Studio Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki Win Second Oscar! | Anime News

Studio Ghibli’s The Boy and the Heron, directed by anime legend Hayao Miyazaki, has won this year’s Academy Award for Best Animated Feature!

This marks the second anime film – as well as non-English language film – to become an Oscar winner in this category, with the first being 2003’s Spirited Away, which was also directed by Miyazaki at Studio Ghibli.

While Miyazaki and producer Toshio Suzuki did not attend the ceremony, Studio Ghibli director Kiyofumi Nakajima read a statement from Suzuki.

Featuring music by Joe Hisaishi, the film premiered in Japan on July 14, 2023, without any traditional publicity, leaving fans with only an official poster. It then made its international premiere on September 7 of the same year at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Soma Santoki stars as Mahito Maki alongside Masaki Suda as the Grey Heron and Aimyon as Himi.

For the English dub, Luca Padovan stars as Mahito alongside Christian Bale as Shoichi, Dave Bautista as the Parakeet King, and Gemma Chan as Natsuko.

The Boy and the Heron is currently screening in Japan, the US, and more.

©2023 Studio Ghibli
Adapted with permission from Anime!Anime!