Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

Zoradesu t1_iycnnjm wrote

I loved Your Name when it first came out. Can't believe it came out 6 years ago already! It's definitely my favorite from the director as well (Makoto Shinkai). None of his other movies have really touched me quite like Your Name.

If you want another great anime film, you should check out the amazing psychological thriller/horror Perfect Blue. It's my favorite anime film of all time (tied with The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya), and its director Satoshi Kon has a much more consistent and interesting catalogue as opposed to Makoto Shinkai.

12

arcosapphire t1_iyeoxjg wrote

> its director Satoshi Kon has a much more consistent and interesting catalogue as opposed to Makoto Shinkai.

Okay, I'll take the more interesting comment as a debatable opinion, but more consistent?

If I have a criticism about Shinkai, it's that he always makes the same movie. A boy and a girl have something that makes communication between them difficult. They struggle with this but mostly they are sad. They accept that struggle is part of growing up.

That's...every movie he's done. And the visuals are always beautiful, top-notch, and probably feature clouds. There's a very good chance something from space is involved.

He's like the most consistent director I could imagine.

10

Zoradesu t1_iyexc6p wrote

I guess what I mean by consistent in this context is his writing, at least in my opinion. A lot of his films do feature pretty similar writing beats, but some his stories feel like they take a backseat for the sake of the visuals. You get a lot of "wallpaper" moments, but they often don't really mean anything other than looking pretty. Your Name feels like his best project to me because it has the best balance of breathtaking visuals and an engaging enough story. Something like Weathering For You or Children Who Chase Lost Voices was disappointing for me because the stories were underwhelming or they didn't really go anywhere.

4

arcosapphire t1_iyeznkx wrote

What's surprising about Your Name is that the plot did actually go somewhere. Otherwise, his movies are pretty much entirely character studies. You hear a lot about what the characters are thinking. Mostly their doubts.

So again, extremely consistent. Like what actually happens in Voices? Some people essentially talk to themselves. What happens in Beyond the Clouds? Same thing. What happens in 5cm? Same thing. What happens in Your Name? Same thing except this time they also save a town. See, that's the aberration. But it was just in addition to the things that are always there. And it nearly ended like the other Shinkai films, where the two characters drift apart, but swerved at the last second.

I'm fine with movies that aren't plot-driven, so I still love what Shinkai makes. But back to the point, even if you don't like that sort of thing, I can't see how you could call him anything but consistent.

3

Zoradesu t1_iyf1pvw wrote

For me it's just how he writes some of his characters. In Voices, the characters were just bland to me and I couldn't really connect with them. I feel the same way about Garden of Words. But then you have Your Name and 5cm to where you could emotionally connect with those characters. That and the actually stories for some of his films is where the inconsistencies were for me. Like I said, I agree his films do have similar beats, but the quality of the writing is inconsistent from movie to movie for me.

6

SandyBoxEggo t1_iyf97k2 wrote

I also thought Weathering With You looked pretty bad. Especially the fireworks scene.

Very few projects have figured out how to CGI well in anime styles (Promare, Chainsaw Man), but Weathering With You is definitely not one of them.

−1

serialragequitter t1_iydhekm wrote

Perfect Blue should be mandatory viewing for any young girl who aspires to be a pop/idol singer.

7

TheMadLurker17 t1_iye5x33 wrote

All of Kon's films are first-rate, shame he died so young. Tokyo Godfathers is probably my favorite of his films, but I love them all (and Paranoia Agent too).

3

Warp-n-weft t1_iyebonk wrote

Tokyo Godfathers is the only “Christmas” movie I will watch for the season.

3

blitzbom t1_iyev63o wrote

Perfect Blue is a great mind fuck.

3

msw1984 t1_iyfb1vh wrote

Yep. I've watched it sober and tripping on shrooms. It gets kicked up to another notch on shrooms.

3

SociallyAnxiousGuy23 OP t1_iycptug wrote

Woah, those are some good suggestions. I'll watch them.

Thanks for sharing.

1

surijori t1_iycrw3q wrote

I'm gonna be *that* person and provide a fun (?) fact that it is widely regarded by many films + anime lovers that Nolan took a lot of "inspirations" from Satoshi Kon's Perfect Blue and Paprika for his films (most notably Inception).

No hate for Nolan, no slander intended. Just want to add 1 more notch to how actually influential Japanese filmmaking/animation really is to Hollywood.

1

Zoradesu t1_iycsk0u wrote

Darren Aronofsky is also another notable director who's taken heavy inspiration from Kon's films (mostly Perfect Blue).

6

SociallyAnxiousGuy23 OP t1_iyd1flm wrote

You mean the hallway scene ?

And i don't mind, Nolan is amazing, Interstellar & Tenet is my favourite movie

1

tragicjohnson84 t1_iyevgg7 wrote

I watch the Haruhi movie every Christmas, it's my favorite anime movie of all time as well.

1

Zoradesu t1_iyexjgn wrote

Same! Already planning to rewatch it this week

2