Summary
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Makoto Shinkai's distinctive style sets him apart from Hayao Miyazaki, evident in his unique handling of plots and recurring themes.
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Her film releasing in 2025 marks her continued success following nominations for Suzume at the Golden Globes and Annie Awards.
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Shinkai's works, including Your Name and Suzume, have achieved international acclaim and box office success, solidifying his position in the anime industry.
Quick links
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Box office performance and nominations
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Suzume, your name and more
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Makoto Shinkai is one of the most famous Japanese anime directors today. He is often compared to Hayao Miyazaki (and his films are also often compared to Ghibli titles), despite having a totally different style, not only in art (although it can be a bit reminiscent of Ghibli), but also in the way he manages his plots.
In a way, his films are very “Shinkai-ish”. There are recurring themes in his works, so if you've watched some of his films, you'll probably recognize others as his, even without being told beforehand that they're Shinkai's. This is not a bad thing, on the contrary. It means that it has its own distinctive style. But it also means that if you don't like some of his films, you probably won't like the others.
Related
All anime films directed by Makoto Shinkai, ranked
Makoto Shinkai has directed some absolutely amazing films, but which one is the best?
His most recent work is Suzumea 2022 film nominated for the Golden Globe and Annie Awards (which has been dubbed “the Oscars of animation”). But that could change soon. He released it on New Year's Eve This year he plans to share information about a new film he's working on:
Here is a translation of his post:
Happy New Year! I spent 2024 working on a new film. I'm happy to work hard with my colleagues to build a new world from scratch that no one has seen yet. I will do my best to be able to share information about it this year. I hope 2025 will be a peaceful year for all of you.
Box office performance and nominations
Suzume, your name and more
Shinkai has been working as a screenwriter and film director since 1998 included 5 Centimeters Per Second, The Garden of Words, Your Name, Weathering with You AND Suzume. In addition to his original feature films, he has also directed the theme songs and trailers for some games, such as The Legend of Heroes III: Song of the Ocean (1999), Ys II Eternal (2000) e Ef: A fairy tale between two (2006).
His most famous work is perhaps still Your name (2016), which became a huge commercial success in Japan, grossing over 25.17 billion yen. At the time it became the second highest-grossing film in the history of Japanese cinema, immediately after Miyazaki's The enchanted city (Today Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – Mugen Train is in first place). It also gained a lot of international attention, including from film critics, a usually difficult achievement for anime films that are not made by Ghibli. It wasn't nominated for an Oscar, though.
In 2019, Weatherproof with you was released in Japan, grossing over 12 billion yen at the box office. Suzume was released in 2022, earning 14.94 billion yen, but also gaining huge popularity internationally. Despite being the eleventh highest-grossing film of all time at the Japanese box office, Suzume It is the fourth highest-grossing Japanese film worldwide (behind Mugen Train, Your name, AND The enchanted city respectively).
Suzume is available to stream on Crunchyroll and Netflix.
Source: AnimeCorner
