Makoto Shinkai is one of the few anime directors that are widely known and loved by fans all around the world. His name is up there as one of the most famous and influential anime directors, along withlegends such as Hayao Miyazakiand Satoshi Kon. He’s been churning out one iconic movie after the other, such as5 Centimeters per Second, Garden of Words, Your Name, Weathering With You, andSuzume no Tojimari,and the fans are still excited to see his new work.
That being said, most people may not realizehow deep Makoto Shinkai’s catalog actually is. From commercials to short animated features, he’s done it all. Unfortunately, most people only know his mainstream works, particularly those that came afterYour Name.If you consider yourself as part of that group, then there is one particular Makoto Shinkai’s movie that we’d like you to see. This is by far his most underrated masterpiece, and it is unlike anything that he has produced before or since. It’s calledChildren Who Chase Lost Voices,and here’s why you should watch this movie.
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The Story of Children Who Chase Lost Voices
Asuna wataseis an elementary school girl who lives together with her mother in a small town, surrounded by a mountain range. Her father passed away when she was small, so her mother is the sole breadwinner now. Since her mother is a nurse, she often comes home late at night, leaving Asuna to do all the chores by herself. Her day often feels lonely, but she always keeps her head high and finds her own way to have fun. Asuna’s favorite pastime is using the crystal left by her father as a device to detect the sounds and voices in the air. She often climbs the hills near her town, and sits there with her cat, listening to any kind of noises that are picked up by the crystal.
One day, on her way to her favorite spot, she meets a strange bear-like creature that is ready to attack her.When Asuna was about to be devoured, a young man named Shun appeared and saved him. Later on, the boy tells Asuna that he actually comes from a foreign land called Agartha, and he also urges Asuna to forget about their encounter.
Interestingly enough, the day after she met Shun, the new substitute teacher, Mr. Morisaki, talked about the legends of people who are trying to go to the underworld, and mentioned the name Agartha, which makes Asuna even more interested in the place. Apparently, Mr. Morisaki lost her beloved wife and has been obsessed about the idea of finding the legendary place that is said to be able to bring a person back from the dead.The underworld landof Agartha. One thing leads to another, and they find themselves finding, and traveling across the sprawling ruins of Agartha.
Makoto Shinkai’s Most Ghibli-esque Movie
There are two major components to most Makoto Shinkai movies. A teenage romance, and a magical realism. His movies usually feature a love story between a young couple, and a mysterious magical phenomenon that seems to only happen to and around them. That is the case inYour Name, Weathering With You, andSuzume. On the other hand, the story about a young girl venturing into a magical and mythical world that has never been seen before is pretty much the motif of the movies that we often see from Studio Ghibli,such asLupita Castle in The Sky, Spirited Away, andHowl Moving Castle.
That being said, the story of this movie is actually a lot more similar toLupita Castle in The Sky, then toWeathering With You. Strange and wondrous places, magical beasts, larger-than-life myth, everything that we usually expect to see in a Ghibli movie are presented inChildren Who Chase Lost Voices. And that is why this movie is by far the most Ghibli-esque movie in Makoto Shinkai’s catalog.
Sure, we can argue that since this was only Shinkai’s third feature film, he hasn’t truly found his unique style yet. So it’s only natural that he takes inspiration from one of the biggest anime studios in the world, Studio Ghibli. But since he already found his unique way of storytelling now, which has arguably happened sinceYour Name, it’s highly unlikely for him to create another movie like this. That’s whyChildren Who Chase Lost Voicesis the only movie that can answer the question, “What would happen if Makoto Shinkai directeda full-length movie for Studio Ghibli?”.
Darker & Heavier Themes
AlthoughChildren Who Chase Lost Voicesseems like the kind of story and visuals that we can expect from a Studio Ghibli, there is one thingthat makes this movie feel uniquely Makoto Shinkai. And that is the dark and heavier theme of the story. Unlike a typical Ghibli movie, a Shinkai’s feature film always has this unique sense of grief and sadness to it. Be it from the overall theme, or from the character interaction, there’s always a subtle sense of misery in the air. This movie is no different. As a matter of fact, this movie actually has a darker and heavier theme than other Shinkai’s movies.
There is a line in the movie that perfectly describes the overarching theme of this movie. This is a journey to know what it means to say goodbye. The characters in this movie have lost somebody who is important to them, andthey are willing to do whatever it takesin order to bring those people back. But as the story progresses, they begin to realize that every journey has an end, and it is important to know and accept when the time comes to say goodbye. No matter how difficult it might be, no matter how much we’ll miss them, when the cold hand of death comes to take away our loved ones, we have to properly say goodbye to them.
That theme alone makes this movie way heavier than most Ghibli movies, and also makes it stand out among other Shinkai movies. And in a way, just like the underworld land of Agartha, this movie is also a beautiful masterpiece that not many people know about.
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