No one bet on Makoto Shinkai
Far from an underdog his work had enjoyed relative success and garnered awards and recognition in the years he had been making movies
His beautiful detail oriented style stood out amongst his peers
He had been earmarked as a director to watch for sure, but I don't think anyone really saw it coming
2016's your name that is and the watershed moment for anime that it represented
your name opened a door to the medium that was usually reserved for only the most universal of Ghibli titles and
Plenty of would-be fans took the opportunity to walk through it
It's not often that the intimidating and strange walls to our fandom come down
Even in Japan where the art form is ubiquitous the consumption of anime isn't
But if only for a beat your name changed all that it became for a while the highest-grossing
animate
its success brought its creator unwanted comparisons to industry giants the heavy
responsibilities of which seemed understandably upsetting to Shinkai
Across the world people were falling for his latest picture
But today's Shinkai to a single feature is to misunderstand one of the industry's most interesting directors
in my debut video on the channel I said that his portfolio is one that speaks of evolution of
growth and
Of an imperfect voice that is always striving to better itself
makoto shinkai is a masterfully flawed director whose shortcomings are just as interesting and telling as his wild successes and
I can't shake the feeling that his legacy is only just beginning to be written
But one thing's for sure
going forwards
Everyone's betting on Shinkai
Sink i'ma bottom column I will cheat the cotton re mask
During the late 90s, Shinkai
was employed at video game company Falcom making opening cinematics for JRPGs such as The Legend of Heroes and Ys
it was here that he started shaping a style that would define him as an artist and
Began experimenting with a blend of traditional animation and CGI that he would later go on to perfect
When he wasn't at the office, however, Shinkai was a hobbyist filmmaker and produced several short films that garnered him some early acclaim
But it wasn't until his 2002 feature voices of a distant star where fans of anime worldwide began paying attention
having quit his job to make it almost entirely single-handedly his 25 minute exploration of long-distance love in a time of
spacefaring schoolgirl piloted mecha
Landed as a statement of intent from Shinkai
Being a largely solo project. You can see a lot of his future in this fragment of his past
Simply from its scope. You can immediately tell how far this man's vision drive and passion would take him
Following the success of voices Shinkai star rose
allowing him bigger budgets and an actual team behind him for his follow-up features the place promised in our early days and
five centimeters per second
Despite this newfound influx of creative talent Shinkai's voice has remained an independent and instantly
Recognizable one this is thanks in a large part to how hands-on he is during the development of his films
extensively storyboarding every scene
Obsessively lighting the work of his colleagues and even lending his own voice talents to work in progress cuts
Giving his voice actors an example of exactly what he wants from them
But beyond this Shin Kai's pictures are so clearly his own because he pulls so much of himself into each one
He delights in showcasing his own interests in his movies
Rain
Trains
And of course feet
But besides these signature superficial elements
there's a distinct and recognizable weight to the emotion of each movie a
Deep through-line that starts with Shinkai's ability to conjure a sense of place a sense of time and a sense of loneliness
His movies are hideously beautiful at every turn but there's undoubtedly a coldness to them
Before beginning work on your name Shinkai released the stunning garden of words
Which felt until that point to be a culmination of everything that had come before
to an almost pornographic extreme
But beneath the achingly beautiful exterior Shinkai, I doubled down on this sense of not belonging
But there's one constant
Present in almost every Shinkai picture that marries his love for visual motifs and that misanthropic soul
the mobile phone
Because whilst phones have connected us like never before
There's also something a little lonely about the mobile and our newfound dependence on them. I
Wonder when I started writing these messages that I never said
For everything that Shinkai does right that Shinkai achieves that seems so far ahead of the curve
He has his fair share of shortcomings
Shortcomings that Shinkai himself is not blind to indeed time and time again. He appears to be his own harshest critic
As far back as voices of a distant star these cracks have appeared in that beautiful veneer
Flaws that would become as synonymous with Shinkai as his successes
Oftentimes you get the feeling that his projects got away from him that with each story. He struggled to succinctly sell its grand premise
Whilst his vision is one of legend
Shinkai I often stumbles as a storyteller tripping over himself to get to the next big
Melodramatic beat rather than letting scenes that need to breathe do just that
by his own admission many of his movies are
Unfinished or imperfect but it's in this chase of moments that Shinkai has developed his own pace
one that flows on an emotional level rather than an intellectual one and
Even whilst you're telling yourself. You shouldn't fall for such cheap sells. It's impossible not to get swept up in it all
through a heady mix of breathtaking visuals
Snappy editing and an always rousing score in dispersed with carefully delivered at narrative cut punches
Shinkai makes movies that effortlessly ring enjoyable drama out of each films fascinating hook
That hook whether it be body-swapping teenagers the land of the dead or girls who can control the weather
Are all in service of a theme Shinkai has woven through every movie he has made
Separation
whether by space by illness by distance
By age or even by death this beautiful, but heartbreaking motif is omnipresent in his work
It would all be a little dour perhaps if Shinkai didn't conveniently provide the antidote as well
Because for all the melancholia of what separates us these films are ultimately about what connects us and it's never more apparent
Visually automatically than in the beautifully presented togetherness of your name
Mitsuha and Taki have begun waking up in each other's bodies
These two teenagers have never met how could they have one lives in the center of Tokyo and the other out in the boonies?
Taki lives a fast-paced
Exciting stressful life in a city whilst Mitsuha her longs to escape her dull hometown and a life obsessed with tradition
They're both a bit fed up with their lot and it's this longing for change
That is the basis for almost every body swap movie out there
Unhappy and positive that the grass has got to be greener somewhere. Our leads plead with the heavens and destiny wraps tight around them
The most interesting hook about your name's otherwise overplayed trope is that it's not a permanent fixture
Taki and Mitsuha will only find themselves piloting each other's bodies every so often and
This back and forth creates an interplay and a relationship between the two of them that the genre rarely enjoys
Watching each of them returned to a life lived in rather recklessly by the other
Having to pick up the pieces or face the consequences of their errant acts makes for brilliant
hilarious and often thought-provoking viewing
They set down rules for each other to follow in the hopes that the fallout of their body swapping antics will be minimized
But of course these rules are broken throughout with both Taki and Mitsuha believing they know what's best for the other
Through messages scrawled in Diaries or when tensions really rise, across their own bodies
They both fight for autonomy for co-ownership even of their joint lives
through simple quarrels the actual debate of the authorship of their lives blossoms in ever interesting ways and
the strange dynamic that forms between them quickly becomes the movie's most
intoxicating hook until
It isn't, this tie this inexplicable linking of lives by a thread of fate is suddenly severed
barely half an hour into the movie
revealing a far more nuanced tale underneath
This gearshift sends the movie scrambling a little and it's in this midsection that the pacing of the film reveals those classic floors
Shinkai struggles with
Quick snappy montages full to bursting with wonderful moments that arguably deserve entire scenes to themselves end
Up doing a lot of the film's narrative heavy lifting in this opening act
Still it's in service of a much more intriguing journey one that goes places
I really didn't expect it to and becoming one of Shinkai's tightest works to date in the process
Wearing the learnings of his past movies on its sleeve at all times
Revisiting Shinkai's portfolio
now you can glimpse the DNA of your name throughout in the unparalleled artistry and
cinematography of garden of words in the musicality of five centimeters per second
In the unrestrained yearning of voices and the melancholia of a place promised your name was always waiting to be born
Shinkai's portfolio is an evolution one where each new title builds off the one that came before and
Your name feels like punctuation to that lineage
It's easy to slip into hyperbole when talking about something like your name with its numerous accolades and titles
But what can't be overstated?
Is how transcendental a moment this was to many around the globe
Anyone with a fascination for film checked it out
Which might be the reason it's taken me this long to recommend it it almost felt a little redundant to do so
But as Makoto Shinkai is once again taking Japan by storm with his new movie weathering with you
I felt it apt to return to the work that truly put his name on everybody's lips
To properly pay homage to a film that bridged a gap in film that pulled in disparate audiences
and
Just for a moment
Brought us all a little closer together
As always thanks for watching
Your Name is an easy film to talk about because it's just such a fun one
And if you've somehow missed out on it, I really do recommend you check it out
Making this video has given me time to re-watch all of neon genesis evangelion in
Preparation for my next piece one that's been coming for a while
That said it still might take a little longer than usual to create a proper tribute to Hideaki Anno's masterpiece
So I hope you'll be patient with me in the meantime
You can check out my patreon for updates and exclusive in the interim or subscribe here on youtube to be notified when it lands
If instead you'd like to see me give up this YouTube game to make and sell my own Kuchikamizake or, spit sake
Hit the like button and I'll go buy some rice