The end of the boy and the heron is explained

Key foods

• The Boy and the Heron is Hayao Miyazaki's last film, which marks his farewell to creating new stories for the world.
• The film revolves around a magical world created by a cousin where the blocks of a tower sustain their existence.
• Despite returning to reality, the characters, including Nathtu and his family, eventually forget the existence of the magical world.

The boy and the heron It is Hayao Miyazaki's latest film. This is his swan song. His last gift to humanity. Studio Ghibli will continue to produce more movies and TV series in the future, but we won't see a new story from Mr. Miyazaki, one of the most popular, respected and influential directors the world has ever seen. A man is now well into his twilight years and it is finally time to put down his pencil, relax and spend precious time with his loved ones.

The boy and the heron It still has the hallmark of “timeless beauty” that we all know and love from Hayao Miyazaki's work. That being said, this is by far Hayao Miyazaki's most mysterious film. You can immerse yourself in the story for more than 2 hours and still feel confused about what you just saw. So with that in mind, here are some explanations to wrap up The boy and the heron.

Fragile universe explained

• Character Name: Nathtu Maki
• Voice actor: Soma Santoki (JP)/Luca Padovan (EN)

His main purpose in going to the mysterious world is to find his stepmother, Natsuko. But in the process, he unknowingly begins a journey that leads him to the creator of the universe, his great uncle. As it turns out, Cousin is the one who created this strange and fascinating world, and he's the one who's been keeping it alive all this time.

Every three days, this frail old man must stack pieces of blocks to build a block tower. If the tower remains intact, then the world and everything in it will live another day. However, if he messed up and the tower block fell, then this fragile world would immediately begin to open back up into nothingness.

The fall of the magical world, explained

• Character name: Nene
• Voice actor: Shōhei Hino (JP) / Mark Hamill (EN)

Uncle knows that he is nearing the end of his life, so he must hand over the responsibility of preserving his creation to a successor. Due to his misfortune, only his blood relatives can wear the mantle. Fortunately for him, his great-grandson Nathtu suddenly comes from the real world.

Naturally, Amouzada asks Nathtu to succeed him and take over the responsibility of the pillar that holds this strange world together. He does not accept your nature. He just wants to find his stepmother and return to the real world together. Although no one is adding new blocks to the tower, everything is quickly destroyed. The ground shakes, the sky splits open, and within minutes, this magical world is no more.

Various timelines are explained

• Character Name: Lady Hemi
• Voice actor: Aimyon (JP) / Karen Fukuhara (EN)

One of the people who helps Nattu a lot during his short stay in the magical world is a girl named Lady Hemi. As it turns out, she is actually the mother of Nathtu. Tens of years ago, when Hemi was a teenager, he entered a mysterious tower in the forest and was trapped in this magical world. He has lived here ever since.

So how is it possible that his nature met the younger version of his late mother? Well, think of this magical world as the Time Variance Authority (TVA) of the MCU Loki TV series. Just like TVA, time flows differently in that magical place. It has doors that connect to anywhere at any time, but once inside the tower and into the magical world, everything is on the same page. That's why teenage Hime gets to meet her teenage son, which happens to give Nattu a chance to say a proper goodbye to her mother.

Back to real life, explained

• Character Name: Shuichi Maki
• Voice actor: Takuya Kimura (JP) / Christian Bale (EN)

When the magical world collapses, the maniacal pelicans, the man-eating parrot, and the four humans in this magical realm—Mahito, Natsuko, Lady Hime, and Kiriko—make their way to the doors that return them to Earth. At this time, King Parakeet and his disturbed citizens not only try to outrun the destruction, but also try to kill the cause of this disaster, the character who refuses to play the role of his grandfather.

However, the moment they enter the door and are transported to Earth, the giant parrots, talking pelicans and other magical animals return to their original form. They got those weird shapes because Uncle Nathtu wanted them to. Now that he and his magical world are gone, the animals are freed from the influence of his magic, so they revert to their true form.

Return to Tokyo, explained

• Character Name: Gray Heron
• Voice actor: Masaki Suda (JP) / Robert Pattinson (EN)

In the last scene of the film, we see Nattu and his family preparing to leave home to return to Tokyo, and then the screen fades to black. There is no mention of the magical world. There are two explanations for this. First, the war is finally over, so they can finally go back home to Tokyo. Since his father's main factory is in Tokyo, it makes sense that they would return now that things have calmed down.

The second reason is that Natsuko and Natsuko have forgotten the existence of the magical world and everything that happened there. As they escaped the explosion, the Gray Heron told Nattu that he would forget about the magical world. This is what happened to those who returned to Earth, like Mother Nature. Even if he retains the essence of a piece of the block of his uncle's creation, the memory of that world and the importance of that piece of the block will inevitably be forgotten with the passage of time.

“It's normal to forget. You forget over time. You have to. It's been a long time, friend!”

These are the explanations of some of the most important events that happen at the end of the movie. Keep in mind that these are just surface descriptions. There is more than meets the eye The boy and the heron. So please put on your philosophical hat and watch this movie one more time. You will find more meaningful questions that will lead you to more meaningful answers. And that goes for all of Hayao Miyazaki's films.

The boy and the heron Available to stream on Netflix.