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Makoto Shinkai is an animation director highly esteemed both inside and outside Japan, and it seems he’s about to spread his wings yet again in 2016. On Dec. 10, Shinkai announced production on the feature-length animation Kimi no Na wa (Your Name). The movie will be released Japan-wide through Toho in August 2016.
Kimi no Na wa is a story of love and miracles between a female high school student named Mitsuha Miyamizu who lives in a country town in the mountains and a boy she meets in her dreams named Taki Tachibana. In classic Shinkai style, it seems the movie will be a coming of age story.
Director Shinkai himself is also penning the script, so we’re in store for the same type of deep world we’ve come to expect from him. The voice cast of the two leading characters has also already been announced. Ryunosuke Kamiki is playing Taki Tachibana, and Mone Kamishiraishi was chosen from an audition to play Mitsuha Miyamizu.
Character designs are being handled by Masayoshi Tanaka whose past works include Anthem of the Heart and Anohana, among others. Masashi Ando, who has plenty of experience working on Studio Ghibli movies, is working on the movie as animation director. Producing the anime is CoMix Wave Films, which has teamed up with director Shinkai for many years on such works as 5 Centimeters Per Second.
Director Shinkai made his vivid debut in 2002 with the self-produced short work Voices of a Distant Star. His departure from indie works came when he created a huge movement calling on the empathy of young people. After that, he cemented his high reputation with 5 Centimeters Per Second in 2007 and Children Who Chase Lost Voices in 2011, among others. He also impressed in 2013 with the profound drama and long-run hit Garden of Words. Kimi no Na wa is director Shinkai’s first theatrical movie in three years. Fans have long waited for this new movie.
The fact that the movie this time will be released Japan-wide through Toho is likely big news as well. When speaking of summer anime released through Toho, each Studio Ghibli film and director Mamoru Hosoda’s 2015 movie The Beast and the Boy come to mind. Kimi no Na wa will also enter these ranks. It seems the movie is quite a big challenge for director Shinkai, who has created many masterpieces to date.
With director Shinkai at the helm, who has heaps of awards from within Japan, of course, as well as overseas, and who is highly regarded among the young generation, there is more than enough talent on the movie. And there’s a chance this wonderful movie will be available to more fans than ever before. It seems 2016 will be a year of leaps and bounds for director Shinkai and Japan’s anime world.
Source: animeanime
