It looks like we here in the NA region are going to see How Do You Live one of these days. Only, we’re not going to know Hayao Miyazaki’s first anime film in a decade by that title, weirdly enough. Instead, we’re going to have to get used to this anime film’s new title of The Boy and the Heron. Don’t believe me? Then why not read on, and find out why GKIDS changed the anime film‘s name when they acquired the rights to it for its international distribution?

The Boy and the Heron (previously How Do You Live): Details

The Boy and the Heron teaser poster.
Even with the title change, I still don’t know what this anime film is about.

GKIDS is proud to announce that they have acquired the NA distribution rights to Hayao Miyazaki’s The Boy and the Heron. You might have previously known this anime film by How Do You Live. In fact, this is actually still the anime film‘s title in Japan. Yes, for some bizarre reason, GKIDS felt the need to change the title for its NA release. Why?

Unfortunately, GKIDS offers a rather baffling and nonsensical explanation for it. They claim that the original title of How Do You Live was a “tentative” title, and that its NA release title of The Boy and the Heron is the “official international title”. Frankly, this explanation doesn’t hold up well to scrutiny. If the original title was a “tentative” one, then why would Japan retain it all the way to its theatrical release on July 14, 2023? No matter how you look at it, GKIDS’s explanation just doesn’t make any sense.

Unfortunately, this title change will continue not making any sense for a while. As you might’ve heard, Hayao Miyazaki is refusing to release any promotional material, trailers, ads, etc. for How Do You Live. In accordance with this, GKIDS will not be publishing any further materials about The Boy and the Heron “at this time”. This includes any release window, since GKIDS isn’t revealing that in this press release. We’ll just have to wait for the anime film’s eventual theatrical debut to find out more about it. Tune back in to THS later to find out more about Hayao Miyazaki’s final masterpiece when we do.

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