Makoto Shinkai Films Are Amazing

This article is an overview of Shinkai's works while talking about his 2013 release 'The Garden Of Words'

As I sit in my bedroom 2:00 in the night, I can’t help but wonder what is it about Makoto Shinkai’s movies that make me feel elevated in some sorts if that makes sense. Maybe it’s just a phase because I’ve been into a lot of anime lately, but no anime series and/or movies have had this kind of impact on me ever before. Maybe I’m just a sucker for pretty aesthetically pleasing animated movies, but even after watching some highly reputed anime movies, I can say for sure none of them even comes close to Shinkai’s work.

Now I’m not gonna sit here and pretend like I know my stuff about movies and cinematography or even script writing. I am probably the last person to know things like these. but as a viewer, there are moments in this movie and other of Shinkai’s work that just make me want to talk about it and write long paragraphs on the internet about how it made me feel. That is something of a rare experience for me. Maybe that is the reason why I’m going all fangirly over his movies.

Shinkai has made 12 movies which vary in length, production and stories, his most popular works include Kimi No Na wa (Your Name), Tenki No Ko (Weathering With You), The Garden Of Words and 5 centimeters per second. All of these deals with more of the subtle issues of life than fantasy concepts that anime is popular for. While his latest two works, Your Name and Weathering With You does include fantasy elements, they are only used to underline the main plot of the story.

It is often said that Shinkai focuses more on the visual effects than the plot, which if you ask me does not make sense. Sure the plot is nothing flashy, but it is enough to get the viewer invested in the story. The attention to detail given to both the plot and visuals is something of rarity in this medium.

The Garden Of Words is a movie about a 15 year old boy and a 27 year old woman who meet in a shelter in a garden when it rains. Both of these characters build a platonic bond and help each other to get over their respective insecurities in life and as it is said in the movie, help each other "walk" in life. The plot in itself is quite simple and does not contain fantasy elements like that in Your Name and Weathering With You, which is a good thing cause it works for the movie. It takes us into the character’s lives and how their meetings in the garden is the one thing they look forward to in a world that is lost in chaos, both physically and mentally. 

Watching The Garden Of Words, a 45 min long movie, was an absolute treat to the eyes. Not once was I able to take off my eyes from the screen cause it’s so damn beautiful. You could just pause at any given timestamp in the movie and immerse yourself in the frame. The blend of CG and hand drawn animations is done so intricately, real life seems bleak in its comparison. This is something one can find in shinkai's work clearly.

Even though I have only seen four of his eleven movies, I can quite confidently say that Makoto Shinkai may be my favourite director ever (I am not really into movies all that much so no competition for him there) For all I know it can be because of the breathtaking visuals present in his movies that my ape brain upon seeing goes all gaga. Whatever it may be, I thoroughly enjoy watching his movies and am gonna be excited whenever he announces his next project!