[!WARNING]
This article inevitably contains ||spoilers||. In order to maintain the readability of the article, spoilers have not been added. Therefore, it is strongly recommended to watch the original film in its entirety before reading the article.
First of all, I believe that this film can be considered a "representative work" of Hayao Miyazaki's animation, but "representative work" does not necessarily mean it is a good film. Here, "representative work" refers to the film having significant personal style of Hayao Miyazaki.
This article will be divided into sections such as "Plot Introduction," "Character Analysis," and "Metaphors and Implications" (tentative). Due to my busy schedule, updates will be irregular, and the language will be polished after the final draft.
Plot Introduction#
In my opinion, the plot structure of this film still follows the classic three-act structure, although the pace of the first act is relatively slow (about 40 minutes), and the following two acts switch scenes almost every ten minutes.
Loss and Rebirth#
The first act begins against the backdrop of the turmoil of the Pacific War. Shinko (マヒト) loses his mother Hisako (ヒサコ) due to the Tokyo bombings and is forced to form a new family with his father Shoji (ショイチ), who is a factory manager, and his stepmother, who is also his biological sister, Natsuko (ナツコ). They move to an ancient mansion that carries the history and secrets of the mother's family. Shinko's curiosity and unease are aroused by a heron flying over the eaves. While exploring the new home, Shinko accidentally discovers a mysterious stone tower deep in the forest - according to the grandmothers at home, this tower was built by Shinko's great-uncle and "tower master" who disappeared completely after an accident.
Shinko resists his stepmother's presence in the new family and struggles to fit in as a transfer student. On the first day of school, Shinko gets into a conflict with a classmate during labor education. On the way home, he throws a stone at his own head as a way to escape reality. While resting at home, the strange heron comes to Shinko's window and mimics his mother's plea for help, "Save me, Shinko, save me." The heron continues to harass Shinko and informs him that his mother is still alive, tormenting him.
Natsuko, who has been bedridden due to morning sickness, suddenly gets out of bed one day and walks into the depths of the forest, disappearing. Shinko and Grandma Kiriko (キリコ) follow her footprints in search of Natsuko and end up in the mysterious tower. The so-called "mother who is still alive" by the heron is actually just a statue made by it. Shinko considers this a blasphemy against his mother and shoots the heron's beak, causing it to transform from a bird into a comical human form. Just as Shinko demands the heron to hand over his foster mother Natsuko, the mysterious tower master appears on the top of the tower and orders the heron to take Shinko and Grandma Kiriko to the "underworld."
Thus, the first act ends.
Awakening and Growth#
Real World#
In the second act, in the process of searching for Shinko and Natsuko, the people in the real world reveal the past of the tower: shortly after the start of the Meiji Restoration, a mysterious meteorite fell by the pond in the area. Shinko's great-uncle regarded it as a treasure and built the eerie tower around it. The old servants also reveal to Shinko's father that Shinko's mother Hisako also disappeared in the tower for unknown reasons when she was young and reappeared after a year.
After learning about the tower's past, Shinko's father Shoji goes to the tower and unexpectedly finds Shinko and Himi, who are hiding from the parrots in this world, disguised as parrots. As he rushes forward, the human-shaped parrot returns to the real world, shocking Shoji.
"Underworld"#
In the second act, Shinko is taken from the struggles of daily life into a fantasy world called the "underworld." In this new world full of abnormal creatures and fantastical events, Shinko meets a younger version of Kiriko called "Warawara," who takes care of the souls of the deceased and works as a fisherman, and Hime (ヒミ), who can use fire magic. In this event, the cormorants feed on Warawara, while the parrots feed on humans and establish their own empire.
At night, mature Warawara fly into the sky to undergo the process of reincarnation. However, the cormorants attack them at this moment, and Hime arrives in time to attack the sky with magic, driving away the cormorants but also injuring a large number of Warawara. Shinko discovers a dying old cormorant near the toilet, which was injured by Hime's attack. The old cormorant explains that the cormorants feed on Warawara because they cannot eat the sea fish here and have to do so to survive. While burying the dying old cormorant, the heron suddenly appears next to Shinko. After a fight, they reconcile at the request of young Kiriko and go together to find the missing foster mother Natsuko.
On the way to find Natsuko, there is a blacksmith shop occupied by a group of aggressive parrots. Shinko falls into a trap set by the parrots, and the heron's whereabouts are unknown. Fortunately, Hime appears in time to help Shinko escape and informs him that Natsuko is now in the delivery room of the tower - the tower that connects various time and space has now been occupied by the parrots. The two enter the tower and arrive at a long corridor with many doors, each door connecting to a different time and space. The parrots discover their whereabouts again, and in order to escape the pursuers, Shinko and Hime quickly open a door and escape to Shinko's original time and meet Shinko's father Shoji outside the door. Shinko, unwilling to give up on finding Natsuko, opens the door, causing a large number of parrots to flood into the real world while he returns to the tower and finally reaches the delivery room where Natsuko is.
In the delivery room, when Shinko tries to persuade Natsuko to return to the original world with him, the room becomes restless. Natsuko becomes angry at Shinko's presence and emotionally says, "I hate you the most." At the same time, a strong wind in the room tries to blow Shinko out. Shinko shouts, "Mom Natsuko," sincerely accepts Natsuko, and tries to resolve the gap between them. Shinko is thrown out of the delivery room by a force and then faints. Hime makes a wish to the master of the tower who controls the underworld, hoping to send Shinko and Natsuko back to their original era, but is affected by the power of the stone and falls into a coma. Both of them are captured by the parrot flock.
Thus, the second act ends.
Choice and Return Journey#
While unconscious, Shinko meets the mysterious tower master from his dream, who turns out to be his great-uncle who disappeared in the tower and was believed to be dead. Shinko then learns that his great-uncle is the manager who maintains the balance of the underworld. He hopes that Shinko can inherit his position and continue to maintain the balance of this strange world.
After waking up, Shinko finds himself trapped in the kitchen of the parrot flock, but is rescued by the heron disguised as a parrot. Upon learning that Hime has been captured by the parrot king and taken to the top of the tower in exchange for control of the tower, Shinko and the heron meet with the great-uncle and Hime again, but the parrot king follows them. The great-uncle explains to Shinko the method of balancing the underworld - using thirteen blocks of non-malicious stone blocks to build a tower, and then removing one block each day while moving. The great-uncle then explains that he now needs someone who is related by blood and has no malice in their heart to become his successor, but Shinko refuses his request, pointing to the wound on his head and revealing that he hurt himself to escape and has malice in his heart, making him unqualified. He chooses to return to his own world. The parrot king is dissatisfied with the great-uncle's intention to entrust a child with the task of balancing the underworld using the block tower and, in a fit of anger, smashes the stone stack that maintains the balance of the underworld, causing it to begin to collapse and destroy. The great-uncle chooses to stay and be destroyed with the underworld.
While everyone is escaping, Kiriko arrives at the top of the tower to save Natsuko, who is also trying to escape. In front of the door that connects to the real world, Hime refuses Shinko's proposal to return to his world together and confesses that her true identity is the young Hisako. In order to ensure that Shinko's birth is not affected by a time paradox, she must return to her own era and willingly accept the fate of being burned to death in the Tokyo bombings. After accepting this fact, Shinko says goodbye to Hime, and both Shinko and the heron, as well as Hime and young Kiriko, safely return to their original worlds.
Several years later, the war also ends, and Shinko hears the call of his stepmother Natsuko and leaves his room. Shinko returns to Tokyo with his father, stepmother, and the younger brother born to his stepmother.
Thus, the film ends.
This article is synchronized updated to xLog by Mix Space
The original link is https://nishikori.tech/notes/12