That status, which he's held for well over a decade, has often led to comparisons to the legendary director Hayao Miyazaki - something that Shinkai noted in an interview with Fandom happens more in countries outside of Asia, where Miyazaki is still 'one of the first names' to surface on the subject of animation. That meticulous approach and his signature 'Shinkai-style' of vivid colors, lens flare, stunning cityscapes, and shining natural features like the rain of 'Weathering With You,' have established him as one of the foremost Japanese animators and directors of the current moment. He spends most of the movie stuck in the body of Suzume's three-legged chair. Souta, a secondary protagonist in 'Suzume,' attempting to close a door. Thus he has to go through the process of 'writing on paper what I imagine, and then passing it through myself as a voice.' Some directors or writers may be able to envision their words being spoken, Shinkai told Insider, but he's not one of them.

When making a film like 'Suzume' or 'Your Name,' Shinkai sits down, writes a script, and then storyboards and records a dialogue track himself in order to 'tweak' what he's written. I would tap into that.' Shinkai is an auteur with his own signature style, and while he's flattered by the Miyazaki comparisons, he's also a bit tired of them 'I tried to recall or recollect my own memories when I was going through puberty and when I was an adolescent, that anxiety and fear that I would feel. 'I didn't really want to make a movie about the sort of current events or struggles of the younger generations in the context of their social confines,' the director told Insider. Suzume forms a bond with Chika, another young girl, as she travels across Japan locking doors. Rather, it contextualizes an immeasurable amount of grief over the thousands lost in the 2011 disaster within one girl finding her desire to live years in the aftermath. The film, which was first released in Japan in November 2022 and became one of the highest-grossing anime movies of all time even before its international theatrical release in April, makes no attempt to rewrite history. The director told Insider that he took those criticisms into account when approaching 'Suzume,' the most singularly focused of the three stories. Criticism that people couldn't relate to Hodaka's 'very selfish' choice was a 'shock' to the director, but also an indication that 'the social fabric runs really, really deep.' 'Weathering With You' is poignant climate crisis commentary, and Shinkai told Insider that he approached the film believing that people would relate to the fact that climate change isn't a responsibility that can land on one person's shoulders. Hodaka and Hina in Makoto Shinkai's 'Weathering With You.' Account icon An icon in the shape of a person's head and shoulders.

Weathering with you by makoto shinkai