The Boy and the Heron

The Boy and the Heron (君たちはどう生きるか, Kimitachi wa Dō Ikiru ka, lit. "How Do You Live?") is a 2023 Japanese animated fantasy film directed and written by Hayao Miyazaki. Produced by Studio Ghibli, the Japanese title references the 1937 novel of the same name by Genzaburō Yoshino, which appears in the film, but the film has an original story that is not connected to the novel.

Synopsis
Through encounters with his friends and uncle, follows a teenage boy's psychological development. He enters a magical world with a talking grey heron after finding an abandoned tower in his new town.

Cast[]

Character	Seiyū	Dub Actor
Mahito Maki	Soma Santoki	Luca Padovan
The Grey Heron	Masaki Suda	Robert Pattinson
Lady Himi	Aimyon	Karen Fukuhara
Natsuko	Yoshino Kimura	Gemma Chan
Shoichi Maki	Takuya Kimura	Christian Bale
Grand Uncle	Shōhei Hino	Mark Hamill
Kiriko	Ko Shibasaki	Florence Pugh
Noble Pelican	Kaoru Kobayashi	Willem Dafoe
The Parakeet King	Jun Kunimura	Dave Bautista
Izumi (Maid #1)	Keiko Takeshita	Denise Pickering
Utako (Maid #2)	Jun Fubuki	Barbara Rosenblat
Eriko (Maid #3)	Sawako Agawa	Melora Harte
Aiko (Maid #4)	Shinobu Otake	Barbara Goodson
Warawara	Karen Takizawa	TBA

Additional Voices[]

Mamoudou Athie - Parakeets
Nika Futterman
Andrew Kishino
Paul Nakauchi
Tony Revolori - Parakeets
Michael Sinterniklaas
Dan Stevens - Parakeets
Keone Young

Notes[]

Many of the celebrities in this film were in prior Studio Ghibli films:
- Christian Bale who voiced Shoichi Maki was also in the dub of Howl's Moving Castle as Howl.
  - Coincidentally Bale shares two roles with his seiyuu, Takuya Kimura whom voiced Howl and Shoichi Maki in the original versions.
- Willem Dafoe who voiced the Noble Pelican was also in the dub of Tales from Earthsea as Cob
- Mark Hamill who voiced the Grand Uncle was also in the redubs for Castle in the Sky as Muska and Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind as the Mayor of Pejite.
  - This is also Hamill’s first new anime dubbing role in 14 years since Afro Samurai: Resurrection in 2009.
This is Melora Harte's first new anime dubbing role in 5 years since Ai Tenchi Muyo! in 2018.
This is Nika Futterman's first new anime dubbing role in 7 years since Only Yesterday in 2016.