Summary
Makoto Shinkai’s success stems from his distinctive style: emotional stories focusing on love and the supernatural. For fans of Shinkai, watching She and Her Cat: Everything Flows may provide insight into his early work and its impact on his career. Kyoto Animation’s Kanon and Clannad series, as well as Mamoru Hosoda’s Belle, have similar storytelling and themes to Shinkai’s, making them great choices for fans.
During the past few years, Makoto Shinkai has easily become one of the most recognizable names in anime. All three of his most recent films—Your Name, Weathering With You, and Suzume—have become some of the most financially and critically successful anime films of all time, and that has brought Shinkai has a reputation as one of the world’s best anime directors. past decade.
Much of Makoto Shinkai’s success can be attributed to his distinctive style. In addition to his films always having great art and music, Makoto Shinkai, both before and after becoming a household name, established himself through stories that focused on love and the intensity of the human condition focused through a supernatural filter.resulting in films that are somewhat tragic and touching from beginning to end.
There’s a lot to love about Shinkai’s work and for those who are fans of him, there are plenty of great anime to watch in the same vein.
10 She and Her Cat is a great look at Shinkai’s early work
Based on the animated short film by Makoto Shinkai
One of the best anime that Makoto Shinkai fans should watch is of course She and Her Cat: Everything Flows. The series is an adaptation of one of Shinkai’s first short films of the same name, and sure enough, She and her cat: Everything goes smoothly does a great job of capturing the bittersweet tendency of Makoto Shinkai’s work with wonderful and unique imagery. The success of the original short was what launched Shinkai’s directorial career, and Everything Flows does a great job of showing how that happened.
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9 When Marnie Was There handles Studio Ghibli storytelling perfectly
Based on the novel by Joan G. Robinson
Studio Ghibli is known for its emotional and dramatic work, and a perfect film for Makoto Shinkai fans is When Marnie Was There. Although this is one of Studio Ghibli’s more underrated films, When Marnie was there excels at human drama through exploring the protagonist’s lack of self-worth and how she gradually learns to open up through her relationship with Marnie, all of which is conveyed through a very creative use of magical realist themes. There’s a lot of overlap with Makoto Shinkai’s storytelling style, so any fans of him are sure to enjoy the supernatural themes and deeply emotional story.
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8 Kanon’s treatment of romance makes it a true classic
Based on the visual novel by Key
Kyoto Animation is another studio known for their emotional work and a great show for Makoto Shinkai fans is the 2006 Kanon adaptation. The second adaptation of the visual novel Key’s same name, Kanon does an excellent job of organizing the branching narratives of the original visual novel into a single story, resulting in a dramatic love story with supernatural elements and the excellent handling of the characters and their various relationships. That type of writing fits Makoto Shinkai’s work perfectly.
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7 Clannad deserves all the recognition
Based on the visual novel by Key
Another anime series from Kyoto Animation and another visual novel adaptation by Key that’s perfect for fans of Makoto Shinkai is Clannad. Clannad covers a lot of the same locations as its contemporary Kanon, so Clannad is another story that combines excellent romance and drama with supernatural elements, and with great visuals, a great streamlining of the original story, and surprisingly mature writing , which is one of the best romance anime one can watch. Clannad has a lot to offer both visually and technically, and like Kanon, it’s perfect for any fan of Makoto Shinkai’s work.
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The melancholy world of 6 Violet Evergarden makes it perfect for fans of Makoto Shinkai
Based on the light novel by Kana Akatsuki
Kyoto Animation’s third series perfect for Makoto Shinkai fans is one of their most recent hits, Violet Evergarden. Although more grounded than Shinkai’s works, purple garden excels at drama and constantly explores the humanity of Violet and the people she interacts with, as well as with some of Kyoto Animation’s best art and animation accompanying the story, which is easily one of Kyoto Animation’s best works to date. That combination of excellent character writing and animation is very reminiscent of Makoto Shinkai’s style, so any fans of him will definitely get a lot out of it.
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5 Anohana is still a film worth watching a decade later
Original story written by Tatsuyuki Nagai & Mari Okada
Mari Okada is another director known for her bittersweet character dramas, and her anime that’s perfect for Makoto Shinkai fans is Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day. Like many of Mari Okada’s works, Anohana: The flower we saw that day is a wonderfully bittersweet story of tragic people struggling with loss and finding themselvesAll of which is beautifully complemented by truly excellent animation and music. Anohana’s brilliant execution of its bittersweet story makes it one of the best anime to come out of the 2010s, and it absolutely goes hand in hand with Makoto Shinkai’s library of the best.
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4 Maquia is the perfect exploration of family and loss
Original story written by Mari Okada
Another Mari Okada project perfect for Makoto Shinkai fans is the anime Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms. Like the works of Makoto Shinkai, Maquia: When the promised flower blooms is a wonderful fantasy story that revolves around the exploration of human drama, in this case family and loss, and is accompanied by animation, music and overall direction that always sells the rhythm The film’s emotion is on a surprising level. Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms is easily one of Mari Okada’s best original works and a perfect complement to Makoto Shinkai’s best work.
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3 Ride Your Wave strikes the perfect balance between tragedy and surrealism
Original story by Masaaki Yuasa & Reiko Yoshida
Another great film for fans of Makoto Shinkai based on an exploration of loss is Masaaki Yuasa’s Ride Your Wave. Like many of Yuasa and Science Saru’s works, Ride your wave is an incredibly surreal story with unique art and animation to match, and is not only consistently great to look at, but also always perfectly accompanies the profound journey of discovery of movie about love and how people overcome loss. While not one of Masaaki Yuasa’s more famous works, Ride Your Wave still has huge appeal and is perfect for any die-hard fan of Makoto Shinkai.
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2 Belle’s animation and writing make it one of Mamoru Hosoda’s best films
Original story by Mamoru Hosoda
Mamoru Hosoda is another director who has received a lot of praise over the years and the perfect film for fans of Makoto Shinkai is his latest work, Belle. Featuring stunning art and animation in both 2D and 3D balanced by a wonderful story about coping with loss and learning to find self-worth, Belle has quickly become one of Mamoru Hosoda’s best films and one of the best anime films of recent years. It’s an incredibly touching story and anyone who is a fan of Makoto Shinkai is sure to enjoy every moment.
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1 The Girl Who Leapt Through Time is the best TV series for teenagers
Based on the original novel by Yasutaka Tsutsui
The last great anime series for Makoto Shinkai fans to watch is another one by Mamoru Hosoda titled The Girl Who Jumped Through Time. Mamoru Hosoda’s consistently excellent art and direction perfectly elevate this bittersweet story of first love mixed with the theme of time travel., The Girl Who Leapt Through Time excels in drama and fantasy to a greater degree than even some of his later works. All of that makes for a film with a heart and charm that easily matches the works of Makoto Shinkai, and that’s what makes it one of the best. Best anime for Makoto Shinkai fans to watch.
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