Makoto Shinkai facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Makoto Shinkai
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| 新海 誠 | |||||
Shinkai at the 73rd Berlin International Film Festival in 2023
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Makoto Niitsu
February 9, 1973 Koumi, Japan
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| Education | Chuo University | ||||
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| Years active | 1996–present | ||||
| Known for | Your Name (2016) Weathering with You (2019) Suzume (2022) |
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| Spouse(s) | Chieko Misaka | ||||
| Children | Chise Niitsu | ||||
| Japanese name | |||||
| Kanji | 新海 誠 | ||||
| Kana | しんかい まこと | ||||
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Makoto Niitsu (新津 誠, Niitsu Makoto, born February 9, 1973), known as Makoto Shinkai (新海 誠, Shinkai Makoto), is a famous Japanese filmmaker and novelist. He is best known for directing popular anime movies like Your Name, Weathering with You, and Suzume. These films are made with CoMix Wave Films.
Shinkai started his career in 1996 as an animator for video games. He became well-known as a filmmaker after releasing his short animated film She and Her Cat in 1999. His first longer film with CoMix Wave was the science fiction story Voices of a Distant Star in 2002. This was followed by his first full-length movie, The Place Promised in Our Early Days, in 2004.
Makoto Shinkai's films are very popular with both critics and audiences. He is one of Japan's most successful filmmakers. His three most recent movies, Your Name (2016), Weathering with You (2019), and Suzume (2022), are sometimes called the "Disaster trilogy." All three are among the highest-grossing Japanese films of all time.
Contents
Early Life and Inspiration
Makoto Shinkai was born in Koumi, Nagano, Japan. His family runs a construction company. He studied Japanese literature at Chuo University. While there, he was part of a club that focused on children's books and he enjoyed drawing picture books.
Shinkai says his love for creating stories and art came from the manga (Japanese comics), anime (Japanese animation), and novels he enjoyed during middle school.
Makoto Shinkai's Career
How Shinkai Started in Film
After finishing university in 1996, Shinkai began working at Nihon Falcom, a video game company. He spent five years there, creating video clips for games and designing graphics for websites. During this time, he met the musician Tenmon, who later composed music for many of his movies.
In 1999, Shinkai released She and Her Cat, a short five-minute film made in black and white. This film won several awards, including a top prize at the 12th DoGA CG Animation Contest in 2000. The short film tells the story of a cat's life from the cat's point of view, showing its time with its young female owner.
Rising to Fame with Animated Films
After winning awards for She and Her Cat, Shinkai started thinking about his next project. In June 2000, he was inspired to create Voices of a Distant Star after drawing a picture of a girl in a spaceship holding a mobile phone. He later left his job at Falcom in May 2001 to work on this film. It took him about seven months of hard work to complete it.
Voices of a Distant Star was followed by a 90-minute film called The Place Promised in Our Early Days, which came out in Japan on November 20, 2004. This movie was highly praised and won many awards.
Shinkai's next big project was 5 Centimeters per Second, released on March 3, 2007. This film is made up of three short stories: Cherry Blossom, Cosmonaut, and 5 Centimeters per Second.
In 2008, Shinkai spent some time in London to rest after finishing 5 Centimeters per Second. He returned to Japan in 2009 to begin working on his next film. He shared some early drawings for this movie in December 2009. Shinkai said it would be his longest animated film yet. He described it as a "lively" adventure, action, and romance story about a cheerful girl on a journey to say "farewell." In November 2010, he announced the title: Children Who Chase Lost Voices from Deep Below. A preview trailer was released on November 9, and the film came out on May 7, 2011.
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His next movie, The Garden of Words, was released on May 31, 2013.
The "Disaster Trilogy" Films
On August 26, 2016, Shinkai released Your Name. This film was a huge success, loved by both audiences and critics. People praised its story, beautiful animation, music, and deep emotions. Your Name also did incredibly well at the box office, becoming the fifth-highest-grossing film of all time in Japan. By 2019, it became the highest-grossing anime film ever, even surpassing Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away.
Shinkai's next film, Weathering with You, was released in Japan on July 19, 2019. This movie was also a big success, earning over $193.8 million worldwide. It became the tenth-highest-grossing Japanese film of all time.
Suzume, Shinkai's seventh full-length film, was released in Japan on November 11, 2022. This film continued his success, receiving great reviews and earning over $300 million worldwide.
Personal Life
Makoto Shinkai is married to Chieko Misaka, who used to be an actress and producer. They have a daughter named Chise Niitsu, who was born in 2010 and is a child actress.
Shinkai's favorite anime films include Castle in the Sky, Nausicaä, and The Castle of Cagliostro by Hayao Miyazaki. He also enjoys The End of Evangelion by Hideaki Anno and Patlabor 2: The Movie by Mamoru Oshii.
There's even an asteroid named after him, called 55222 Makotoshinkai!
Awards and Recognition
Makoto Shinkai has won many awards for his films. Some people have even called him "The New Miyazaki" in reviews, comparing him to another very famous Japanese animation director. Shinkai, however, feels this is too high a praise.
Here are some of the awards he has won:
- In 2003, he won the Best Director award at the 8th AMD Award for Voices of a Distant Star.
- In 2016, his film Your Name won the Arigatō Award at the 29th Tokyo International Film Festival. He also won Best Director at the 29th Nikkan Sports Film Award for Your Name.
- In 2017, he won Best Director at the Tokyo Anime Award Festival for Your Name. He also won Best Animation Director at the 26th Japan Movie Critics Awards for the same film.
- In 2018, Your Name was named Anime of the Year (Best Film) at the 2nd Crunchyroll Anime Awards.
- In 2020, he won Best Director at the Tokyo Anime Award Festival for Weathering with You.
- In 2023, he received the International Animation Award at the Celebration of Cinema and Television for Suzume.
- In 2024, Suzume won Best Film at the 8th Crunchyroll Anime Awards.
See also
In Spanish: Makoto Shinkai para niños
