Over twenty years after his first win, Studio Ghibli’s Hayao Miyazaki has taken home the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature once again with his most recent masterpiece. Known in English as The Boy and the Heron, with the original Japanese name translating to How Do You Live?, the 2023 film goes down in history as the second anime film ever to win the Oscar.
The Boy and the Heron Wins Best Animated Feature
The award’s season has showered Miyazaki’s most recent movie with some of the biggest accolades in film. It started strong with a win for Best Animated Feature Film at the Golden Globes back in January and won Best Animated Film at the BAFTAs in February. It was up against several excellent films for the coveted Academy Award, including the incredible Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. In the end, the deeply moving and philosophical film that was originally to be Miyazaki’s last (which remains to be seen) gave him his second win for Best Animated Feature.
Miyazaki first won an Academy Award in 2003 for the beloved film Spirited Away, which became the first anime film to win the category. The Boy and the Heron became the second, as no anime film has won the category since. It also became the second hand-drawn animated film to win, with Spirited Away being the only other one. The movie also makes history as the first PG-13 rated film to win in this category, acting as a reminder that animated films can and should be for both children and adults.
The Boy and the Heron once again cements Hayao Miyazaki as a legend of filmmaking and animation. While it is not certain that this will be the last film he makes, it was a beautiful moment to see this incredibly personal and masterfully done movie receive what is considered to be the greatest achievement in animated film. Hopefully we will see more anime films nominated in the future.
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