Makoto Shinkai
With less than a dozen of
His success speaks for itself with
- Your Name
- The Garden Of Words
- 5 Centimeters Per Second
And few
But Are Makoto Shinkai’s Anime Movies GOOD?

Below the surface some people don’t agree with the hype and think some
Having watched more than just Makoto Shinkai’s popular
Let’s talk about it.
How I feel about Makoto Shinkai movies :
1. The GOOD
She And Her Cat is an
It’s clearly different from all his other
The
It’s creative, comical at times, and refreshing because it’s not something you usually see.
From the role of observer, Daru is watching everything unfold.
From Miyu’s sadness, and how he feels about it, to Miyu’s relationship with her mother when they’re talking with each other.
Daru notices when they’re sad or angry, and when Miyu and her mother are “back to normal” and other things.
It’s only 4 episodes long and it’s a good length considering if this went on too long it could get boring. But overall it’s a movie I’m glad I watched.
Children who chase lost voices is a decent movie. Not the greatest, but it’s decent and I’m glad I watched it.
The way this movie starts is Asuna wakes up on a train track and starts running down it until she reaches her house.
I thought this was strange but I overlooked it.
As the
The ending of this
She And Her Cat was the best one for me though.
The BAD:
That’s right, The Garden Of Words!
This is an anime that’s rated 8/10 on MAL. A decent rating overall. And a lot of
But to me this fits the “bad” category of Makoto Shinkai’s
But before I say that I have to say this….
The Garden Of Words is a BEAUTIFUL
The characters are stunning, the shading is stunning, the trees, bushes, leaves, rain, and the scenery in general is out of this world.
No
It’s the one element that draws you into The Garden Of Words.
But that’s the reason why this 44-45 minute
When you stop nutting over the visuals and take away the gorgeous animation, the
The characters themselves are:
- Empty
- Lack depth
- Have nothing interesting about them
- And there’s hardly a connection
I don’t even remember the characters names from this
That’s always a bad sign when you don’t remember the characters names. It means they’re disinteresting.
The Garden Of Words spent so much time on its visuals that those same visuals overshadow the characters personalities, depth, purpose, likability and so much more.
The visuals make everything else worthless because everything else in comparison isn’t to the high standard of the visuals.
Or in other words – The Garden Of Words is a shallow movie that only excels in the “looks” department.
The Ugly:
Yep, Your Name (Kimi No Na Wa) fits the “ugly” list of how I feel about it. In relation to Makoto Shinkai’s
Maybe you can blame the HYPE for this movie more than anything else.
So I went in with high expectations and this is what happened….
The
Eventually you see the main characters and they start having their “out of body” experiences. Similar to what Kokoro Connect did back in 2012.
The romantic theme here is it gets to a point where they’re unable to recall each others names. Which complicates their relationship.
This creates distance, frustration, sadness…. These are some of the feelings the movie is getting across to the viewer.
Imagine being in a long distance relationship and experiencing these things? That’s part of the
And yet just like The Garden Of Words, Your Name eventually falls flat on its face.
Unlike The Garden Of Words – Kimi No Na Wa is a longer movie. And it has a better theme in comparison.
But the relationship both
It wasn’t portrayed in the best way it could have been.
There’s also the visuals. The visuals in this movie are absolutely stunning. But again, the visuals outdo the content of the movie and the characters who represent it.
The nail in the coffin for me was the LAST parts of the movie. And how they both reconnect.
It feels more like a cliche
I feel like Kimi No Na Wa is overrated in this area, and it wasn’t able to deliver the goods within the time it had.
5 Centimeters per second is another
Similar to Your Name, I was told the best things about this movie.
My expectations went through the ceiling and ending up hitting the moon!
I put my disappointment down to the hype not being met more than anything else.
The
The theme is good, the idea is good, the visuals, scenery and characters have some really nice visuals.
initially you feel like the
But in the end the portrayal of this is anything but good.
5 Centimeters Per Second relies too much on trying to be “deep” and philosophical in certain parts of the movie and its dialogue.
This intention seems to backfire and the portrayal of the romance and characters ends up worse than mediocre.
I can understand the long distance relationship vibes, and the fact that they’re childhood friends who can’t seem to work it out.
But compared to a normal romance
It’s much easier to do it with an
5 Centimeters Per Second to me is an example of why.
Makoto Shinkai’s anime movies
That’s how I feel about Makoto Shinkai’s
I didn’t mention Weathering With You because it’s such a duplicate (especially the designs) of Your Name.
I don’t think Weathering With You is anything special, especially not creatively speaking.
–
I’m not the target audience for shows like Your Name but that shouldn’t matter. I wasn’t for Clannad or A Silent Voice but I loved those.
Makoto Shinkai is a respected animator and a legend in the industry. But I’m not a big fan of his mainstream
I feel like “She And Her Cat” is one of his best
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