The Boy and the Heron  Volume 2

The Boy and the Heron

“It seems that the person we have been waiting for has finally arrived. Come on, let us escort you to your mother.”


“Don’t be ridiculous. My mother is dead.”


“Heh heh heh. Peh. That’s a typical human move. She’s not dead. With all due respect, you haven’t seen your mother’s body. She is waiting for your help.”


“Please come, please come.”


“Come on, come on, come on”


“Please come, please come.” ”Come on, come on””Come on, come on”

Mahito is covered in frogs and disappears from sight.
Then Natsuko and the old ladies appear…


Natsuko fires an arrow at the heron.


When the arrow lands near the heron, the frog moves away and the heron says, “I’ll wait,” and flies away.


Mahito wakes up to the words “I’ll be waiting.”
It’s strange that Natsuko would fire an arrow. It was a dream after all.


Mahito decides to check the wooden sword in the barn to see if it is a dream.


The wooden sword is not broken. It must have been a dream after all.


However, the wooden sword suddenly breaks. It’s not a dream…


During a meal. “This probably won’t suit your taste, Mahito.”

Mahito: “It’s not tasty.”

All they had to eat was rice, miso soup, and pickles.
During wartime, that’s all a wealthy family had.

He’s a child, so I think it’s okay for him to be honest. He’s eating the same food as the old ladies.

It wouldn’t be okay if Masato was the only one eating and the old ladies were hungry, or if it was someone else’s house.


You speak clearly. Oh dear.

This old lady is Kiriko, a character who is deeply connected to future developments.


After the meal, Mahito left the room. “Lady Natsuko has said many times that she wants to see Mahito. Please go and see her.” “Is she seriously ill?” “She has morning sickness. It must have been really hard for your mother when Mahito had morning sickness.”


Natsuko looks completely haggard.


Mahito’s room is simple, but Natsuko’s room is luxurious. When Mahito enters the room, he first thinks he is looking at his father’s suit, but he is actually looking at a bow. In his dream, Natsuko is shooting a bow, and at this point Mahito realizes for the first time that Natsuko has a bow.

I thought it was a simple picture, but when I tried to paint it, I realized that the patterns on the wall were all different. I simplified it a lot and changed the pattern. I made the wall so complicated to give Natsuko’s room a more luxurious feel.




“I’m sorry for hurting you like this.”

It took me a long time to draw Natsuko. I think it is an artist’s duty to portray beautiful women as beautiful. I drew her with great care.


“I’m so sorry to my sister.”

Natsuko felt guilty for stealing her sister’s husband. So she must have felt that she had to at least protect her sister’s son. But she was crushed by the thought that she had done so.

Even though Mahito had caused the injury himself.


How did Mahito feel? He probably never thought that what he did because he didn’t want to go to school would end up hurting someone so much. He only thought that he would end up suffering pain. Mahito said, “I hope you get better soon,” and left the room.


When he leaves the room, he takes the cigarettes that are in the room with him. Mahito doesn’t smoke, but the old man smoked during the meal.


As he steps out into the hallway, Mahito turns around when he hears a familiar noise.

He no longer looks like a heron, but instead takes on the strange appearance of an old man wearing a heron headgear.


Knowing that the heron would appear again, Mahito had already hidden something in his pocket.


Looking at that heron, it would be natural to have a knife ready.


“I’ll be waiting for you,” he says, and flies off. He’s like a stalker. He must be in a hurry to take me away.


Natsuko’s family home is huge. It’s more like a castle than a house.

The rundown hut in the foreground is probably used by the servants.


The cigarettes that Mahito took from Natsuko’s room were to be given to this old man. He was being taught how to sharpen a knife with a chipped blade.


Granny Kiriko, seeing this, said, “Oh, a cigarette. I’m jealous. Damn it.”


With that knife


He’s going to make a bow and shoot that heron.

This film, “The Boy and the Heron” took seven years to make, and was entirely hand-drawn. It involved 60 animators creating about one minute of footage in one month, an inefficient method that is the polar opposite of recent CG animation. Totoro was made by eight animators in eight months, and it’s a scary story, too.

This will likely be the last hand-drawn film like this. If you ever get the chance to see it again, I hope you take the time to look at it carefully.


We immediately test-fire the completed bow.


This is a realistic depiction of Miyazaki’s work. It’s a part where you realize that things aren’t going to go well from the start. I tried to draw this scene in a manga style.


Granny Kiriko, who was watching this, called out to Mahito, “Young master, young master, come here for a moment.”

With this much detail in one scene, it makes sense that they could only make a 12-minute video in a year of production. Other animes do a good job of hiding the details. I draw it too, and it’s worth it.


“I’m busy right now,” she says rudely.


“This is good news, so listen to me.”

Young Master, how about a real bow and arrow? A real bow and arrow just fit for someone your age.” “It has steel arrowheads, and it’s a really good bow. If we do it secretly, no one will know.”

She whispers like she’s up to no good.


“Cigarettes?”

Mahito is very perceptive.


Kiriko: “Cigarettes. How about one pack?”

Mahito: “I gave them all to the old man.” Kiriko: “Eh?”

Mahito: “And there were only two in there,” he says, and leaves.

Kiriko: “To that damn old man. Right, young master?”


He goes out into the garden to look for the heron, but doesn’t find it. He does find a heron feather, however, and brings it home with him. He attaches the feather to an arrow.


He go to the dining room to get some rice grains to attach the arrow to.


As he walked down the hallway back to my room, He happened to look out the window…


He can see someone.


A young woman dressed in white walks into the forest.

There is only one young woman in the mansion.

Pure white kimonos are worn by dead people.
She has no intention of returning to this world.


We are finally entering the Underworld. Volume 2 has ended and will continue with volume 3. This website omits many scenes. If you are even slightly interested, we recommend that you watch this work. You will enjoy it even more.

 

 

 

Thank you for watching.