One of the most acclaimed animation directors in history, Marco Xinkai is famous around the world with his 2016 blockbuster Your Name Is. Three years later, his follow-up film Weathering with You also attracted many anime fans. But before your name came out, I had been creating and directing. He has many amazing movies. Many people have never heard of it. This complete Makoto Shinkai film guide will only include the films he produced and directed.
In addition to this topic, he also directed films written by other writers, some video games and commercial advertisements. The following films are listed in order of release date:
Important: When purchasing animated DVDs online, be sure to check your regional information and language options so that you can play movies in the desired language on your device in your country/region.
Complete Works of Makoto Shinkai’s Films
Indexes
She and Her Cat: Their Position(1999)
The Sound of Distant Stars(2002)
Where we first promised(2004)
5cm per second(2007)
Pursuing missing children(2011)
Someone’s examination(2013)
Language Garden(2013)
Your name(2016)
Weathering with You(2019)
She and Her Cat: Their Position(1999)
If you imagine yourself to be a crazy cat lover or an ordinary cat lover, this Makoto Shinkai animated film should be on your watch list. This short film is one of the earliest works newly released in less than 5 minutes, and it is also the first film he created, directed and released to the public. “She and her cat” is a simple story about cats who love their owners. This is a segment from the perspective of cats.
Interestingly, he opened the door to the 2013 Animation Expo and told fans that he wrote this film for the girl he loved who was watching at that time. She had a hard time, and he created the film to encourage her.
although it was a five minute short film, it was also well received and adapted into cartoons and four TV plays” She and her cat: Everything is flowing.
The Sound of Distant Stars(2002)
The Voice of the Far Star is probably one of the biggest hidden treasures in his career and one of Makoto Shinkai’s best films. If I had to describe the film in one sentence, I would say it is 5cm per second. But the background is in space. Because it is one of the early films newly released, its artistic style must be out of date. Especially 3D graphics and battle scenes. But there are always beautiful sky and space images, which is an important plot means of the film.
The Voice of the Distant Stars tells the work of Mikako and Lugoro, two middle school students who like each other but dare not speak loudly. In this world, human beings have made progress to survive on Mars, but have been attacked by the alien race of Tarcia. Human beings must pursue and defeat the Talisians, and Mikako was elected as a member of the United Nations Space Force. In space, Mikako drives armor similar to Gundam to fight Tarsian. In the battle scenes of Star Trek and Space Opera, Xinkai still successfully told the story of the lonely girl at the edge of the solar system. She only hopes that her words can be conveyed to her beloved boy.
This film is less than half an hour away, and it can create so many beauty, stories and feelings in such a short time.
Where we first promised(2004)
“Early Promise” is one of the earliest newly released films, so its edge is obviously somewhat rough. But it has excellent science fiction story plot, beautiful sound track and charming visual effect.
“The place we agreed” was set in another universe, and the island of Hokkaido in northern Japan was occupied by the Soviet Union. The Alliance built a mysterious tower in Hokkaido, but did not explain its real purpose. Other countries of Japan are allied with the United States. This film tells the story of two junior high school boys, Bozi and Tuoya who are making a small plane to visit the tower. The two boys seemed to be obsessed with the same girl, Sayuri, which led to a small conflict between them.
In the background, things don’t look like that. As a result of domestic unrest, war may break out between North and South Japan. This is a profound and complex science fiction story involving quantum physics and the parallel world. Even with 90 minutes of running time, the story is told too fast. Although I am a super sci-fi fan, I have to replay a scene to capture what is happening. Another point is that in order to switch between places and time periods, too much reliance is placed on the title frame.
Even so, the film has its advantages, and it is certainly better than bad. You will find that “your name” has strong similarities with the romance between Sanye and Taji. Some scenes of “the place we once agreed” stimulated the scenes of “your name”. In addition, the new attention to details is impeccable. In the film, Takuya and Hiroki have a serious quarrel, and Takuyan angrily beats Hiroki. Tuoya left Shiloki in disgust and didn’t want to have anything to do with him anymore.
But if you catch Takuya’s 0.5 second facial expression, you will find that you are in a strange mood and feel sad about your leaving. These small details distinguish between excellent animators and outstanding animators.
5cm per second(2007)
“Do you know that cherry blossoms fall at a speed of 5 centimeters per second?”
People often say that Makoto Shinkai has the problem of “escape”. This thrilling film is an important reason for rumors. ‘ “5cm/s” tells the story of a little boy named Takaki making friends with a shy new girl named Akari in the class. They have a common interest in novels, fell in love at first sight and became good friends. Unfortunately, because of their parents, the two men found themselves separated. The background setting of this cartoon is hard to keep in touch before the appearance of smartphones and email. Takaki and Akari yearn for each other, but they find that they are getting farther and farther away from the battle of distance and time.
This cartoon is divided into four parts from primary school to adult, all of which are Takaki’s stories. For those looking for more realistic romantic animation, 5cm per second is almost a painful reality. This movie makes you always yearn for a happy ending in the distant future.
Pursuing missing children(2011)
Judging from all the newly released works, “Looking for the Silent Child” may not know where it comes from. This film is quite different from all his other works in terms of story, genre and theme. To some extent, this film is similar to many films of Studio Ghibli, and it is an orthodox narrative symbol and a dreamy story element. In fact, past critics and critics even said that chasing crazy children was a new attempt to imitate Hayao Miyazaki.
On the contrary, I do not believe that the new dog will try to copy Hayao Miyazaki in any way. He can use his own ability to create solid fantasy animation films.
Chasing Mad Children tells the story of a young girl involved in Agatha, a mysterious parallel world. She and her teacher came to this world. The teacher believed Agatha had the ability to bring back her dead wife. This film has a more mature fantasy story, with the theme of letting death and family go.
Someone’s examination(2013)
“Someone’s Examination” is a new “Language Garden”, a 7-minute short animation. This is a small film, which has a strong emotional impact on the elderly audience” Taking the near future as the background, “Someone’s Examination” tells the story of Yaya’s life as a woman in her 20s, living alone, supporting herself and staying away from her family.
The film is told from the perspective of Mimi, a cat at home. This film is very short. I don’t want to reveal too many stories. But it’s about family ties and how families change over time. The beauty of art and the ingenious rhythm of the story have created a beautiful film despite the short release time. It is a great feat to evoke such strong feelings in just seven minutes. “Someone’s gaze” is still the shortest movie that makes me cry.
Language Garden(2013)
So far, one of Makoto Shinkai’s most visually effective films, “Language Garden”, is a real work of art, which depicts rain and nature as surreal. But unlike the two recent blockbusters, Weathering with You and Your Name, The Garden of Language is not the mainstream. This is a film with a slower rhythm, and the plot is more subtle.
This cartoon tells about the relationship between a high school teacher in trouble and a boy who dreams of becoming a shoemaker. Two people who happened to meet in the garden played truant for personal reasons” “Language Garden” is a story about love and friendship, which most people may not immediately associate with. But I really respect Xinkai. Because he tried to explain the form of love different from young love, and found happy love in Your Name and Riding the Wind and the Waves with You.
The film has a beautiful and slow soundtrack. Even if you are not attracted by the story, anime fans should watch this movie. Just to see the amazing visual effects they can create.
Your name(2016)
Perhaps the title of this chart does not need to be introduced. Your Name is a box office blockbuster, promoting Shinkai to anime fans and leisure fans around the world. As the most successful animated film in history, he made headlines on entertainment blogs around the world, reducing Hayao Miyazaki’s “Spirited Away” to the second place.
Your name is about two high school students, Mitsuha and Taki. They found themselves inexplicably changing their bodies while sleeping. At first, they couldn’t stand each other and felt that they were ruining each other’s lives. But wearing each other’s shoes, the two people formed an unbreakable bond that transcended the distance and time between them” Your name is “, which is characterized by the beautiful music of Japanese pop rock band Red Winps. It has amazing music tracks, beautiful art and fascinating stories. If you haven’t read your name yet, please stop what you are doing and read it immediately.
Weathering with You(2019)
Since your name was newly introduced around the world, many people are looking forward to the release of his follow-up films. With the promotion of “Wind with You”, fans and critics soon compared this film with “Your Name Is”. Although Wind and Rain with You did not exceed Your Name at the box office, it ranked fifth in the list of animation films with the highest box office in history, undoubtedly being one of the best Makoto Shinkai films at present.
Weathering with You tells a beautiful story about a boy named Hodaka who ran away from home. He met a girl named Shina, who has the ability to control the weather. As business partners, they jointly set up a website to promote Irna’s power to strangers. People at weddings, field trips, or important events lined up to pay for her services. But they soon realized that controlling the weather could bring some serious consequences.
Newly released films generally feature beautiful sky, natural light and clouds” “Weathering with you” is the peak of this image. In addition, the original soundtrack of “Your name is” produced by Radwimps will be happy to find that the new one will cooperate with the band again for this film. The music is really beautiful; the film is perfect, and the story may make people cry.
