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10 Best Makoto Shinkai Movies To Watch This Spring 2024 Season Ft. Your Name, Suzume & More
Makoto Shinkai has become a leading creator of anime over the past three decades. His work often blends fantasy with introspective themes, making him a cult classic and blockbuster. Here's his 10 best movies.
Makoto Shinkai, a renowned Japanese filmmaker and novelist, has become a leading creator of anime over the past three decades. His work, characterized by emotionally rich storytelling and stunning visuals, often blends fantasy with introspective themes.
Influenced by Hayao Miyazaki and Hideaki Anno's The End of Evangelion, Shinkai's films showcase his unique voice and visual style. He believes his projects connect older and younger generations through a communal experience, ensuring memorable stories for years to come. Shinkai's films are praised for their emotional depth and wistfulness, making them a must-watch for fans of anime.
Here are 10 best Makoto Shinkai's movies.
1. Your Name.
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Your Name depicts the story of high school students Taki Tachibana and Mitsuha Miyamizu, who suddenly begin to swap bodies despite having never met, unleashing chaos on each other's lives. The film was inspired by the frequency of natural disasters in Japan.
Your Name premiered at the 2016 Anime Expo in Los Angeles on July 3, 2016, and was theatrically released in Japan on August 26, 2016 and was released internationally by several distributors in 2017.
2. Suzume
Suzame follows 17-year-old high school girl Suzume Iwato and young stranger Souta Munakata, who team up to prevent a series of disasters across Japan by sealing doors from the colossal, supernatural worm that causes earthquakes after being released.
Suzume first premiered in IMAX in Japan on November 7, 2022, followed by a theatrical release by Toho on November 11. It was fourth highest-grossing Japanese film of all time as well as the fourth highest grossing film of 2022 in Japan.
3. The Garden of Words
The Garden of Words focuses on Takao Akizuki, an aspiring 15-year-old shoemaker, and Yukari Yukino, a mysterious 27-year-old woman he keeps meeting at Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden on rainy mornings. While Takao is skipping his morning class to design shoes, Yukari is avoiding work due to personal problems in her professional life.
The Garden of Words premiered at the Gold Coast Film Festival in Australia on April 28, 2013 and had its general release on May 31, 2013 in Japan
4. Weathering with You
Weathering With You follows a 16-year-old high school boy, Hodaka Morishima, who runs away from his troubled rural home to Tokyo, and later befriends Hina Amano, an orphaned girl who has the ability to control the weather. Weathering with You was theatrically released in conventional, IMAX, and 4DX theaters in Japan on July 19, 2019, and was released in the United States on January 20, 2020. It became the highest grossing Japanese film of 2019 and the seventh highest-grossing anime film of all time.
5. 5 Centimeters per Second
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The story of 5 Centimetres per Second is set in Japan, beginning in the early 1990s up until the present day (2008), with each act centered on a boy named Takaki Tōno. It consists of three segments, each following a period in the life of the protagonist Takaki Tōno and his relationships with the girls around him.
The film was awarded Best Animated Feature Film at the 2007 Asia Pacific Screen Awards. It received a novelization in November 2007 and a manga adaptation illustrated by Seike Yukiko in 2010.
6. Someone's Gaze
The story of Someone's Gaze focuses on a recently independent daughter Aya Okamura, her parents, and their pet cat Mii. Aya had recently taken a job that allowed her to move away from home, and her father, Kōji, lives at home alone with their cat while Aya's mother, Minako, is working overseas. Mii is an old cat, originally obtained as a kitten by Aya's father to help his young daughter cope with her mother's absence, and is now in poor health. The story is narrated from the cat's perspective
7. Cross Road
The story of Cross Road centers on high school students Miho and Shota as they prepare for tests. Miho comes from an island without even one cram school, while Shota lives in Tokyo and works a part-time job. Both are striving to pass tests so they can enter college. The pair enroll in Z-Kai's correspondence education courses, and their lives cross before they realize it.
8. The Place Promised in Our Early Days
The Place Promised in Our Early Days is set over several years in an alternate history where the Soviet Union occupies the Japanese island of Hokkaido it follows two childhood friends who grow apart after one of their friends disappears. As international tensions rise and a mysterious tower built by the Union starts replacing matter around it with matter from other universes, they cross paths once again and realize their missing friend might be the key to saving the world.
9. Children Who Chase Lost Voices
Children Who Chase Lost Voices is described as a lively animated film with adventure, action, and romance centered on a cheerful and spirited girl on a journey to say farewell. The film was released in Japan on May 7, 2011.
The story is of 11-year-old Asuna Watase has been forced to grow up quickly ever since her father had died, while her mother, a nurse, works long shifts at a hospital. Asuna spends her solitary days listening to the mysterious music emanating from the cat's-whisker receiver her father gave to her as a memento, accompanied by pet cat Mimi, who bears strange red markings on her fur.
10. She and Her Cat
She And Her Cat is a five-minute story about the relationship between a male cat and his female owner told from the cat's perspective. Makoto Shinkai made the film to help a romantic interest overcome a difficult situation, and his time living in a small apartment defined the scenario. The team of four animators used Shinkai's hand-drawn illustrations and Adobe After Effects for 3D visual effects.
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