India has been on the way to embracing its love for anime since hosting the maestro himself aka Suzume’s director last month. Following the success of the aforementioned event, PVR INOX Pictures is now ready to honour his oeuvre with the upcoming Makoto Shinkai Film Festival this week. While commemorating the animator’s dedication to his art, the Shinkai festival is going to be a much-sought-after extravaganza for the nation’s anime enthusiasts as well. So, buckle up Otakus because we’re about to head into a much-needed adventure circling around the various spellbinding worlds concocted by the Japanese filmmaker.
Anime is no longer a foreign concept of entertainment. For years, its popularity has been rising high among young and adult hearts alike. However, the Japanese animation style wasn’t always this easily accessible to the Indian audience as it is now. The genre is facing newer heights with the commencement of the Shinkai Festival, marking a new chapter in the evolution of our relationship with the invigorating and enchanting genre.
When is the Shinkai Festival Starting?
Some of the biggest hits of Makoto’s anime career will hit cinemas on May 19, 2023, and will continue to play in theatres for the weekend.
Movies to be Shown at Makoto Shinkai Film Festival
1. Your Name
Charting a profound story of connection, Your Name centres around two strangers Mitsuha and Taki whose fates intertwine when they mysteriously switch bodies. The enchanting animation then maps their journey to find each other across space and time. The immersive experience of watching this unforgettable spectacle in theatres is bound to move you to tears.
2. Weathering With You
Being Shinkai’s first film to be released in India, Weathering With You again explores magical connections and themes of love and sacrifice through its leading characters Hodaka and Hina. The high-school boy first meets Hina when he runs away to Tokyo. On befriending her, he realises that his new friend can manipulate the weather.
Also read: Oshi No Ko Episode 6 Review: The Extremely Real Life
3. Children Who Chase Lost Voices
As the title suggests, this anime film is all about severed ties and lost families. In this coming of age story, a young girl, Asuna, gets transported to a mythical land where she finds her amidst beasts and warriors. And it all began when she listed to a strange song playing on the crystal radio left behind by her missing father.
4. 5 Centimeters Per Second
Through three interconnected segments of life, 5 Centimeters per Second revolves around the journey of a young man named Takaki who faces harsh winter, frigid technology and adulthood while navigating his understanding of love and grappling with his responsibilities.
5. Suzume
The recently premiered leads its story about a 17-year-old girl who Jons forces with a young man on a fantastical journey. Tasked with a painstaking responsibility, they must seal inter-dimensional doorways before their actions endanger life on the planet.
Save the date and brace yourselves to enter Makoto Shinkai’s magical world of anime at the forthcoming, much-anticipated movie fest on May 19, 2023.