[!WARNING]
This article inevitably contains ||spoiler content||. In order to maintain the appearance of the article, spoilers have not been added. Therefore, it is strongly recommended to watch the original film in its entirety before reading the main text.
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 that it is a good work. Here, "representative work" refers to the significant personal style of Hayao Miyazaki in the film.
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 is still 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 Aoki (マヒト) loses his mother Hisako (ヒサコ) in the Tokyo bombings and is forced to form a new family with his father, Shoji (ショイチ), the director of a munitions factory, 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 Aoki 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 in the family, 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, he gets into a conflict with a classmate during labor education. On his way home, he throws a stone at his own head in an attempt to escape reality. While resting at home, the strange heron comes to Shinko's window and mimics his mother's plea for help, saying "Save me, Shinko, save me." It continues to torment Shinko and informs him that his mother is still alive, causing him great distress.
Natsuko, who has been bedridden due to morning sickness, inexplicably 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" that the heron mentioned turns out to be a statue it made. Shinko sees this as a desecration of his mother and shoots the heron's beak, transforming it from a bird into a comical human form. Just as Shinko demands that the heron 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."
And so, 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 his mother, Hisako, disappeared in the tower for a year for unknown reasons when she was young and then reappeared.
After learning about the tower's past, Shinko's father, Shoji, goes to the tower and unexpectedly finds Shinko and Himi, who have been hiding from the parrots in this world. As he rushes forward, the human-shaped parrot enters the real world, and Shoji is shocked to see it transform back into a normal parrot after returning to its original world.
"Underworld"#
In the second act, Shinko is drawn from the struggles of everyday life into a fantasy world called the "underworld." In this new world full of strange 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, who can use fire magic. In this event, the cormorants prey on Warawara, while the parrots prey 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 time, 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 prey on Warawara because they cannot eat the sea fish here and have to do so in order 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 set off together to find Natsuko, who has gone missing.
On the way to find Natsuko, they encounter a blacksmith shop that has been occupied by a group of aggressive parrots. Shinko falls into a trap set by the parrots, while the heron's whereabouts are unknown. Fortunately, Hime appears in time to help Shinko escape and informs him that Natsuko is currently in the delivery room of the tower, which is now occupied by the parrots. The two enter the tower and arrive at a long corridor with many doors, each leading to a different time and space. Their whereabouts are discovered by the parrots again, and in order to escape the pursuers, Shinko and Hime quickly open a door and escape to Shinko's original time and space. Outside the door, they happen to meet Shinko's father, Shoji, who is searching for Shinko. 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 ultimately 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 bridge the gap between them. Shinko is thrown out of the delivery room by a force and then faints. Hime makes a wish to the ruler of the tower, who controls the underworld, hoping to send Shinko and Natsuko back to their original era. However, she is affected by the power of the stone and is knocked unconscious. Both of them are captured by the parrot flock.
And so, 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, Taiju, who disappeared in the tower and was believed to be deceased by everyone. Shinko learns that Taiju 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 Taiju and Hime again. However, the parrot king follows them. Taiju explains to Shinko the method of balancing the underworld - using thirteen blocks of stone without malice to build a tower and then removing one block each day while moving. Taiju then explains that he now needs someone with a blood relationship and 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 Taiju's intention to entrust the task to a child and balance the underworld using the method of stacking blocks, so he smashes the stone pile that maintains the balance of the underworld, causing it to begin to collapse and destroy. Taiju chooses to stay behind and be destroyed along with the underworld.
As everyone escapes, Kiriko arrives at the top of the tower to rescue Natsuko, who is also trying to escape. They arrive at the door that connects to the real world, and Hime refuses Shinko's proposal to return to his world together, confessing 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 his stepmother Natsuko calling him, leaving his room. Shinko returns to Tokyo with his father, stepmother, and the younger brother born to his stepmother.
And thus, the film ends.
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The original link is https://nishikori.tech/notes/12