo Account required for online features. Membership auto-renews after initial term at the then-current price unless canceled. Not available in all countries. Internet access required for online features. Terms apply. nintendo.com/switch-online Posted by Staff | May 4 the famed Japanese animation studio behind “Spirited Away” and other beloved movies were delighted in March when a new version of ChatGPT let them transform popular internet memes or personal photos into the distinct style of Ghibli founder Hayao Miyazaki But the trend also highlighted ethical concerns about artificial intelligence tools trained on copyrighted creative works and what that means for the future livelihoods of human artists has expressed skepticism about AI’s role in animation Janu Lingeswaran was not thinking much about that when he uploaded a photo of his 3-year-old ragdoll cat into ChatGPT’s new image generator tool He then asked ChatGPT to convert it to the Ghibli style instantly making an anime image that looked like Mali but also one of the painstakingly drawn feline characters that populate Miyazaki movies such as “My Neighbor Totoro” or “Kiki’s Delivery Service.” “I really fell in love with the result,” said Lingeswaran “We’re thinking of printing it out and hanging it on the wall.” Similar results gave the Ghibli style to iconic images such as the casual look of Turkish pistol shooter Yusuf Dikec in a T-shirt and one hand in his pocket on his way to winning a silver medal at the 2024 Olympics Or the famed “Disaster Girl” meme of a 4-year-old turning to the camera with a slight smile as a house fire rages in the background which is fighting copyright lawsuits over its flagship chatbot has largely encouraged the “Ghiblification” experiments and its CEO Sam Altman changed his profile on social media platform X into a Ghibli-style portrait In a technical paper posted by the company it said the new tool would be taking a “conservative approach” in the way it mimics the aesthetics of individual artists “We added a refusal which triggers when a user attempts to generate an image in the style of a living artist,” it said But the company added in a statement that it “permits broader studio styles — which people have used to generate and share some truly delightful and inspired original fan creations.” As users posted their Ghibli-style images on social media Miyazaki’s previous comments on AI animation also began to resurface When Miyazaki was shown an AI demo in 2016 he said he was “utterly disgusted” by the display according to documentary footage of the interaction explained that AI could “present us grotesque movements that we humans can’t imagine.” It could be used for zombie movements I see my friend who has a disability,” Miyazaki said “It’s so hard for him just to do a high five; his arm with stiff muscle can’t reach out to my hand I can’t watch this stuff and find it interesting Whoever creates this stuff has no idea what pain is.” He said he would “never wish to incorporate this technology into my work at all.” “I strongly feel that this is an insult to life itself,” he added said that one question the Ghibli-style AI art raises is whether the AI model was trained on Miyazaki or Studio Ghibli’s work That in turn “raises the question of do they have a license or permission to do that training or not?'” he said Weigensberg added that if a work was licensed for training it might make sense for a company to permit this type of use But if this type of use is happening without consent and compensation Weigensberg said that there is a general principle “at the 30,000-foot view” that “style” is not copyrightable what people are actually thinking of when they say “style” could be “more specific discrete elements of a work of art,” he said “A ‘Howl’s Moving Castle’ or ‘Spirited Away,’ you could freeze a frame in any of those films and point to specific things and then look at the output of generative AI and see identical elements or substantially similar elements in that output,” he said style isn’t protectable under copyright law.’ That’s not necessarily the end of the inquiry.” who grew up watching Miyazaki’s movies and is suing other AI image generators for copyright infringement in a case that’s still pending called it “another clear example of how companies like OpenAI just do not care about the work of artists and the livelihoods of artists.” “That’s using Ghibli’s branding to promote (OpenAI) products,” Ortiz said Ortiz was further enraged when President Donald Trump’s administration jumped into the meme trend using the White House’s official X account to post a Ghibli-style image of a weeping woman from the Dominican Republic recently arrested by U.S as wonderful as Miyazaki’s work be butchered to generate something so foul,” Ortiz wrote on social media adding that she hoped Studio Ghibli sues “the hell out of” OpenAI for this With various editorial projects in our production pipeline this is our general attribution for credit when a single individual is not specifically attached by name used when several staff collaborate to report the single news story Designed by Elegant Themes | Powered by WordPress we've compiled this guide for how you can watch every single one right now The one exception to the "Max" rule is 1988's Grave of the Fireflies after years of being pretty much impossible to find online This list compiles 24 Studio Ghibli movies — all of its theatrical releases and two movies that were technically made by the Ghibli creative team but before the studio's founding Below we've provided streaming links to each movie as well as alternative options for those without a Max subscription Movies directed by Hayao Miyazaki are marked by an asterisk (*) Whether you're looking for a guaranteed way to keep these animated classics in your arsenal or want to add some of your favorites to your physical collection GKIDS has also been working with home video distributor Shout Factory to release Blu-ray steelbooks of Studio Ghibli's catalog Jordan covers games, shows, and movies as a freelance writer for IGN. The writer needs to provide a caveat explaining what the situation is with \"Grave of the Fireflies\". The Boy and the Heron is out right now on Max btw. Link on the main page said \"Where to Steam Every Studio Ghibli Movie Online\" and I thought we were getting some games. I have been binging Miyazaki Movies for the last 2 days and then this article pops up...weird... Part 1: Blood by Dusk What are some characteristics of the Bloodsworn There are several reasons we put the players’ focus on the Bloodsworn The Bloodsworn possess superhuman abilities thanks to special blood so their actions are more dramatic than anything seen in our previous titles Even basic character actions in this game such as sprinting and double jump are designed to be dynamic and stress free and are complemented by each character’s own unique weapons and abilities and while this isn’t directly related to the Bloodsworn themselves the setting allows for the depiction of firearms and such and every character is equipped with some means of attacking from a distance I feel this is one of the game’s unique aspects when compared with our previous titles I hope these new action elements are one area that players will enjoy Earlier you referred to “protagonists” or “characters” as plural Does this mean the player will be able to choose from multiple different characters there are over a dozen characters for the player to choose from each with their own identity and appearance I think there are a lot of unique elements to the character designs and the weapons they use so hopefully players can find one or two favorites among them each character can be customized to a certain extent allowing players the fun of building a character that feels like their own Can you provide some more detail on the general gameplay loop customize them and enter online multiplayer* Online multiplayer supports up to 8 players at which point they receive some sort of reward whether they win or lose players can further customize their character Online matches are generally last player standing however there are certain cases where victory conditions differ players may be tasked with teaming up to take down a powerful boss enemy or find themselves in other special circumstances victory conditions are influenced not just by PvP (4) results Some victory conditions center around defeating a boss enemy (4) An acronym for the style of game where players fight other players (5) An acronym for the style of game where players fight enemies (CPUs) I can’t think of many examples with that ruleset the idea is to provide players with an experience that allows them to learn and hone their skills as they play We’ve therefore designed the PvE boss encounters to present a tough challenge and a sense of accomplishment upon defeating them So players can also enjoy improving their own skills over time as they battle Although there are a variety of elements in place that keep the game from becoming too stoic how players conduct themselves during the match is just as important as direct combat The Duskbloods implements “Victory Points,” which are responsible for ultimately deciding the outcome of a match Some players may prefer to earn points by avoiding direct combat and instead engaging in more opportunistic behavior each character can summon an entity to assist in combat giving players a high degree of freedom when it comes to how they fight—and win Another important aspect is match variables This system has the potential to alter the course of the match such as special enemy spawns and additional objectives with accompanying bonus rewards you may have noticed a giant stone face looming in the sky This is one example of the events that can occur in a match the appearance of this stone face affects the environment and changes match rewards which can have an immediate impact on player motivations and objectives and I hope discovering them gives players some incentive to keep coming back It sounds like even those who tend to shy away from PvP can still enjoy themselves and I wanted to make something that’s satisfying even for players like me While the goal of a match is to obtain First Blood there are personal objectives that provide separate rewards to the player as well so I hope these add to the fun of each engagement Read more in Part 3: Playing roles and altering fates Part 2: Superhuman abilities and opportunistic behavior What other ways might players enjoy the game outside of combat One thing I love doing in any game I direct is leaving fragments of lore and worldbuilding details allowing the player the fun of using their imagination to make connections we’ve gone about it a little differently from previous titles The fragments this time are found in the previously mentioned character customization items: their “blood history and fate.” Customizing a character will reveal a piece of information regarding the world and its unfolding story You customize their “blood history and fate” Analyzing and altering a character’s blood history and fate allows players to customize all sorts of things and inner characteristics to the role they play in the world and relationships with other characters Focusing these elements on the concept of “blood” or “blood history and fate” allowed for a deeper exploration of customization and is another reason we placed the Bloodsworn as the protagonists Do you mind sharing any other points you personally find interesting One area I haven’t talked about yet is “roles.” roles give players special responsibilities and objectives that often lead to unique interactions and relationships between players based on their corresponding roles But please note we’re still finalizing some of the naming and details if a player possesses the “Destined Rivals” role another player is designated as their rival and they are tasked with finding and defeating that player Doing so counts as achieving a personal goal separate from the overall victory conditions Another example is “Destined Companion,” where one player is required to seek out another designated as their companion which results in a special reward if they form a bond with one another Roles can be assigned to any character via blood customization allowing players to enjoy role-playing in a literal sense and hopefully adding to the drama of these engagements Kind of like how players can pick their roles in a table-top RPG (6) It might seem a little unorthodox at first (6) Role-playing games played with things like dice and player with players interacting with each other while following rules described in a rulebook I was curious about the winged rat character seen in the trailer Can you provide some details as to what role this character serves That character shares a similar role with the fire keepers from the Dark Souls series providing the player with advice and guidance I suppose you could say we tried doing something a little Nintendo-esque in the spirit of the partnership Although I will say this character is actually an elderly gentleman (laughter) (Laughter) Is there anything else you’d like to say before we finish we’ve tried our hand at introducing a lot of new and interesting ideas with The Duskbloods and gameplay that’s dynamic and dramatic to the romanticized aesthetic of the Bloodsworn deep character customization and fragmentary storytelling I think there’s a lot to appreciate and enjoy in this title and I sincerely hope players look forward to it TRANSFORMERS My daughter Penny’s Ghiblification, center, and Legoification, courtesy of OpenAI’s shocking new GPT-4o image generator. (photo: Erik Barmack; renderings: OpenAI screenshots)Share TRANSFORMERS My daughter Penny\u2019s Ghiblification, center, and Legoification, courtesy of OpenAI\u2019s shocking new GPT-4o image generator. (photo: Erik Barmack; renderings: OpenAI screenshots)Share Subscribe now Animation legend Hayao Miyazaki kicked off 2025 by sharing a special illustrated message to Studio Ghibli fans who won his second Academy Award for Best Animated Feature for The Boy and the Heron in early 2024 has made an annual tradition of illustrating the year’s zodiac animal for a New Year’s greeting since 2021 Miyazaki (who was himself born in the Year of the Snake 1941) created a drawing of a snake with eight heads similar to the mythological creature Yamata no Orochi Snakes can represent many qualities in Japanese tradition including transformation — by its side is a small mouse (a symbol of fertility and prosperity) and a tiny snail (a symbol of protection) perches on the snake’s tail Those born in the Year of the Snake are said to be intelligent “How are you?” “I look forward to your continued good will in the coming year,” a common New Year’s greeting in Japan The studio shared the following New Year’s Day message along with Miyazaki’s card: “We would like to extend the warmest of New Year’s greetings to you all Thank you for always supporting Studio Ghibli Last year began with a series of natural disasters and accidents making it a year that started with a heavy heart We sincerely hope that those affected by these events can return to their normal lives as soon as possible and we pray from the bottom of our hearts that those in other areas can enjoy a peaceful New Year without any incidents we have almost completed the worldwide release of The Boy and the Heron and not only have many people seen it we are currently in the process of touring exhibitions and developing new projects so we hope that you will look forward to them The second area of Ghibli Park has opened successfully and all five areas that were originally planned have now been completed we will strive to further enhance and improve our facilities and operations Director Hayao Miyazaki’s 84th birthday falls on the preceding day but staff will most certainly celebrate with him at the studio on this day Thank you for your continued support of Studio Ghibli and Studio Ghibli works this year.” Miyazaki is a co-founder of Studio Ghibli and a highly esteemed animation director whose films including My Neighbor Totoro (1988) Spirited Away (2011) and Howl’s Moving Castle (2004) have received slews of international honors We use cookies to enhance your browsing experience We use cookies to help you navigate efficiently and perform certain functions You will find detailed information about all cookies under each consent category below The cookies that are categorised as "Necessary" are stored on your browser as they are essential for enabling the basic functionalities of the site We also use third-party cookies that help us analyse how you use this website and provide the content and advertisements that are relevant to you These cookies will only be stored in your browser with your prior consent You can choose to enable or disable some or all of these cookies but disabling some of them may affect your browsing experience Necessary cookies are required to enable the basic features of this site such as providing secure log-in or adjusting your consent preferences These cookies do not store any personally identifiable data Functional cookies help perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website These cookies help provide information on metrics such as the number of visitors Performance cookies are used to understand and analyse the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with customised advertisements based on the pages you visited previously and to analyse the effectiveness of the ad campaigns THE DECODER A 2016 quote from Studio Ghibli founder Hayao Miyazaki calling AI "utterly disgusting" and an "insult to life" has resurfaced on social media but the statement was specifically about an AI animation demonstration The quote began circulating after OpenAI CEO Sam Altman shared images generated by GPT-4o in the style of Studio Ghibli inspiring others to create similar AI-generated artwork Critics have used Miyazaki's words to condemn these new AI image generators but it requires its original context to be properly understood The statement comes from a 2016 documentary where Miyazaki watched an AI system attempt to simulate human movement The demonstration showed a figure moving unnaturally and using its head for locomotion - an AI model that was specifically designed to demonstrate creative horror settings Miyazaki's emotional response specifically addressed this presentation He spoke about a disabled friend he talks to every morning explaining that even a simple handshake was challenging for his friend Miyazaki said he couldn't find such AI portrayals entertaining when thinking of his friend's situation He described the animation as "utterly disgusting" and an "insult to life itself" and stated firmly: "I never want to use this technology in our work." Miyazaki also expressed concern that "humanity is losing confidence in itself." While Miyazaki's criticism focused on this specific form of AI-generated movement and his statement about humanity losing confidence suggests broader AI skepticism the video doesn't support claims of a general rejection of artificial intelligence Neither today's image generation technology which Miyazaki certainly did not have in mind at the time nor the generation of fan fiction can be directly addressed by this video It's possible for Miyazaki to oppose AI being used to create new art while being accepting of fans using AI to create fan fiction - these two positions can exist side by side The full documentary, "NHK Special: Hayao Miyazaki - The One Who Never Ends," provides complete context for Miyazaki's statements about AI animation OpenAI's actions remain ethically and probably also legally questionable. The company's justification for allowing Ghibli copies and studio style copies in general, while prohibiting them for individual artists seems arbitrary - especially since the line between individual artist and studio style is often blurred There may be legal aspects behind this distinction However, it falls to those affected to take a position. So far, neither Miyazaki nor Studio Ghibli have publicly commented on the use of their style by AI image generators. Other affected studios and artists have also remained silent. GPT-4o can transfer countless familiar painting and drawing styles to new images This makes it difficult to derive a clear ethical position from the outside Taking a quote that is almost ten years old out of context may generate interaction on social media The Official Guide to Portland The following description was submitted by the event organizer It’s a Hayao Miyazaki Double Exposure at the Tomorrow Theater Featuring Howl’s Moving Castle and Princess Mononoke (4K restoration) both screenings will have special limited-edition bumper sticker giveaways celebrating the magic of Miyazaki Tickets are sold separately for each screening a prince of the disappearing Emishi people is cursed by a demonized boar god and must journey to the West to find a cure a young human woman fighting to protect the forest Ashitaka must find a way to bring balance to this conflict visitorinfo@travelportland.com 1-888-503-3291 (toll free)503-427-1372Monday–Sunday 1132 SW Harvey Milk St #104,Portland, OR 97205 Get the guide Local Businesses Media Meeting Planners Travel Industry Professionals Event Organizers We are a promoter and steward of this evolving city and its progressive values which have the power to transform the travelers who visit us Imagine a children’s animated film that has none of the following: Adults who “just don’t understand” Parents who need to be taught a life lesson by their children the legendary and Oscar-winning filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki didn’t get that memo when he made the beloved film My Neighbor Totoro Many of Miyazaki’s films ditch elements that Western audiences consider as universal requirements for satisfying storytelling The contrast demonstrates how such elements are particularly Western obsessions that are far from universal across cultures Western animated films for children often seem manically insecure They lack confidence in the ability of young audiences to pay attention so they overcaffeinate the films with noisy busy action sequences that have no emotional component or pivotal plot function they lack confidence in the artistry or depth of telling stories for children so they feel compelled to cram in lessons—shoehorned bromides about “growing up” and finding one’s self-esteem What My Neighbor Totoro has that is precious and that many Western stories seem to lack is a deep confidence in childhood and in making stories for children My Neighbor Totoro is built on the East Asian four-act structure the film creates a world that is wholly benevolent around the two young sisters and the strange creatures in them all encourage exploration and discovery Conflict and danger have no place in this world a very minor glimpse of adulthood is introduced in the form of fear about their convalescing mother Although it is obvious as only a minor health event to adult viewers it feels like a fiery asteroid has slammed into their safe world a Western story would have felt obligated to ram the girls into some sobering lesson about adulthood and loss It would have begun pounding into the viewer the idea that such life lessons build the girls’ sense of self-esteem Miyazaki turns the steering wheel away from this expected course He instead has the girls appealing to the elements of childhood for help the girls turn to the forest and the magical creatures in it that only children can see who help the girls visit their mother in the hospital The girls see that their mother just has a cold The girls are allowed to remain children at the end of the film Miyazaki suggests that the foundation for a truly strong sense of self is to be found in childhood The four acts could be further reduced thus: childhood doesn’t necessarily mean idleness or lack of responsibility Miyazaki expands upon the theme of what truly helps a child’s self-esteem in Spirited Away Miyazaki has talked about how he observed that many modern children in Japan seemed apathetic on the daughter of a colleague who was this type of personality Where a Western story would probably have the heroine build her self-esteem by defying her parents or “speaking her truth,” Miyazaki “Let’s put that lazy girl to work!” detached Chiriko is thrust into a psychedelic bathhouse resort for spirits High stakes are slapped on her securing work in the bathhouse and succeeding at it because she will be turned into a ghost if she doesn’t find a job here and do it well would mean she won’t be able to find and free her parents so unexpectedly transformative for Chiriko She also ends up finding her own self-esteem but only because she was not fixed on looking for it—she was absorbed in the work at hand ironic subtext shimmers underneath this: the by-product of not being overly focused on yourself is that you end up finding yourself Miyazaki’s unusual treatment of the theme of self-esteem is also on display in The Boy and the Heron which for one shining week was the number one box office champion in America The young boy Mahito faced multiple potential enemies: a stepmother (actually his mother’s sister who married his father after Mahito’s mother died) A Western film might have plotted a path to the boy’s self-esteem by having him defeat these enemies Mahito helps release the giant carnivorous parakeets from their enchantment Mahito has developed a relationship with all these supposed enemies His path to self-esteem was through finding connection with seeming obstacles Parents are accustomed to urging their children to try new foods—just one bite And storytelling tastes are like dietary tastes Food the world over might have the same basic nutrients and results in the rich variety of the worlds’ cuisines even stories about something as seemingly fundamental as self-esteem Why would we want to only ever taste one flavor Spring, Summer, Asteroid, Bird: The Art of Eastern Storytelling by Henry Lien is available via Norton Created by Grove Atlantic and Electric Literature Masthead About Sign Up For Our Newsletters How to Pitch Lit Hub Privacy 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But our future relies on you. In return for your contribution, you'll get an ad-free site experience, editors' picks, and our Joan Didion tote bag. Most importantly, you'll keep independent book coverage alive and thriving. Featuring Howl’s Moving Castle and Princess Mononoke Sophie has an uneventful life at her late father’s hat shop but all that changes when she befriends wizard Howl the evil Witch of Waste (Lauren Bacall) takes issue with their budding relationship and casts a spell on young Sophie Now Howl must use all his magical talents to battle the jealous hag and return Sophie to her former youth and beauty The internet is abuzz with AI-generated images mimicking the iconic style of Studio Ghibli the renowned Japanese animation studio behind beloved classics like Spirited Away and My Neighbor Totoro But as users delight in transforming memes and photos into Hayao Miyazaki’s distinct aesthetic using ChatGPT Have you noticed your social media feeds flooded with mesmerizing images that look straight out of a Miyazaki film That’s thanks to a new version of ChatGPT that allows users to convert images into the signature style of Studio Ghibli anything seems fair game for an AI-powered Ghibli makeover One striking example saw the iconic photo of a 4-year-old smirking in front of a burning house reimagined as if it were a still from a lost Ghibli classic posting a Ghibli-fied image of a woman arrested by ICE As the Ghibli-style AI images spread like wildfire Hayao Miyazaki’s past comments on artificial intelligence resurfaced revealing a deep skepticism towards the technology Miyazaki was shown a rudimentary AI-generated animation of a zombie “I strongly feel that this is an insult to life itself,” Miyazaki declared recounting a story of a disabled friend struggling to perform a simple high-five “Whoever creates this stuff has no idea what pain is whatsoever.” the Ghibli-style AI trend raises thorny questions about copyright and artistic integrity in the age of algorithms Did the AI models behind these Ghibli-esque images have proper licenses or permission to train on the studio’s films could this constitute copyright infringement These are the kinds of questions keeping intellectual property lawyers up at night who is currently suing AI image generators for copyright infringement as wonderful as Miyazaki’s work be butchered to generate something so foul,” Ortiz lamented on social media At the heart of this debate is the value we place on human creativity and craftsmanship When an AI can churn out an impressive Ghibli pastiche in seconds what does that mean for the animators who spent years honing their skills to bring Miyazaki’s visions to life As AI image generators grow more sophisticated and accessible grappling with these ethical quandaries becomes increasingly urgent While the Ghibli-style AI images are undoubtedly fun to marvel at they also serve as a stark reminder of the complex challenges that lie ahead known for their meticulous hand-drawn animation and deeply human stories the rise of AI art may be particularly unsettling But perhaps there’s a middle ground to be found – a way to embrace the possibilities of new technologies while still honoring the irreplaceable touch of human artistry the Ghibli-style AI craze is just the tip of the iceberg As we navigate this brave new world of algorithmic creation it’s crucial that we don’t lose sight of the values and ethics that have long guided artistic expression there’s something uniquely powerful about art that springs from the depths of the human soul An insatiable curiosity and lover of audiovisual culture Clément Pessaux explores the world of cinema with controller in hand and a sharp critical eye always with passion and a well-measured touch of irony As the benchmark media for the entertainment and digital image industries 3DVF keeps you up to date with all the latest news and industry secrets A theme park in central Japan devoted to the world portrayed in Studio Ghibli's animation movies such as "My Neighbor Totoro" and "Spirited Away" said Wednesday it will display a Citroen 2CV car once used by their director Hayao Miyazaki later this month The French classic car will be exhibited at Ghibli's Grand Warehouse one of the five areas of the park located in Nagakute illustrating how he purchased the car to drop off and pick up his child at a nursery and gradually fell in love with it "We would like to cherish it as a treasure of Ghibli Park forever," Aichi Gov The theme park was constructed by the prefectural government on the site of the 2005 World Expo "The 2CV car is no longer used by the Miyazaki family but it is packed with memories I hope it will be cherished in Ghibli Park for the years to come." Omura also said tickets for accessing single areas will be sold from April onward there were only tickets covering multiple areas featuring movies "Kiki's Delivery Service" and "Howl's Moving Castle," became in March last year the last of the five areas to open The other areas include Mononoke Village based on "Princess Mononoke," the Hill of Youth featuring films such as "Whisper of the Heart," and Dondoko Forest themed on "My Neighbor Totoro." Disney-themed Shinkansen trains to begin service in Japan from Feb. 21 Universal Studios Japan opens world's 1st Donkey Kong-themed area To have the latest news and stories delivered to your inbox, subscribe here. Simply enter your email address below and an email will be sent through which to complete your subscription. Please check your inbox for a confirmation email. If you wish to change your message, press 'Cancel' to go back and edit. Thank you for reaching out to us.We will get back to you as soon as possible. by Matt Patches Hayao finally rings in retirement and gets a taste of life away from the lightbox many assumed The Boy and the Heron was truly the end the Oscar-winning film heralded as a master’s final film “He doesn’t feel that way at all,” Studio Ghibli executive Junichi Nishioka said in September 2023 “He is currently working on ideas for a new film He comes into his office every day and does that he’s not going to announce his retirement at all He’s continuing working just as he has always done.” Miyazaki can’t quit — and maybe that’s OK. As depicted in a number of documentaries, including the riveting The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness the filmmaker seems to find peace smoking a cigarette and drawing airplanes soaring across blue skies Serenity… through the hell of feature-length animation “I don’t ever feel happy in my daily life,” he admits in Kingdom but just imagine how retirement would feel in a style reminiscent of Miyazaki cohort Isao Takahata’s My Neighbors the Yamadas For more on the team behind Miyazaki, head to Instagram. The best of Polygon in your inbox, every Friday. Today's print edition Home Delivery Artificial intelligence risks taking Japanese anime artists' jobs but nothing can replicate Hayao Miyazaki the creative lifeblood of the studio behind classics such as "Spirited Away," says his son Thanks to ChatGPT's new image generator the internet is awash with pictures imitating Studio Ghibli's whimsical style raising fresh debate over potential copyright infringements Movies such as "My Neighbor Totoro" and "Howl's Moving Castle" are famous for their lush nature and fantastical machinery While the studio has not commented directly on the image trend predicts that artificial intelligence could one day replace animators.googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1499653692894-0'); }); there was a film made completely through AI," he says in an interview In a time of both misinformation and too much information quality journalism is more crucial than ever.By subscribing Your subscription plan doesn't allow commenting. To learn more see our FAQ Sponsored contents planned and edited by JT Media Enterprise Division Things you buy through our links may earn Vox Media a commission This review was originally published on September 8, 2023. The Boy and the Heron is now available to stream on Max Everyone has their favorite Hayao Miyazaki movie the 1992 adventures of a World War I flying ace turned bounty hunter with the face of a swine — a transformation that reflects how disillusioned he has become with humanity Porco tells the story of his best friend’s death in a dogfight Porco flies up into the clouds and emerges into a still space above them where he watches the planes of everyone who was shot down in the battle drift up to join a dense band of aircraft high in the sky — their earthly allegiances incidental in this aerial procession of the dead that Porco the best thing Studio Ghibli has ever produced the beauty of aviation paired with the violence it visits upon people all of it rendered in imagery that’s fantastical and inexpressibly sad Miyazaki returns to that idea in the tremendous The Boy and the Heron when 12-year-old Mahito Maki (voiced by Soma Santoki) finds his way to a magical kingdom of strange seas dotted with islands and overgrown shipwrecks seem to be perpetually in need of something to eat There have been supernatural dimensions in Miyazaki’s work before — Mahito’s sojourn often brings to mind Chihiro’s in Spirited Away which turns out to be the creation of a bookish great-grand-uncle (Shôhei Hino) who disappeared before Mahito was born “the dead are the majority.” It’s as though Mahito manages to do what Porco didn’t fleeing the pain of existence by fleeing into a realm that belongs to the dead — an enchanting unbalanced place that seems to want to reject the living beings who’ve been brought there The Boy and the Heron is being described as the last film from Miyazaki, who’s now 82 years old. But that was how 2013’s The Wind Rises, which was meant to mark the start of the animation master’s retirement, was framed as well. As long as Miyazaki feels he has more to say we’re lucky enough to be here to receive it a film that takes place in the shadow of World War II is evacuated from Tokyo to the countryside which keeps erupting into Mahito’s consciousness afterward the boy in his light-gray uniform pushing through a crowd of city residents who are a dark blur of anguished forms The trauma of Mahito’s particular loss is paired by a larger sense of distress The rural community Mahito is brought to a year later is made up mostly of the old He arrives in time to witness the seeing-off of two locals who’ve been called up to service trudging up the street with their loved ones who happens to be his mother’s younger sister and whom he treats with scrupulously formal politeness where the children and nearby field laborers are hostile toward the kid dropped off in a fancy car He gives himself a head wound so that he doesn’t have to go back leaving him to convalesce in the care of the cluster of elderly maids who live with Natsuko on the cavernous family estate that’s now also his home His only other company is a massive gray heron that keeps trying to get in his window and starts to display the power of speech along with some alarming The bothersome bird keeps trying to lure him to the crumbling tower sitting out in the woods Mahito finally makes his way to the library inside where he meets up with a swashbuckling sailor (Kô Shibasaki) and a girl with the power of fire (Aimyon) The Boy and the Heron is irresistible in its dream logic straddling the adorable (white blob creatures called Warawara that inflate like balloons) and the dark (parakeet soldiers that are on the search for fresh meat) But what makes it most compelling are the ways in which the real and the magical are equal presences The magical universe may be a means of evading a reality that’s on fire all of it brought in from the outside by those looking to escape If The Boy and the Heron ultimately feels less universal in its emotional appeal than past Miyazaki work it’s only because Miyazaki is grappling with something very specific — that we can’t leave the world behind when we’re a part of it Already a subscriber? 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