I was in a cinema on the night of the 15th of January. The theatre was packed with enthusiastic fans who were eager to see the double bill of Your Name and Weathering With You. It would be the fourth time I had seen Your Name and, of course, the first time I would see Weathering With You. Watching Your Name in the cinema again, though, provoked memories of when I had seen it for the first time in a cinema and how I had compared it to his other works.
I’m sure like many people my age, the first Makoto Shinkai film I saw was 5 Centimeters per Second. I was getting into anime and I had seen numerous people recommend watching this film. I can remember being struck by how beautiful the backgrounds were (a trait he is well know for) but more than that, I was shocked at how emotionally charged the film was. I had known that it was considered to be one of the saddest anime films ever but I was still unprepared.
It wasn’t until years later that I saw another Makoto Shinkai film. I learned that a screening of Children Who Chase Lost Voices was going to take place in Dublin and would have the director present for a Q&A and signings. I eagerly attended with a friend and was, again, impressed with the film. They screened She and Her Cat before the film and I was amazed at what a superb short film it was. After seeing the film, I noted that, while not nearly as sad as 5 Centimeters per Second, I was still surprised at how much emotion bubbled under the surface.
We were given posters of the film for him to sign. I can remember going up to the table and noting the translator who was with him. He asked me where I was from and I told him I was from Co. Cork. He was surprised and asked if one of my parents was waiting outside for my friend and I. I responded that they wouldn’t be a good parent if they weren’t. After the translator explained this to him, he chuckled. The fact that I made Makoto Shinkai laugh still warms my heart to this day.
It was announced in 2013 that Anime Ltd would release Voices of a Distant Star and The Place Promised in Our Early Days, two earlier works from Makoto Shinkai. I was excited about the announcement but they ended up being delayed until 2018. In the meantime, I saw Garden of Words, a film which surprised me with how positive and happy the ending was.
In 2016, Your Name was released and ended up becoming the highest grossing anime film ever. I can remember wondering how Makoto Shinkai had finally broken into the mainstream. After seeing the film, I finally understood how he had achieved it. Pairing the powerful emotions his films evoke with strong laugh out loud comedy was a surprisingly perfect blend and easily makes Your Name my favourite film that I have seen from him.
Since Your Name, I finally got my copy of Voices of a Distant Star and The Place Promised in Our Early Days. I enjoyed them for what they were but found them lacking compared to his more modern titles (understandably, they were amongst his earliest works). I have now seen Weathering With You and, while I really enjoyed the film and see it as a natural extension of the style he developed with Your Name, I still think that Your Name is his best work.
Overall, I am so happy to have met Makoto Shinkai and to have experienced his films. I think he is an outstanding talent in the field of anime and I can only hope that reading this has whetted your appetite for his films.
Hopefully you have found this article interesting and informative and, if you wish to seek any of the works I mentioned, don’t hesitate to use amazon.co.uk or amazon.com for all of your needs!