The Boy and the Heron ‘illustrator’ outed as fraud in bizarre scandal
The Boy and the Heron, the newest movie from Studio Ghibli, has become attached to a new scandal involving a so-called “illustrator” – but they’re actually a fraud.
The Boy and the Heroncomes from Hayao Miyazaki, one of the most celebrated anime directors in the world. He delivered classics like Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke; the first was honored with an Oscar for Best Animated Feature in 2003, while the latter became the highest-grossing film in Japan in 1997.
Now, The Boy and the Heron is on its way to possibly bringing an Oscar home. However, the path to the award isn’t going to be easy as it has tough competition; namely, it’ll have to contend withSpider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse in the same category.
Well, nothing can be said with certainty until the arrival of the Academy Awards ceremony on August 11, 2025. But for now, the movie is in the news for another reason.
The Boy and The Heron ‘Illustrator’ turned out to be a fraud
Geraldine Fernandez, the supposed illustrator on The Boy and the Heron, was recently called out as a fake on X/Twitter.
Julieta Colás, a Tokyo-based Mexican artist, posted several screenshots showing that Fernandez is a “grifter” who lied to the anime community.
As per Fernandez’s now-deleted post, she worked as an illustrator on the film. She also said Miyazaki knew her personally, so she got the opportunity to draw 25,000 frames for the film – but, as pointed out by Colás, she’s never shown a single piece of her work.
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Let me reiterate: She is saying she personally “illustrated” (her words) 25,000 frames of the film. That is 35 minutes. A lady who makes bootleg planners in Colombia is claiming she animated 35 minutes of a Ghibli feature, as freelance REMOTE work.She blocked me btw.
“There are Latin American women who are working in anime for reals (me, I am one of them; actually in Japan), and working their asses off (I currently have a pretty bad injury myself) to suddenly have these f**king GRIFTERS misinforming the hell out of everyone,” Colásadded.
Fernandez’s claims were picked up by several news outlets. “Never in my life, at 30 years old, did I think that I was going to end up working for Studio Ghibli doing the production and not only being in the most recent film, but in Hayao Miyazaki’s retirement film, it is hard to believe,” she said, as perInfoBae.
Colás has worked on titles like Trigun Stampede and Ranking of Kings Season 2. She says that any artist who works on any anime episode or movie gets credit from the studios – however, the bootlegger, Geraldine doesn’t have anything to prove that she worked on The Boy and the Heron.
“If you want local praise, all you gotta do is lie about working on a Miyazaki film. No one will fact-check it, because no one cares about animation. It is incredible that it is the year 2024, and nobody seems to be able to do the smallest amount of research,” she alsowrote.
