YMMV / The Boy and the Heron

• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • Mahito hitting himself with a rock. Was he trying to get the bullies in trouble by framing them for something worse than they actually did? Was he trying to make it appear more believable that he fell down? Could it have been an unsuccessful suicide attempt? Was he searching for the most plausible excuse to skip school? Or was he engaging in self-harm due to the combined grief over his mother's death, the stress of relocating to a new town and school, and the bullying? Perhaps more than one of these factors contributed to his actions. We never get a clear answer, though apparently Mahito sees his scar from that as proof that he isn't free from malice.
  • Every single thing about the Heron. We're told from the start that "all grey herons lie," and so everything he says for the rest of the film is up for interpretation. Principally: did he always intend to become Mahito's guide into adulthood, or did he just play a prank that got him in way over his head?
  • Why did Natsuko tell Mahito she hates him when he attempts to retrieve her from the delivery room? Was she under the control of the meteor until it broke apart? Was she delirious from her pregnancy? Did she secretly feel he wasn't appreciative enough of her? Did she want to carry out Granduncle's plans and was worried Mahito would derail them? Was it a bluff to get him to escape before it's too late?
  • Did Mahito really reject Granduncle's requests to take over the world because he felt he wouldn't be pure of heart enough to run it? Or was it because he saw firsthand from the Noble Pelican how messed up this world truly is to the innocent birds that were dragged into it, and felt it was better to burn it down?
  • Granduncle: a kind and incredibly creative but naive visionary whose goal for a flawless world would never work, or a heartless man with a god complex who's obsessed with worldbuilding and forcing unwitting animals into a world not meant for them, and then wants to drag the rest of his family into the fray just to preserve his twisted legacy?
• Awesome Music: Joe Hisaishi once again knocks it out of the park and delivers a beautiful score to accompany the film, but in a very unique way; instead of the loud, bombastic and triumphant music he normally writes, he delivers a very solemn and introspective score which often only consists of a handful of somber piano notes, perfectly accentuating the more reserved, grounded fantasy-intersecting-with-reality story the film tells.
• Captain Obvious Reveal: It's pretty easy to guess from the start that Natsuko is Mahito's aunt, given that she mentions seeing Mahito once as a kid and Mahito comments about how closely she resembles his mother. Similarly, it's pretty easy to guess that Himi is Mahito's mother, given her close association with fire (which is ironically how her older self would die) and especially when we get a good look of her and see that she's just a kid, given the suspiciously-silhouetted image of Mahito's mom as a kid when one of the maids mentions her disappearing into the tower.
• Creepy Cute: The parakeets are human-sized, villainous bird-men who eat people, yet their plushy designs and their generally Affably Evil demeanour make them absolutely adorable.
• Friendly Fandoms: With Godzilla Minus One, as the film received its wide release in America in December alongside The Boy and the Heron. The presence of two highly lauded Japanese films in theaters made for a very complementary double feature, and until the release of Wonka, both films dominated the US box office. It also helps that both films, while going in different directions, cover the similar subject matter and time period of Japan's ordeal in World War II with Kōichi's PTSD from the conflict and Mahito's trauma from losing his mother in a firebombing.
• He Really Can Act: While Robert Pattinson has already proven his acting range in recent years, this is his first venture into voice acting. He managed to disappear into a character with an unrecognizable voice as the titular heron. Despite his name being top-billed, people were surprised that Heron was voiced by Pattinson himself.
• Informed Wrongness: Mahito is supposed to be in the wrong for acting aloof to Natsuko after his dad remarries her. But, it needs to be said that is dad married without taking his feelings into account.
• LGBT Fanbase: Kiriko gained a huge following among lesbian/bi/pan women for being an attractive, buff, butch lady.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • Guessing what the creature in the poster might be.
  • "The Boy and the Heroin/Harem"^ExplanationThe movie's title was sometimes read as something similar but definitely different.
  • Joking that Miyazaki came out of retirement just to stop his son, Goro, from making any more movies.
  • "La Colombiana." ^Explanation There was the story of a Colombian woman named Geraldine Fernández claiming that she worked in this movie, that she drew over 25,000 frames, and that Miyazaki himself kept in contact, refering to her as just "The Colombian girl". Claims that eventually were found to be false. This became a big meme in Spanish circles (and even outside sometimes), with many people joking how the alledged conversations between Miyazaki and Fernández might have gone, and a lot of fanart of previous Studio Ghibli films with a Colombian twist.
• Misblamed: The title change for the international release is often blamed at the North American distributor GKIDS, when it was actually Studio Ghibli themselves who both suggested it, and approved of, the title change.
• Older Than They Think: Many viewers criticised the Stunt Casting in the film's English dub, as most of the cast have appeared in recent superhero films, with many suggesting the studio wanted to appeal to audiences with famous acting stars, with Chris Pratt in the The Super Mario Bros. Movie being used for comparison. The problem here is that every English Ghibli dub previous had always had famous stars relevant around their release attached to them. Daveigh Chase (Lilo in Lilo & Stitch) voiced Chihiro Ogino/Sen for 2001's Spirited Away, while Phil Hartman (Actor and Comedian famous for starring in Saturday Night Live) voiced Jiji in 1989's Kiki's Delivery Service. This is also the second Ghibli film for both Willem Dafoe and Christian Bale, the former voicing Cob in 2006/2010's Tales from Earthsea, the latter voicing Howl Pendragon in 2004's Howl's Moving Castle, so this sort of casting is actually pretty standard, and far from unusual for a Studio Ghibli dub.
• One-Scene Wonder: The Noble Pelican, only appears as he's dying, but makes an impression thanks to his tragic story and being voiced by Willem Dafoe (Kaoru Kobayashi in the original Japanese).
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: Despite it being done with Ghibli's approval, fans did not react well to the decision to change the film's title from How Do You Live? to The Boy and the Heron for the English release, with fans finding the English title to be a generic The Noun and the Noun title that is less meaningful compared to the original Japanese title.
• Win Back the Crowd: After the critical panning of Earwig and the Witch, this film was for the most part a welcome return to form, particularly with the animation switching back from CGI to Ghibli's classic 2-D style.
• Woolseyism
  • In the Norwegian subtitles, the Warawaras, blob-like critters who stumble around clumsily, are called Vrimlevimser, a word made up from the terms "Vrimle" and "Vimse", meaning to be clumsy, uncoordinated, and ditzy.
  • Also in Norwegian, when the old maid narrates how the greatuncle was taken by the meteor, the narration uses not the words for enchanted or obsessed, but the word for being taken by faeries, "Bergtatt." Fitting considering the unexplained mystical nature of the meteor.

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