Makoto Shinkai News

Every year when the cherry blossoms bloom, the internet holds an online film festive where everyone watches a film(s) by Makoto Shinkai. This year, Crunchyroll will once again stream all of the Shinkai films excluding the one that's about to be released. This event will start on Friday, March 15 and will end on Sunday, March 17. The films that will be streaming are: 5 Centimeters Per Second, Voices of a Distant Star, The Place Promised in Our Early Days, and the Children Who Chase Lost Voices. All of the following summaries are provided by Crunchyroll. You can access all the movies tomorrow using this link.

Voices of a Distant Star

It is 2046 when a mysterious alien force begins their annihilation of the human race. Leaving behind the one person she loves, Mikako joins the interstellar battle as a pilot. As Mikako flies further into space, her only connection with Noboru are text messages sent from her mobile phone. And so - while Mikako risks her life to save mankind - Noboru waits. At first days, then months, then years for each new message that will let him know whether Mikako is still alive. And, while she barely grows older in the timelessness of space, Noboru ages. The two lovers, worlds apart, desperately strive to remain connected as the gap between them widens at a frightening pace.

The Place Promised in Our Early Days

In school, they were best friends. And they shared two passions: the plane they built together, christened Bela Cielo, and a girl. Sayuri.
Oblivious to the tense internation environment, the three form an indelible bond and it seems nothing can ever come between them and their dream. The boys believe that someday they will reach the distant tower - and touch Sayuri's heart- however far away it may be.
But time passes. War esclates. Alliances are changed. Friends become enemies. And Sayuri falls into a dreamlike state that seems inexplicably linked to the mysterious tower of their youth. At the brink of a World War, Sayuri seems to be the key to a new world peace...or a frightening and bitter end to life as we know it.

5 Centimeters Per Second

Tohno Takaki and Shinohara Akari are two classmates in an elementary school. During their time together they have become close friends. Their relationship is tested when Akari transfers to another city because of her parents' jobs. Both of them struggle to keep their friendship alive as time and distance slowly pulls them apart. When Takaki finds out that he is moving farther away, he decides to visit Akari one last time.

Children Who Chase Voices

When she hears a strange song from a crystal radio, Asuna tunes into more than just a magical stream of music. Soon, she is transported to a mysterious world where mythical beasts roam and brave warriors fight for their lives. Agartha is a land of breathtaking beauty and unimaginable danger - a place where, it is believed, even the dead can be brought back to life. But at what cost?Every year when the cherry blossoms bloom, the internet holds an online film festive where everyone watches a film(s) by Makoto Shinkai. This year, Crunchyroll will once again stream all of the Shinkai films excluding the one that's about to be released. This event will start on Friday, March 15 and will end on Sunday, March 17. The films that will be streaming are: 5 Centimeters Per Second, Voices of a Distant Star, The Place Promised in Our Early Days, and the Children Who Chase Lost Voices. All of the following summaries are provided by Crunchyroll.

It covers the man himself as well as his views and techniques for using 3D animation as well as some information about animation in general. It's a very cool read. I won't post the whole thing here because it's well written and Tested deserves the hits for writing it, but here is the opening...

2D ANIMATION IN THE DIGITAL ERA: INTERVIEW WITH JAPANESE DIRECTOR MAKOTO SHINKAI
by Wesley Fenlon on Sept. 20, 2012

In May 2001, a young Japanese graphic designer named Makoto Shinkai left his job at a video game company to create a short animated film called Voices of a Distant Star. Despite having almost no experience combining narrative and animation, Shinkai told a uniquely poignant story, blending science fiction with the drama and angst of adolescence. More importantly, the short film looked incredibly good for a one-man project. Voices was a breakout success for an amateur animator, and Shinkai has created three more films in the past decade, establishing himself as one of the anime industry's preeminent creators.
Shinkai belongs to a new generation of animators who have never worked in the traditional pen-and-paper format, and Voices of a Distant Star is a testament to how dramatically computers have changed the animation industry in the past decade. He created the 25 minute short in seven months, using only a Power Mac G4 at a time when PowerPC processors were still reaching for the 1GHz barrier.

"If I had been born 10 years earlier, I don’t think I would be an animator," wrote Makoto Shinkai in an email interview about the evolving landscape of 2D and 3D animation. "Oh, I might have drawn some things, but I doubt I would have been able to do it for a living. When I became obsessed, in my twenties, with the need to express myself, it was just at the point when computers and digital tools had matured enough to make that possible."
Aspiring animators can now create their passion projects with technology that's cheaper and more approachable than it's ever been, and Shinkai's follow-ups to Voices of a Distant Star have embraced that technology to create some of the industry's most beautiful imagery. All of his art has a distinct visual feel thanks to a combination of warm lighting and detailed vistas.

But Shinkai proposes an important distinction between the technology and style of digital animation: Though the process is brand new, the technique is still rooted in the cel tradition. And tradition is slow to change...