The director behind Your Name, Makoto Shinkai, has achieved monumental success with his film that has captivated fans worldwide. However, despite this achievement, Shinkai is not quite confident in his own skill and often grapples with a mix of anxiety, and the pressure of being compared to legendary director Hayao Miyazaki.
In fact, the filmmaker harbors a surprising sentiment: he doesn’t want Miyazaki to watch his film. For Shinkai, the label of being the “next Miyazaki” is more a burden than an honor. As a filmmaker, Shinkai is quite a skeptic about Your Name‘s success as he believes the film is not at all perfect.
Makoto Shinkai’s Humility as the Iconic Your Name‘s Creator
Released in 2016, Your Name became an unexpected phenomenon, both in Japan and globally. Despite this, Makoto Shinkai remained doubtful about the film’s commercial success. The director revealed that he wished fewer people would see the movie, expressing concern over its rapid growth instead of relishing the fame.
This uneasiness was a result of his perception of his own shortcomings in his work, especially once people started to compare him with Hayao Miyazaki, the co-founder and legendary filmmaker of Studio Ghibli. In an interview with South China Morning Post following Your Name’s release, he made it clear that while he appreciated the comparison to the legendary animator, he believed it was unwarranted.
Makoto Shinkai remarked that, because of financial and pacing issues, certain aspects of Your Name remained unresolved leaving the film feeling incomplete. The filmmaker openly acknowledged that he had not yet reached Miyazaki’s level while also stating,
Honestly, I really don’t want Miyazaki to see it because he will see all its flaws…….. For me it’s incomplete, unbalanced. The plot is fine but the film is not at all perfect. Two years was not enough.
He confessed that his team, particularly Masashi Ando; who used to work as an animator in Studio Ghibli, worked tirelessly, but even their Herculean efforts couldn’t achieve the level of polish they aspired to. Although Shinkai Praised Ando’s relentless work ethic as a former Studio Ghibli artist, exclaiming that “When I see him, I see a monk in a monastery”.
Your Name: A Cultural Juggernaut by Makoto Shinkai That Surpassed Expectations
Makoto Shinkai had not truly anticipated the depths to which Your Name would resonate with viewers. Its supernatural take on romance, emotional connections between characters, and beautifully produced landscapes turned it into more than just a box office success.
The film has been watched by almost every Japanese person, indicating its importance in the country’s pop culture. Your Name has even received great reviews and won accolades both in the U.S. and Europe, with some predicting it might be nominated for an Oscar.
Although Makoto Shinkai’s Your Name has become a box-office success, the director is still grounded. Shinkai struggles with the weight of expectation and the ongoing comparisons to Hayao Miyazaki rather than basking in his fame. His open acknowledgment of the flaws in the film further helps humanize him and sets him apart in the anime industry.
Whether the filmmaker likes it or not, Shinkai’s Your Name has had a lasting impact on the film industry and will continue to do so even if he doesn’t want Miyazaki to see it.
Your Name is currently available to watch on Crunchyroll.
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire
