Every Shinkai movie is the SAME

 

 

In my life, I’ve created multiple reviews or excessively discussed certain topics on internet forums when I didn’t agree with someone. And it’s the same case with this video.

One guy on the Internet said that “every Shinkai movie is the same”. So as a Shinkai fan I obviously responded that they’re not and I stated a bunch of arguments against that.
To prove my thesis, I rewatched all of Shinkai movies and during my journey, I started thinking that this guy was not necessarily wrong. I already knew that Shinkai is trying to tell the same story about distance over and over, and finally in Your Name, he wrote a script which is interesting, easy to watch and plot structure is in place. There aren’t many experiments and on top of that, it’s probably the best looking Shinkai movie with the best soundtrack he made until 2016.

I knew that my thesis that Shinkai movies are not the same is somewhat flawed. It seems like he was trying to create Your Name, which is in my opinion his ultimate work and as a result there are similarities between his movies, especially older ones. So maybe that guy’s thesis about movies being the same is not so wrong. After I started rewatching his movies, I noticed how Shinkai reused the same scenes in his following works and how they all tell a story about love which is impossible due to some kind of distance.

Therefore, I’m not going to deal with absolutes. I’m not going to defend my or that Internet guy’s thesis. Instead, I’m going to explore a hypothesis which states “What are similarities and differences in Shinkai movies? Can we say that all Shinkai movies are the same?”. As a result, we’re going to discuss each of his movies and draw a conclusion to this question.

List of Shinkai movies

If you’ve clicked on this post, you are probably familiar with the most popular Shinkai movies such as 5 centimeters per second, Garden of Words or most popular - Your Name.
Today we’ll be talking about all of the director's movies but I’ll be skipping a few of them. I won’t talk about commercials. I won’t talk about projects below 20 minutes such as Tooi Sekai or Kanojo to Kanojo no Neko.

Which leaves us with 7 movies: Hoshi no Koe, The Place Promised in Our Early Days, 5 Centimeters Per Second, Children Who Chase Lost Voices, The Garden of Words, Your Name, Weathering With You.
I will be describing and analyzing them in airing order, pointing out similarities between them.

Hoshi no Koe (2002)

Hoshi no Koe or Voices of Distant Star is Makoto Shinkai’s first movie. It's a 20 minutes long OVA created in 2002. Visually it looks really rough - there isn’t much animation to begin with because characters are usually in static poses. Character faces are… weird, 3D animation is even weirder. But background and colors are on point and we’ll see similar styles in his next movies. The very important thing is that he made the whole movie on his own. He only used help with music and voice acting. When we take that into account, it turns out that Hoshi no Koe is really impressive.

Let’s talk about plot - in the year 2046, there is a space mission to fight with aliens using giant robots. Story tells us about two 15-year old students who are very close friends. One of them - Mikako - is chosen to participate in the mission to save the world from aliens. They keep sending messages to each other, but when the distance from the robot crew to Earth increases, messages take longer and longer to reach the boy that lives on Earth.

Essentially, Shinkai presents a story about distance and two people divided by time. To be honest, I was a little bored watching this, because Shinkai’s message became clear very fast. In the first 5 minutes, we can see their past that they spent together in school and then we can see Mikako fighting in a robot, far away from home. Next 15 minutes just keeps increasing distance and shows inner thoughts of both of them.

The Place Promised in Our Early Days (2004)

Movie starts with a slow, proper exposition. We can see two teenage boys who are working on creating their own plane, to fulfill their dream of flying around a weird tower that created a tragedy years ago and divided the country in two parts. Basically, in the first 27 minutes we just know that they’re working on this project and meanwhile they become friends with a classmate - Sayuri Sawatari.
So in the first 27 minutes, we can see their relationship, meeting together after school, working on a plane and both of the boys become closer with Sayuri. I will say this introduction is similar to Hoshi no Koe, but I realized that only after finishing this show. For a long time, I didn’t realize that it’s only an introduction to the story, which is used to set the subject and to prepare a plot that we’ll follow throughout this movie.

Why is that? Because after 27 minutes, we have a timeskip and we can see one of the boys working as a researcher on a Tower that I’ve mentioned before. So basically, in a few minutes we'll be flooded with information about the parallel world, upcoming war and Tower that destroyed the world.
In this video, I don’t really want to review or criticize any of the Shinkai movies. I want to explore similarities and differences between them. But I can’t really talk about this show without mentioning its flaws. Scenes in this movie are all over the place. We can see present  characters as adults, then we jump to the past, then again to the present. It’s a mess.
Part between 27 to I don’t remember exactly which minute - describes what Tower is. We can see preparation for some kind of revolution and more stories about another dimension. On top of that, it turns out that Sayuri falls into deep sleep, basically it’s just a coma. And somehow, the Tower is being kept in check and doesn’t cause any additional damage because she is sleeping. We don’t get a reason why, but we know that her grandfather was the creator of the Tower, so it must be somehow related.

That part was interesting, but quickly after revealing Sayuri being in come, Shinkai pushes the show to the end. Basically, the last 30 minutes is preparing the plane to fly towards the Tower in the hope that it’ll save a sleeping girl.

To sum it up - The Place Promised in Our Early Days - spend almost 30 minutes of a movie on exposition of characters, then 20 minutes of exposition of the world and showing characters in the future. And the last 30-40 minutes is just preparing the plane to fulfill  dreams about flying near the Tower and saving friends. There is some action obviously, but it’s typical for early Shinkai pacing - everything is slow and melancholic.

I think we can connect this movie to Hoshi no Koe when it comes to preparing characters and building up the foundation of a story. Also, once again it’s a story about distance. But other than that, I would really have to stretch an argument to compare it to his previous movie.

5 centimeters per second (2007)

I watched 5 centimeters per second about 10 times in the last 7 years. Saying that this movie and Your Name is your favorite movie is like saying - “yea, I like vanilla ice-cream”. But you know, there is nothing wrong with that. Especially because I really think that 5 centimeters per second has the most unique structure, while Your Name is just finally a proper movie with correct pacing, storyline and the best visuals that Shinkai has created.

This Shinkai’s movie structure is unique because he cuts it into three parts or episodes. Obviously it’s once again a story about distance, even the subtitle of this movie is “a chain of short stories about their distance”.
But let’s talk about structure. First episode is 25 minutes long, the second is 23 minutes long and the last one is basically 10 minutes long or less.Third episode is the shortest one, so if you want to fully understand what Shinkai wanted to say through that part, you should read his novel with the same title. There is also manga - two parts of the manga are exactly the same as anime, but the third part extends events presented in anime and personally I didn’t like that part in manga format that much. I recommend reading light novel.

First part is very similar to Hoshi no Koe. Basically - it’s the same story of growing distance between boy and girl to the point that they can no longer communicate or meet each other. Personally, I think it's the best part of this movie.
Second part and third part are basically reminiscent of the past. Not necessary longing for this one particular girl, but being trapped in the past that you cannot away from. Some feeling of not being present, even though you are there physically. Some kind of tiredness of this world and events.
As I said at the beginning, even though Shinkai is one of my favorite movie directors, I wanted to find the truth whether his movies are the same or not, even if that’s going to drastically change my opinion. That being said - 5 centimeters per second is basically Hoshi no Koe but made correctly. You start with showing the relationship between characters, you draw distance between them to the point of totally separating their lives. You can see a boy longing for something that he cannot reach. He becomes an adult and finally there is an event that brings him peace. In the case of Hoshi no Koe it’s a rescue mission that he’ll participate in and finally meet his friend. 5 centimeters per second shows a character moving on with his life and emotions. When he meets with the girl on the railway crossroad, he looks back and smiles, finally ready to let go of the past and to let go of something that was gripping his heart for his whole life.

Children Who Chase Lost Voices (2011)

It’s probably the only Shinkai movie which is an adventure story, doesn’t have typical melancholy pacing and is not a romance story. Children Who Chase Lost Voices starts by presenting the daily life of Asuna - an elementary or junior high school girl. She is probably around 12 years old. Her life is disturbed by meeting with weird and vicious creature. She got protected by a mysterious boy, and she spent the evening with him. Then we learn that there is another forgotten world full of gods and accidentally she finds herself in this world. That’s 40 minutes of the movie and I really like that part. We start with a very clear monomyth, except for the “Refusal to Call” element because the main character is looking for adventure herself.

I enjoyed the beginning of the movie, the exposition is on point, we know what the main subject of the story is, what characters want to achieve on their own. It's a very clear and good structure that a movie can be built upon. But it wasn’t.
Basically, they walk around in another world, camp, they’re attacked, rescued, camping again, walking, attacked, rescued, walking, attacked, rescued, walking, attacked, rescued.
You can see timestamps on the screen right now, so you can watch this movie on your own to see that I’m not lying.

My point is - this movie is strictly an adventure story and is unique when it comes to pacing and subject or theme of the movie. So I would put Children Who Chase Lost Voices as an original creation that I cannot connect to any other of Shinkai’s movies.
As I said, the introduction is really nice. First 40 minutes are interesting, but over time it becomes boring for me. I’m not going to dissect this part, nor will I stop you from watching this movie.

Garden of Words (2013)

Garden of Words gives a really calm and melancholic vibe. It’s even stronger, because most of the time when main characters are talking, there is no soundtrack. We can only hear rain, birds or surrounding sounds. Essentially, that’s a story of two people who met each other at a park and made a habit out of these meetings. Everytime when it’s raining, they meet in the morning at the same place, slowly growing closer to each other. It’s worth mentioning that the main characters are a 15-year old high school student and a 27-year old female. But I’m not here to judge the plot or whether this age difference makes sense.

This time, Shinkai tells a story not about increasing distance or love that is not physically possible. Well, this relationship is kind of hard to achieve due to age difference, but there are no physical constraints like parallel worlds or being 8 light years apart. In many movies until now, Shinkai was teasing us with the future of characters without showing it. In Hoshi no Koe, you can see that they’ll meet each other thanks to the rescue mission. The Place Promised in Our Early Days ends with the awakening of Sayuri and destroying the Tower, being a symbol of dividing two worlds. On the other hand 5 centimeters per second or Children Who Chase Lost Voices just ends - characters move on with their lives. In the case of 5 centimeters, the protagonist left his past behind, he’s no longer grasping for something that he cannot obtain. Children Who Chase Lost Voices shows us that it was a hero's adventure. After going back to the human world, Asuna continues with her daily life. We cannot see how this adventure affected her, but I suppose it’s just Campbell’s hero myth. She met death and gods on her journey, came back wiser to her world and now, she can live her life fully.

I’m talking about previous movies right now, because Garden of Words is different. Ending is actually something finite, but on the other hand, it is not. It doesn’t fit into two categories that I’ve just described due to the structure of this movie. We close the distance between characters and in the end, they finally accept each other and probably really accept their love. The climax and type of ending are very unusual when it comes to early Shinkai movies. Obviously in the end we can see characters separated, the same way as we can see the spectacular climax in Your Name which is followed by characters separation and similar ending to 5 centimeters per second.
I think that Garden of Words is the bridge between old Shinkai and new Shinkai. With the old Shinkai style being really melancholic and slow story pacing that has no spectacular climax or positive emotion spikes. We are much more likely to dive into sadness and meditate over sad or deep emotions that we’ve just encountered.
New Shinkai on the other hand, presents a variety of emotions, Your Name or Weathering With You offers a lot of positive emotion spikes. We’re changing between valleys of sadness and hills of happiness. Climax is very flashy, interesting and full of emotions. Also, compared to old Shinkai, we have clear catharsis, allowing the viewer to clean himself or herself from piled up emotions.

That being said, you can see why it is a bridge between two styles. On the one hand - you can see very even pacing - slow, melancholy, allowing us to lean back and just watch without experiencing a sudden explosion of emotions. We’re just slowly raising them over the course of the movie. On the other hand, ending the story and showing two strangers who are getting closer to each other is a style that Shinkai will show in his next two movies.

When I started to write a segment about Garden of Words, I was sure that this Shinkai movie is unlike any other. It’s true in some sense, because this time, the distance between characters is getting smaller instead of increasing. But when I started analyzing the overall pacing and ending, it turned out that it is actually similar to what we’ve seen before and what we’ll see in Your Name and Weathering With You.

Your Name (2016)

Your Name is the most popular and most critically acclaimed Shinkai movie. As the kind of person who indulges himself in creating (in quotes) “video essays” and doesn’t want to conform to the mainstream, I really don’t like the fact that it’s of my two favorites Shinkai movies, along with 5 centimeters per second.
I watched this show shortly after the premiere, and about 5 times in total. And as I’ve said in a previous segment regarding Garden of Words. From now on, we will enter a new Shinkai era. Pacing, structure and emotions are different now. We’re no longer sulking into melancholy. There is no yearning for distanced love that we have lost. There is no slow pacing with very little spikes of positive emotions that we’ve seen in previous movies.

Instead, we start with an upbeat song and sort of AMV sequence, setting the mood for the whole movie. Subject is set almost instantly - two characters gain power to switch bodies. At first glance, it’s funny to watch how someone living in their body for one day, has effects on their life on the next day. It’s kind of playing with the power that I’ve described in the movie about Hosoda and The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. We have very good character exposition and one of my favorite insert songs and sequences that I’ve ever seen - “Zen Zen Zense” playing in the background and characters getting used to switching bodies.
Usually, in the first 30 minutes, we would be sulking in sadness and melancholy, waiting to meet with someone that we can no longer reach as in 5 centimeters or Hoshi no Koe. Or just drawing closer to someone that we want to know better as in Garden of Words. The closest one would be Children Who Chase Lost Voices, but in no circumstances would I call the first 30 minutes of both movies similar.

Your Name is standing on its own two feet. It does character introduction and exposition in an interesting way. Presents how their daily life is affected by switching bodies in amazing animation sequences. Even though it’s my 5th time, I was smiling and having crazy goosebumps by listening to an amazing soundtrack and having fun with characters.

Obviously, those of you who watched this movie would know that the second part is a little more sad. But there is no type of sad sadness that you can see in 5 centimeters or Hoshi no Koe. It is sad to the point of tearing up a little, but it's the type of a movie that gives you hope and fulfills that promise. Climax is on point, balancing between positive and negative emotions is great. You dive into a valley of despair, then get a little hope, which rises, until you reach climax. Then you calm down a little and have katharsis to be fully clean after this movie. It's an amazing ride. Not really the most complicated movie structure, but it’s not a problem. You don’t have to do crazy experiments to create good movies and cinema, books and any other media has proven that multiple times.

Your Name is a more accessible and more relatable story than Shinkai’s previous romances. It's a more interesting adventure, more emotional and uses pacing in a good way. The only connection that I can make between this movie and previous Shinkai movies is Garden of Words with its climax, because as I said, it was a bridge between two styles.
We can also say that the ending is similar to 5 centimeters per second. And we can point to the theme of multiple dimensions in The Place Promised in Our Early Days, especially using the scene that looks almost exactly the same and has a very similar story background. But it’s not enough to call it a similar style. That’s why I would only make a slight connection to particular scenes which can be treated as inspirations but doesn’t really make it a similar show in its totality.

Weathering With You (2019)

I cannot understand how people compare Weathering With You to Your Name. I understand that it’s cleaner style, there are superpowers and it’s (in quotes) “new Shinkai” who no longer sunk in melancholy and true pain of unattained love. Your Name presents characters in the first 30 minutes, they get closer to each other, even though they never met. Basically, that’s the extent of their relationship that we can see, up until the very end. In comparison, Weathering With You introduces a female character (Hina) at the 20 minutes mark and the relationship between characters is presented up until the 70 minutes mark. Somehow it's a more uninteresting relationship, even though they had more screen time together. But, let’s ignore the quality of anime. All I want to say about it, is that it’s ok, it’s fun to watch but it’s definitely not the best anime.

Your Name uses the mentioned 30 minutes of introduction and additional 15 minutes to show important events in Mitsuha’s and Taki’s life. And then, after 45 minutes, the movie mood changes. We’re moving between positive and negative emotions, but overall for a long time we’re into an emotional valley and we’re slowly moving up, until we finally reach climax and katharsis. We’re digging through despair which isn’t bringing us to tears. It’s kind of despair that when you’re getting out of it, causes you to shed tears of happiness and hope.
Which is not a case in Weathering With You. I’ve never truly entered this valley of sadness. Well, maybe in the very end, but very quickly, I was cleansed and there was a happy ending. Going back to the valley - I didn’t experience it, because even when things are going wrong, the mood of the movie doesn’t change. They’re still playing in the hotel like there is no tomorrow. When Hina disappears, I’m not sad or sitting on the edge of my chair. There are many things going on, all of them in a positive tone, that I cannot even sulk myself in thoughts about the seriousness of this situation.
Therefore, I would say that it's a totally different ending, with Weathering With You using poor pacing and couldn’t really change a mood to a more serious or sad one.

My last point is that Your Name is surprisingly straightforward, even if you can’t see it at first glance. After presenting characters in the first 30 minutes and going with two important events in their life, we’re simply following the story of missing Mitsuha. We follow one character at the time with one important and really uplifting flashback, which contributes to the climax. What I mean is that it starts as a story of switching bodies and then changes to a story about solving the mystery of why this phenomenon stopped.
On the other hand, Weathering With You is trying to tell multiple stories at once. It wastes a lot of time but doesn’t contribute anything. What’s the point of the subplot about carrying gun? Why show the daughter of the guy helping the protagonist? Why do we follow the investigation of detectives? We’ve wasted time on other characters and events that don't really matter, but I cannot really imagine how Shinkai would have spent that time otherwise. Having that much time, there was no character development, we don’t know basically anything about two main characters - Hina and Hodaka. What we know about them is that she gave him a burger and he saved her from a guy on the street. Then, they started to hang out and that’s the extent of their personality. And Your Name is nothing alike. Mitsuha has a past about her mother, shrine, grandma and strict father. Well, we don’t know that much about Taki but we can see his character in part-time job, his crush, relationship with a schoolmate and being obsessive about finding a village and the person that he misses. You can obviously argue whether that’s good or not character development, but in comparison to Weathering With You, it’s much more detailed even though there was less time, because it was used carefully.

The closest Shinkai movie that is similar to this one is definitely Your Name because it’s as I’ve said (in quotes) “new Shinkai”. But as you’ve seen, in reality, it’s very different when you start to carefully look at details.

Summary

Hypothesis that I stated at the beginning was “Can we say that all Shinkai movies are the same?”. After analyzing all his movies, the short answer would be: no. However, I have to admit that the director explores the subject of distance in various ways in many of his movies. Also, Hoshi no Koe and 5 centimeters per second are very similar movies, especially when we talk only about the first part of 5 centimeters. We cannot forget the melancholy in Garden of Words, tracking it back to the style of old Shinkai movies. And we cannot ignore the climax in the same movie which is closer to his new productions.
There are also inspirations, similar scenes and obviously very characteristic art style.

But in conclusion, even if some of the stories are similar in regards to pacing and overall atmosphere, every Shinkai movie has something original to offer. And I cannot agree with the statement that  “Every Shinkai movie is the same”.