Warawara (The Boy and the Heron)
What is the film about? The boy Mahito loses his mother and moves with his father to his new wife’s remote estate. There he discovers a talking heron in a tower that pulls him into a magical fantasy world called “World of Stone”.
In this world, Mahito learns where his place in life is. He meets many people from a past and present who help him. By the end of the film, he returns to reality with greater self-confidence.
What role does the being play? The Warawara are the little white beings with simple faces. They are human souls in the World of Stone and are reborn as children in reality. The beings puff up at night and then float into the other world. However, many are eaten by pelicans during flight.
Unfortunately, the Warawara only appear in one section of the film. They are the precursors to real humans and already have their own existence. It would have been nice to learn more about these mascots and to see what happens to them when they reach the other world.
