
While the Second World War rages, the teenage Mahito, haunted by his mother's tragic death, is relocated from Tokyo to the serene rural home of his new stepmother Natsuko, a woman who bears a striking resemblance to the boy's mother. As he tries to adjust, this strange new world grows even stranger following the appearance of a persistent gray heron, who perplexes and bedevils Mahito, dubbing him the "long-awaited one."

Mahito Maki (voice)

Gray Heron (voice)

Kiriko (voice)

Lady Himi (voice)

Natsuko (voice)

Shoichi Maki (voice)

Izumi (voice)

Utako (voice)

Eriko (voice)
Good little adventure for this young man who... has a bit of a strange situation with his dad. What a crazy bugger his dad is and what kind of family dynamic is going on? Is the younger sister pregnant with the dad's kid? Maybe it's cultural and I'm not sure why the old man changes intention so quickly or what the bird motivations are. Perhaps will read a book about it one day. It's fun. There's cool animation. I like to watch these in Japanese with subs but I went back to listen to the English track for certain scenes. Dafoe kills it as the dying stork.
Status Released
Original LanguageJapanese
Budget$50,000,000.00
Revenue $294,200,000.00