idk what the boy and the heron is Actually™️ about i know it’s supposed to be a really personal work for miyazaki but personally to me it was just. something about the idea of the magical world being untrustworthy and dangerous and Wrong and yet so beautiful and for some reason so attractive. why are you following the heron? because i have no choice. but aren’t you scared? that’s besides the point. and the idea of the ideal outcome being just outside of reach in that magical realm becoming something you accept, going back to your world knowing not everything is gonna work out perfectly because it’s okay, in the magic world didn’t either, in fact it was magical and otherworldly and yet it crumbled but we were fine and so we will be fine in this one too. the idea of the magical realm being just the “other” one and the original one with its flaws and its beauty and its arms wide open being the one you're excited to come back to. idk something about the inevitability of both tragic outcomes not being a bittersweet thing but just a sweet thing. a gentle, heartwarming tale to retell again and again because that's the only way to revisit it. why am i crying!!!!! WHY AM I CRYING