#The Boy and the Heron Releases 2nd Poster Visual

A few months after its Japanese release, The Boy and the Heron has finally received a second poster visual (ignoring the one created for its upcoming US release).

The new promotional image makes use of an image board of protagonist Mahito that was drawn by director Hayao Miyazaki early in the film’s production, says the Studio Ghibli website. The poster, which includes writings of character setting details like “elementary school sixth year” and “bowl cut,” will be put up in Japanese theaters beginning November 17.

The Boy and the Heron began screening in Japan on July 14 and is set to hit US theaters on December 8. The film is also coming to Southeast Asia. US distributor GKIDS describes it as:

A young boy named Mahito
yearning for his mother
ventures into a world shared by the living and the dead.
There, death comes to an end,
and life finds a new beginning.

A semi-autobiographical fantasy
about life, death, and creation,
in tribute to friendship,
from the mind of Hayao Miyazaki.

While 2013’s The Wind Rises was supposed to be Miyazaki’s final movie, producer Toshio Suzuki revealed in early 2017 that the director was working on a new title. Before its Japanese release, The Boy and the Heron received only a single promotional visual, whose depiction of a person in a bird suit raised more questions (and memes) than answers. The movie’s Japanese title, How Do You Live?/Kimitachi wa Dou Ikiru ka, is inspired by Genzaburou Yoshino‘s 1937 novel of the same name, which Goodreads describes as “Miyazaki’s favorite childhood book.”

The Boy and the Heron is currently the 73rd highest-grossing movie in Japan.

• Director and scriptwriter: Hayao Miyazaki
• Animation director: Takeshi Honda (Rebuild of Evangelion tetralogy)
• Music composer: Joe Hisaishi (Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro) 

Cast (Japanese)

• Souma Santoki as Mahito
• Yoshino Kimura as Natsuko
• Jun Kunimura as The Parakeet King
• Kaoru Kobayashi as the Noble Pelican
• Kou Shibasaki as Kiriko
• Aimyon as Lady Himi
• Masaki Suda as Gray Heron

Cast (English) 

• Luca Padovan as Mahito Maki
• Christian Bale as Shoichi Maki
• Dave Bautista as The Parakeet King
• Gemma Chan as Natsuko
• Willem Dafoe as Noble Pelican
• Karen Fukuhara as Lady Himi
• Mark Hamill as Granduncle
• Robert Pattinson as Gray Heron
• Florence Pugh as Kiriko
• Mamoudou Athie, Tony Revolori, and Dan Stevens as the Parakeets