Your Name, vol. 1
by Makoto Shinkai; ill. Ranmaru Kotone; trans. Taylor Engel (Yen Press, 2017)
Readers are dumped into this body-swapping story alongside protagonists Mitsuha and Taki, both of whom cling to the dream interpretation rather too long! (Unless Shinkai’s selective skipping forward reflects a literal discontinuity.) Kotone brings a clean, endearing art style but cluttered panels.
Suzume
dir. Makoto Shinkai (2022)
A resounding conclusion to writer-director Makoto Shinkai’s ‘Disaster’ trilogy. Suzume incorporates Japan’s abandoned spaces and earthquake mythology into a YA fantasy that, through its three-legged chair and ingenuous lead, proves at once energetic and endearing. Shinkai’s minor characters are again a highlight.
Weathering With You
dir. Makoto Shinkai (2019)
Feature-length anime. Writer-director Makoto Shinkai once again proves extremely adept at creating mood (in this instance a gloomy, near-dystopian Tokyo inundated by rain), and at structuring a plot to reflect teenage self-absorption and the feeling of carrying the weight of the world.
Your Name
dir. Makoto Shinkai (CoMix Wave Films, 2016) [Japanese; available dubbed or with subtitles]
A sharply cut anime SF feature film, combining an eerie sense of mystery with poignant love story and abstruse time travel paradox (by way of body-swapping). Writer-director Makoto Shinkai makes clever use of minor characters and takes the story in unexpected directions.