After losing his mother in an accidental fire, Mahito (Soma Santoki) moves with his father (Takuya Kimora) to the countryside to start over with his new step-mother/aunt (Yoshino Kimura) at her family home. He is immediately menaced by a gray heron (Masaki Suda) who tells him that his mother is not dead, merely lost inside a tower on the property. Mahito believes this to be a trap of some kind and resists until his step-mother goes missing. For her sake, he must brave a strange world between the living and the dead.
This feels so much more cynical and angry than Miyazaki's other works. I don't know if that's because it's a male protagonist versus female or if the man himself is just done with subtlety. He has retired like three times now.
The animation is, of course, gorgeous with all of the hallmarks of Studio Ghibli. You've got adorable amorphous blobs, child endangerment, wrinkled old giant-headed ladies, confusing quests, and perfect platonic companionship.
I have to say, though, the dad character gave me the ick. His wife hadn't been dead a year and he already married and knocked up her sister. Yikes. Granted, it looked like that broad was crazy-rich but still. Have a little decorum, man.
This was a huge pain in the ass to try and find during Oscar season and it's no less of one now. It's available for rent but if you're a Ghibli completist, you should just go ahead and pick up a copy. I'm not sure if I'll revisit it.
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