Makoto Shinkai (?? ?, Shinkai Makoto), born as Makoto Niitsu (?? ?, Niitsu Makoto, born February 9, 1973) is a Japanese director of anime and former graphic designer. A native of the Nagano Prefecture, Shinkai studied Japanese literature at Chuo University where he was a member of juvenile literature club where he drew picture books. He traces his passion for creation to the manga, anime, and novels he was exposed to while in middle school. His favorite anime is Castle in the Sky by Hayao Miyazaki. Shinkai has been called "The New Miyazaki" in several reviews including Anime Advocates and ActiveAnime, comparisons which he calls an "overestimation".
His works feature a cat, his favourite pet animal.
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[Distance] Characters maintaining long distance relationships
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[Romance] Usually writes romance stories, often with science-fiction and/or fantasy elements
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[Cell Phones] Likes incorprating cell phones into his films
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Vibrant color palettes
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Vivid and detailed scenic art direction
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Ever since I was a child I always had cats with me. I'm from the Nagano prefecture, and while living there I had cats, and after I came to Tokyo I also picked up some strays and started raising them. So I definitely always had cats with me.
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I am offered the chance sometimes to work with an anime series, and it is something I feel I should try and be a part of, but at the moment I do not feel like I am ready for it yet and that I have not done enough work. But I am really interested in doing an anime series one day.
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The first thing you make is a story. Then you decide where the location of the story will be, and how the story will develop. And then, when you think how the visuals will be in this process, then you finally think about how you take something from the setting and use it, how to depict it, and how to make the setting beautiful. That's when you begin to think that. So the story always comes first.
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If I must say something about Mari Okada...I love Toradora! (2008), which she wrote the screenplay for, a lot. And I think that Koto no ha no niwa (2013) is influenced by the way the characters express their emotions in Toradora. I really do think that.
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There is always a pendulum of desires: I made a realistic film this time, then I make a different film next time.
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In most of the world today people are interested in communication. They don't watch TV or play games that much; communication is becoming more of AN Entertainment form in itself. So when the society in which I live has this tendency that communication is so important, it has naturally become a central point of interest for my works.
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The thing about getting rejected is that you reflect and think and analyze about why you got turned down. You learn a lot more from stories about getting rejected than stories about becoming happy. That's why I prefer those stories.
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His favourite novel is Haruki Murakami's "Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World.".
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