Weathering With You, Your Name Director Explains Why He Prefers Anime to Live-Action

For the last few decades, the premier name in anime has belonged to Hayao Miyazaki where directing was concerned. The Studio Ghibli visionary inspired generations with his work on films like Spirited Away, and he remains a big player in the sphere. However, a new name is climbing the ranks, and Makoto Shinkai is wowing again with his latest movie following Your Name. Just, don’t expect the filmmaker to seek out a live-action project any time soon.

Recently, Shinkai began doing press in Japan in the wake of his latest film release. Weathering With You went live in Japan to critical praise, and a fan-translator online known as otakujp has turned over one of his chats. It was there Shinkai revealed why he values anime over live-action, and the actor had several reasons.

“I want to value things that only anime can do. I’ve been often asked, ‘If you draw real Tokyo, why don’t you make a live-action film?’ In my opinion, even if you can make a live shot, the running time will more than double,” Shinkai said.

Continuing, the filmmaker went on to say anime gives both realism and fantasy at the same time. As a director, Shinkai is also able to fine tune things which live-action films cannot account for.

“For example, the number of blinks depend on the actor’s physiological sense. If you make it by assembling small puzzles in anime, you can increase the density of what you want to describe without unnatural flow in a limited time,” he said.

“If you take a live-action, the impression will probably be half. Although it is drawn realistically, the lighting and shadowing are unique to anime. The real pleasure of anime is to inspire the audience with the beauty of art and to invite them to a dynamic visual world.”

Currently, Weathering With You has proven its merit in Japan as the public continues to gush over it. This week, reports confirmed Japan has submitted the movie as its nomination for Best International Feature Film at the Oscars, so here’s to hoping Shinkai continues following in Miyazaki’s footsteps.

Are you excited to see this film whenever it screens stateside? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics and anime!

Tenki no Ko: Weathering With You was written and directed by Makoto Shinkai. Masayoshi Tanaka returns from Your Name to design the characters, Atsushi Tamura will serve as animation director, and Hiroshi Takiguchi will serve as art director. The film stars Kotaro Daigo as Hodaka Morishima and Nana Mori as Hina Amano along with Tsubasa Honda, Shun Oguri, Sakura Kiryuu, Sei Hiraizumi, Yuki Kaji, and Chieko Baisho in currently unconfirmed roles. GKIDS has confirmed they have licensed the film for an English language release with the current release window of 2020.