Summary
After more than five years, worldwide audiences will soon have the chance to see Studio Ghibli’s next filmHow Do You Live?This is the alleged final film from master animator Hayao Miyazaki (though that seems to bein question at the moment).
Despite the long wait though, very little is known about the film, and a lack of marketing has created an aura of mystery surrounding the project. We finally have a new trailer for the film, but what does it actually tell us about the movie? Let’s discuss.
RELATED:Why Does this Studio Ghibli Film Have No English Dub?
Who is Hayao Miyazaki?
If you’ll humor us for a few minutes (this is for the people who might be new to the industry), Hayao Miyazaki is a renowned Japanese filmmaker, animator, and the o-founder of Studio Ghibli, one of the most acclaimed animation studios in the world. Born on Jul 16, 2025, Miyazaki has created and directed numerous beloved animated films, which are characterized by their rich storytelling, detailed animation, and recurring themes, such as environmentalism, feminism, pacifism, and the complexities of human nature.
-Howl’s Moving Castle(Academy Award-nominee for Best Animated Feature)
-The Wind Rises(Academy Award-nominee for Best Animated Feature)
Miyazaki’s films often blend fantastical elements with emotional depth, and they frequently challenge the boundaries between good and evil, nature and industrialization, and the spiritual and physical worlds. His works have earned both critical acclaim and commercial success internationally, solidifying his legacy as one of the greatest animation directors in cinematic history (if not one of the greatest directors of filmperiod.
Aside from his quality films, Miyazaki is also known for his numerous announcements of retirement. He announced retirement afterPrincess Mononoke. Then again withSpirited Away. After a flirtation with retirement afterHowl’s Moving Castle, he held a press conference saying thatThe Wind Riseswould TRULY be the end of his motion picture career!
This also failed to stick, as after working on some shorts and comics, Miyazaki decided to work on one final film:How Do You Live?Considering the big deal Studio Ghibli made with The Wind Rises, you would think that a marketing blitz would take place to ensure everyone was aware that Miyazaki’s true final film would be hitting theaters soon. This is NOT what happened.
The Sparse Marketing Campaign
Despite the reality that this may truly be the final film of Hayao Miyazaki, producer Toshio Suzuki took a very unique approach to marketing the film. Instead of creating TV spots, trailers, and promotional material, a single drawn poster was released. That’s it. Nothing else would be released. This was followed so closely, that the release of movie programs (which are a huge deal in Japan) were delayed until a few weeks after the film was released to ensure as few people knew about the content of the film as possible. As Suzuki said:
If you watch all [the trailers], you know everything that’s going to happen in that movie. So how do moviegoers feel about that? There must be people, who, after watching all the trailers, don’t want to actually go see the movie. So, I wanted to do the opposite of that.
In his mind, MIyazaki was such a popular name, that peoplewould likely turn out to see it anyway. While Miyazaki himself was reportedly nervous about the approach, it turned out to be a good one as the film has made (as of this writing) a whopping ¥7.96 billion (US$53.8 million) with NO marketing money spent! That being said, this strategy would not work worldwide, and so GKIDS (who are handling the North American release) have been given permission to make a trailer for American audiences. So what do we know about the movie now?
What Does the US Trailer Tells Us About the Movie?
First things first:How Do You Live?is based off of one of Miyazaki’s favorite books by Genzaburo Yoshino (which has been translated by Neil Gaimen, who worked on thetranslation of Miyazaki’sPrincess Mononoke). The thing is that this book isn’t very popular outside of Japan (and the movie doesn’t have much to do with it anyway) so it was decided the international title would beThe Boy and the Heron.
This is already more information than even the single movie poster revels about the movie, yet GKIDS is trying to respect the lack of promotional material in Japan here in America. The first teaser trailer showed no images of the film and simply played the score while displaying the following words:
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.
The Boy and the Heron.
A second trailer has since been released where more scenes are shown, more music is heard, and actual dialog is spoken. And after all of that audiences still…don’t really know anything about this movie. Honestly, it’s truly impressive how seeing more of the film is causing more confusion than anything. A Heron is a type of bird species, and sure enough the trailer features many herons in it.
The opening scene shows the bombing of Hiroshima, so the effects of World War II are likely to be discussed (and would fit thematically with Miyazaki’s open distaste for war that he displays in his other films). Our main hero seems to be joining a bathhouse with some quirky characters, and finally he winds up in a mysterious place where an unseen character announces he was waiting for him. We then have the release date (December 8th) and that the knowledge that the film will bereleased in IMAX theaters(a first for a Studio Ghibli film in America).
Is this going to be enough to get American audiences to buy a ticket? We’re going to have to see. While this is a much more low key marketing campaign than we are used to, one of the things that keeps people talking about the movie is the fact that the film IS shrouded in so much secrecy! GKIDS has announced that this will be the widest release of any Studio Ghibli film, so they are certainly hoping people will turn out.
There is more information absent though: an announced English cast. Chances are (and this is mere speculation) that until the current WGA andSAG-AFTRA strikeis resolved, there is no one who can be hired to adapt the screen or dub the film. Should the strikes continue, a subtitled-only release may be in the cards, and it would be VERY interesting to see if the film can succeed underthosecircumstances!
