China Times: Makoto Shinkai the next Miyazaki 新世代宮崎駿:新海誠

Picture taken from Apple Daily's 2007 interview with Shinkai.

  Taiwanese Newspaper "China Times" has recently published an article on an interview with Makoto Shinkai (新海 誠), the director of many anime films such as "5 Centimeters per Second" and "Voices of a Distant Star", where he was said to be "the next Hayao Miyazaki" (宮崎 駿) . 

"5 Centimeters per Second: A chain of short stories about their distance"

  Shinkai, born in a small village in Nagano (長野県) , says that he was very close to all the villagers, and was therefore unknown to loneliness, sometimes even getting annoyed by seeing them every day. However, when he went to study in Tokyo, he "felt loneliness for the first time; intense loneliness".

"It was during this time" he says, "where Murakami Haruki's books saved me". Shinkai says that a lot of the characters in Haruki's books, especially "Norwegian Wood", relate to his experience of moving to Tokyo. 

He next thought of how to overcome loneliness, and how to express it through anime films.  

"Children Who Chase Lost Voices from Deep Below"

 In, "Children Who Chase Lost Voices from Deep Below", Asuna, a young girl who spends her solitary days listening to the mysterious music emanating from the crystal radio she received from her late father as a memento. One day while walking home she is attacked by a fearsome monster and saved mysterious boy named Shun. However, Shun disappears and Asuna embarks on a journey of adventure to the land of Agartha with her teacher Mr. Morisaki to meet a Shun again. Through her journey she comes to know the cruelty and beauty of the world, as well as loss.

"Children Who Chase Lost Voices from Deep Below"

 Shinkai says this film was adapted from a story he had read in his elementary school library 30 years ago, called "Goodbye!, Hat of the Pyramid". This story, however, was "incomplete", which left Shinkai thinking of an ending. "From the day I began reading the book until even now, I've cared a lot about the 'unfinished ending'".Four years ago, he started his project  "Children Who Chase Lost Voices from Deep Below", and finished "the ending he had in mind". 

"5 Centimeters per Second: A chain of short stories about their distance"

Shinkai, along with the composer Tenmon (天門), is often compared to the "Golden Duo" of Hayao Miyazaki and Joe Hisaishi (久石 譲) . Both "5 Centimeters per Second" and "Children who Chase Lost Voices from Deep Below" , "would be imperfect without his music" says Shinkai. He says when the story reaches a point in which dialogues can no longer express emotions, music always fills in the gap.

Here are some teaser trailers of the movies, along with the soundtrack.

Here is the original article, in Chinese: http://news.chinatimes.com/reading/110513/112011110800005.html