and to be allowed to use my own curiosity as a compass rather than being immediately grabbed and steered around by an obnoxious series of waypoints like in so many other open-world adventures.

Do you remember sitting in front of the TV and being told that you can do anything? That no adventure was too great for you ...

This article originally ran in November 2019. At the 2024 Oscars, The Boy and the Heron won the award for Best Animated Feature. In 1985, two friends and longtime collaborators — Hayao ...