The Boy and the Heron Nabs 2nd Oscar for Hayao Miyazaki

by Joseph Luster
March 10, 2024

It was up against some stiff competition, but the latest film from Studio Ghibli has officially secured director Hayao Miyazaki his second Oscar. The 96th Academy Awards is currently airing, and the award for Best Animated Feature went to Miyazaki’s The Boy and the Heron.

The Boy and the Heron was up against Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Nimona, Elemental and Robot Dreams.

This is the latest in a string of wins for The Boy and the Heron, including awards from The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) and The International Animated Film Society, as well as being the first anime to win a Golden Globe award.

Miyazaki previously won an Oscar for Spirited Away in 2003, and was later nominated for Howl’s Moving Castle and The Wind Rises.

GKIDS gave this description for the movie:

After losing his mother during the war, young Mahito moves to his family’s estate in the countryside. There, a series of mysterious events lead him to a secluded and ancient tower, home to a mischievous gray heron. When Mahito’s new stepmother disappears, he follows the gray heron into the tower, and enters a fantastic world shared by the living and the dead. As he embarks on an epic journey with the heron as his guide, Mahito must uncover the secrets of this world, and the truth about himself. Featuring the voices of Christian Bale, Dave Bautista, Gemma Chan, Willem Dafoe, Karen Fukuhara, Mark Hamill, Robert Pattinson and Florence Pugh.

Source: The Academy Awards