Synopsis

From the legendary Studio Ghibli and Academy Award®-winning director Hayao Miyazaki (Spirited Away) comes a new critically-acclaimed fantasy adventure.

After losing his mother during the war, young Mahito moves to his family's estate in the countryside. There, a series of mysterious events lead him to a secluded and ancient tower, home to a mischievous gray heron.

When Mahito's new stepmother disappears, he follows the gray heron into the tower, and enters a fantastic world shared by the living and the dead.



As he embarks on an epic journey with the heron as his guide, Mahito must uncover the secrets of this world, and the truth about himself.

Cast: Soma Santoki, Masaki Suda, Aimyon, Yoshino Kimura, Shōhei Hino, Ko Shibasaki, Takuya Kimura


The film received critical acclaim and has grossed over US$140 million worldwide. Among its numerous accolades, it won the Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film (the first hand-drawn and non-English-language animated film to receive the prize) and was also nominated for Best Original Score.

After the film's release, the novel How Do You Live? became temporarily in short supply due to the "synergy" with the film. The publisher decided to reprint the book, while the volumes were in large quantities on Mercari marketplace app. On July 20, Iwanami Shoten announced on its official Twitter account that the total circulation of the book had reached 1.8 million copies, making it the number one book published by Iwanami Bunko book in its history.