Year: 2022

iMDb Rate: 7.7/10

Genre:
Animation / Action / Adventure

Suzume is a 2022 Japanese animated coming-of-age fantasy adventure film written and directed by Makoto Shinkai, produced by CoMix Wave Films, and distributed by Toho. The film 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.

The film features the voices of Nanoka Hara and Hokuto Matsumura, with the character designs by Masayoshi Tanaka, animation direction by Kenichi Tsuchiya, art direction by Takumi Tanji, and music by Radwimps and Kazuma Jinnouchi, making it Shinkai's third collaboration with Radwimps and Tanaka, after Your Name (2016) and Weathering with You (2019). It began production in early 2020, eventually being announced as completed by October 2022. A novel adaptation, also written by Shinkai, and a manga series illustrated by Denki Amashima both debuted prior to the film's release. It was inspired by the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.

Suzume first premiered in IMAX in Japan on November 7, 2022, and was theatrically released nationwide on November 11. It received positive reviews from critics, with praise for its animation, characters, emotional weight and music, although the film's plot was criticized by some for being structurally similar to Shinkai's previous works. It has grossed over $323 million worldwide, becoming the fourth highest-grossing film of 2022 in Japan and the fourth highest-grossing Japanese film of all time. The film received multiple nominations, including at the Golden Globe Awards and Saturn Awards.

Year: 2016

iMDb Rate: 8.4/10

Genre:
Animation / Drama / Fantasy / Romance

Your Name is a 2016 Japanese animated romantic fantasy film written and directed by Makoto Shinkai, produced by CoMix Wave Films and distributed by Toho. It 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; it was released internationally by several distributors in 2017. It features the voices of Ryunosuke Kamiki and Mone Kamishiraishi, with animation direction by Masashi Ando, character design by Masayoshi Tanaka, and its orchestral score and soundtrack composed by Radwimps. A light novel of the same name, also written by Shinkai, was published a month prior to the film's premiere.

The film received widespread critical acclaim, with praise for its story, animation, music, visuals, and emotional weight. Grossing over US$382 million worldwide, it became the third highest-grossing Japanese film of all time, breaking numerous box office records, unadjusted for inflation. It received several accolades, including the Best Animated Feature at the 2016 Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards, the 49th Sitges Film Festival, and the 71st Mainichi Film Awards; it was also nominated for the Japan Academy Prize for Animation of the Year. A live-action remake is in development at Paramount Pictures and Bad Robot Productions.

Year: 2019

iMDb Rate: 7.5/10

Genre:
Animation / Drama / Fantasy / Romance

The Japanese writer-director Makoto Shinkai has a thing for dualities and a penchant for imaginatively blurring the divide between them. Much like his wistful hit “Your Name,” this movie centers on an adolescent boy and girl whose lives intersect, almost magically, and who mirror each other visually and narratively. In “Weathering,” the boy, Hodaka (Kotaro Daigo), is a teenage runaway who almost drowns soon after the movie opens. Once in Tokyo, he struggles to stay dry, find something to eat, a place to live, a way to live.

The story grows more intricate after Hodaka meets Hina, a sweet, friendly smiler with a younger brother and no adult support. The two soon hit on a scheme to sell Hina’s mysterious new gifts as a so-called sunshine girl, a figure who can summon the sun with prayer. In Shinto, the sun goddess Amaterasu is an important deity, but Hina’s realm is far more down to earth. Creating a website, she and Hodaka start selling her rays at a bargain rate, sharing precious light with the city’s grateful, sodden inhabitants.

Shinkai fills “Weathering” with bold leaps, narrative complications (the story jumps around in time, not always productively) and softly hued, filigreed backdrops that approach the photorealistic. The character design, by contrast, is more generic, conforming to the familiar stylized anime (and manga) look. Hina and Hodaka have heart-shaped faces with huge gemstone eyes, small noses and tiny, ductile mouths that open wide and comically wider. The characters’ personalities are filled in by the highly modulated vocal performances and by Shinkai’s animation, the discreet and bold choices that make their faces and physicalities pop.

Year: 2007

iMDb Rate: 7.5/10

Genre:
Drama / Family / Romance

5 Centimeters per Second is a 2007 Japanese romantic drama animated film written and directed by Makoto Shinkai. It theatrically premiered on 3 March 2007. The film 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.