Bird poop scene is just one of the new images we can use “within the bounds of common sense”.

With Studio Ghibli winning an Academy Award this month for its latest animated feature, The Boy and the Heron, fans around the world have every reason to celebrate, and one of the best ways to do that is with a new set of free-to-use images from the film.

Free-to-use-images from Ghibli’s roster of films were first released in 2020 as a gesture of goodwill during the pandemic. The studio gradually added more of these images to its collection, and when The Boy and the Heron premiered in Japan on 14 July, under the Japanese title of “Kimitachi wa Dou Ikiru ka?” (“How Do You Live?“), a set of images from the film were added shortly after, in August.

▼ One of the previously released images showed, well, the boy and the heron.

As this image release predated the movie’s overseas premiere, the number of stills and what they portrayed were kept to a minimum, to avoid any spoilers. Now, though, with more people having seen the film, there’s less pressure to keep some of the movie’s more pivotal moments under wraps, which makes it the perfect time to share these new images.

The seven new stills all feature the movie’s protagonist, Mahito, and just in case you’re yet to see the film, we’ll share them below without any spoilers as to what they might represent.

▼ Mahito with the feather…

▼ …Mahito with Kiriko…

▼ …Mahito with Kiriko and the Warawara…

▼ …Mahito with Himi…

▼ …Mahito with bread and butter and strawberry jam…

▼ …Mahito with the green parakeet…

▼ …and finally, Mahito with the birds…and their poop.

If you’ve seen the movie, the images above will transport you right back to the world of The Boy and the Heron, and if you haven’t seen it yet, they give you an idea of what you can expect during some of the most pivotal points of the film.

The images can be downloaded from the official site for use “within the bounds of common sense”, and if you’d like to get even closer to the film’s stars, some of them are waiting to greet you at Ghibli Park, where you can also view the Oscar it won, for a limited time.

Source: Studio Ghibli 
Top image: Studio Ghibli
Insert images: Studio Ghibli (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8) 
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