" The Boy and the Heron " is the name of Studio Ghibli 's new animated film by the master of the genre, Hayao Miyazaki. The film may not yet have a release date in France, but it's already the talk of the town. And, as always, music plays an important role. Joe Hisaishi, the immense Japanese composer, is a long-standing collaborator of Studio Ghibli. Often credited by the Japanese animation studio founded by Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata, he is responsible for the music of " My Neighbor Totoro ", " Castle in the Sky ", " Princess Mononoke ", " Chihiro's Journey ", " The Moving Castle " and " Ponyo on the Cliff ", as well as " Sonatine, mélodie mortelle ", " Kids Return " and " Aniki, mon frère ".
For his new film, " The Boy and the Heron ", Hayao Miyazaki has once again called on the immense Joe Hisaishi. But not only that: another artist, whose name is still unknown in France, is behind the theme song for the director's new animated film. His name? Kenshi Yonezu. At the age of 32, this Japanese artist has reached a new milestone in his career with " Chikyûgi " (" Spinning Globe "), the theme song for the film " The Boy and the Heron ".
In 2009, he began to make a name for himself by publishing several songs on Vocaloid, a voice synthesis software, including " Musunde Hiraite Rasetsu to Mukuro ", which has been listened to over a million times on the site! After creating the independent music label Ballroom in 2011, Kenshi Yonezu released his first opus"diorama" in 2012. This was followed by"Yankee" in 2014,"Bremen" (gold disc) in 2015, not forgetting"Bootleg" in 2017, featuring the hit " Uchiage Hanabi ", theme song from the animated film"Fireworks", as well as " Peace Sign " used for the opening of"My Hero Academia".
New hit in 2018 with the release of the single " Lemon " . Taken from the opus"Stray Sheep", the track became the theme song for the"Unnatural" series. A real success, the video clip became the most viewed in Japan, with 800 million views!
Another success came in 2022, when her track " Kick Back " was chosen as the opening theme song for"Chainsaw Man".
This summer, Kenshi Yonezu continued his success by composing and performing " Chikyûgi " (" Spinning Globe " in English), the theme song for Studio Ghibli's new film.
Proof of his fame, Kenshi Yonezu has already received numerous awards, including Album of the Year at the 2015 Japan Record Awards, Best Artist of the Year 2018 at the Space Shower Music Awards, and Best Video of the Year 2018 at the MTV VMAJs with " Lemon ".
Le Garçon et le Héron " was released in Japan on July 14, 2023, without any promotion or trailer. Chosen to open the next Toronto International Film Festival on September 7, 2023, it will be unveiled in Europe on September 22 at the opening of the San Sebastian Festival in Spain.
Hayao Miyazaki's The Boy and the Heron: our review of the new Ghibli film
In Japan, "The Boy and the Heron" was released in total anonymity, without any promotion or trailer. Now it's France's turn to discover Hayao Miyazaki's latest film, scheduled for release on November 1. [Read more]
Hayao Miyazaki's The Boy and the Heron: our review of the new Ghibli film
