In The Secret World of Arrietty, the human boy who befriends Arrietty is Sho.
Sho is staying at his great-aunt’s house when he glimpses Arrietty, a Borrower who lives secretly beneath the floorboards with her family. After Arrietty drops a sugar cube during her first borrowing mission, Sho leaves it for her along with a note, beginning their cautious friendship.
Although Sho is human, he respects Arrietty’s need for secrecy and tries to protect her family. Their relationship becomes dangerous when the housekeeper Haru discovers evidence of the Borrowers. Sho helps Arrietty rescue her mother Homily and remove signs that the tiny family lived in the house.
The film is based on Mary Norton’s 1952 novel The Borrowers, but relocates the story to Japan. Sho is sometimes written as Shō in transliteration. Pod is Arrietty’s father, Homily is her mother, and Spiller is another Borrower—not the human boy who befriends her.