The Exhibition of Makoto Shinkai
(This post was written as of Jan 2018.)
“your name.君の名は(kimi-no-na-wa)“ is an animated movie. It is the highest-grossing movie in 2016 in Japan. I talked about this anime film in the blog the other day.
The director is Makoto Shinkai (新海誠). The exhibition of his works is held in Japan now. I went to that exhibition held in the National Art Center, Tokyo last month. Today I talk about the Exhibition of Makoto Shinkai.
What is the exhibition like?
It is held to celebrate the 15th anniversary of animation director Makoto Shinkai debut. 6 animation works are exhibited, you can look at the production material of each work. The exhibition goes around the country.
(Japanese only. But you can see exhibition works.)
Who is Makoto Shinkai?
The animation director. He was born in Nagano. In 2002, he made his debut with his own short work “Voices of a Distant Star(hoshi-no-koe)”.
His movies are below. These works are exhibited this time.
・”The Places Promised In Our Earn Days( kumo-no-muko, yakusoku-no-basho)”
・“5 Centimeters Per Second (byosoku 5cm)”
・”Children Who Chase Lost Voice(hoshi-wo-ou-kodomo)”
・ “The Garden of Words(kotonoha-no-niwa)”
・ “your name. (kimi-no-na-wa)
He continues to receive acclaim as one of the next generations of anime film directors.
This is his official website.
My review of the exhibition
The works I have ever seen are “5 Centimeters Per Second”, “The Garden of Words” and ” your name.”. I wanted to know all works by Makoto Shinkai through this exhibition and decided to go. I felt his works had beautiful landscapes and the theme of many works was the distance between men and women of hearts. Very delicate and bittersweet story.
Production materials and images were exhibited for each work as they were finished. I talk about each work.
①Voices of a Distant Star
A story of a boy and a girl who live away in the earth and the universe.
※If you click this picture, you will jump to Amazon.co.jp (Japanese site).
I didn’t know that Makoto Shinkai had created his first work by himself alone. He created this film while he was working for a company, which is not an animation studio. It is amazing! He has been using digital technology to paint the beautiful landscape from this time.
②The Places Promised In Our Early Days
A story of fictitious Japan divided into the north and south.
※If you click this picture, you will jump to Amazon.co.jp (Japanese site).
The first long anime film.
The art team painting landscape has started at this work.
I didn’t know that he had created SF works. I totally thought his works were set in the modern world.
③5 Centimeters Per Second
3 short stories of animation describing changes by time and distance of the hero and his girlfriend.
※If you click this picture, you will jump to Amazon.co.jp (Japanese site).
I like the landscape of this work, especially a station and a train. It is very beautiful and exquisite.
And I think the theme song “One more time. One more chance” match well with the last scene. It is a little painful and delicate story.
④Children Who Chase Lost Voice
An adventure fantasy that a girl travels in a different world.
※If you click this picture, you will jump to Amazon.co.jp (Japanese site).
I was very surprised because the work’s style changed a lot. It is like a “Ghibli”. This may be a challenging film for Makoto Shinkai.
⑤The Garden of Words
A love story of a high school boy and a clumsy older woman in modern Tokyo.
※If you click this picture, you will jump to Amazon.co.jp (Japanese site).
This is a very delicate story. The description of Japanese scenery is very beautiful. As this work is based on Japanese classics, you can feel Japanese culture.
⑥your name.
My review about this work is here → your name. (kimi-no-na-wa) anime movie review by a Japanese.
※If you click this picture, you will jump to Amazon.co.jp (Japanese site).
The film’s production process was interesting.
⑦other works
Makoto Shinkai created a short animation and TV commercials besides movies. They were also exhibited. I like his commercials.
At the end of the exhibition, there was a closing movie that combined the images of all the works. It was wonderful.
And taking photos was prohibited in this exhibition. I could take a photo near the exit only.
This is one scene of “your name.”.
Further, the museum cafe in front of the exit is the one used in “your name.”. It’s a photo spot, too!
The goods of the exhibition were sold at a museum shop. I bought an illustrated book of the exhibition.
There are many pictures and materials in the book. All works are here.
Makoto Shinkai is one of the next generations of Japanese anime film directors. Hayao Miyazaki is the greatest anime director in the world, then recently new young directors are active in Japan. If you are interested in his works, please try to watch them.
The exhibition is held in Hokkaido now, next will be in Osaka. If you visit Japan this year, you can go to the exhibition.
Japanese OL. (OL means “office lady”. Women who work in offices.)
I was born in a rural part of the Kanto area in the latter half of the 1980s. I live and work in Tokyo now. I live with my husband. I study English by writing this blog!
