of who would take the mantle as his successor.

Many landed on Makoto Shinkai, and for good reason.

Shinkai directed the most successful Japanese animated film of all time, Your Name, which

surpassed Miyazaki's Spirited Away in worldwide box office revenue.

It's a comparison which Shinkai has been keen to shake off, however, as for him, there

is only one Miyazaki.

His success with Your Name, Shinkai believes, comes from the thematic comparisons with Japan's

2011 earthquake, which was still fresh in the minds of Japanese audiences in 2016.

There was always a question, Shinkai says, of 'what could have been done differently',

and this resonated for Shinkai enough to incorporate it into his narrative.

But it's not simply luck or timing that propelled Your Name to dizzying heights.

Shinkai's eye for the small, missable aspects of modern life, wherein he finds his most

beautiful shots, are a huge draw to his films.

In traffic lights, in skyscrapers, in TV aerials or in the glow of a phone screen; Shinkai

focuses on these snapshots of minutiae sometimes for mere seconds, but makes each one enchanting.

A common thread in Your Name and indeed in all of Shinkai's work is connections, specifically

missed or lost connections.

Between men and women but also between

the individual and society.

Loneliness features in Your Name and throughout Shinkai's other films, which he draws from

the present-day issue of isolation in Japanese culture.

This distance, between people and between worlds, is illustrated best by Shinkai's

impossible skies.

They so often dominate his scenery, dwarfing the characters on screen.

So much of Shinkai's scenery is based on the real, with real brands and real-life locations

in Tokyo and beyond.

Yet his skies are ethereal, otherworldly; a reminder that the world we're experiencing

is tinged with fantasy, the unreal.

They are almost never dull or realistic, moreover they are shown at their most entrancing, with

enormous constellations, galaxies and shooting stars.

Shinkai clearly enjoys, too, the duality of traditional hand-drawn animation and digital

animation; combining paint brushed white clouds and dazzling lens flares.

Skies of the type Shinkai creates are a shortcut to visual fidelity; their spectacular nature

changes little across his body of work, which not only demonstrates his enduring fascination

but that their usefulness in illustrating themes Shinkai is interested in is undiminished

too.

With Shinkai's careful study of the connections between people, skies are a metaphor that

unite without prejudice, and this is sometimes used narratively, such as in 5 centimeters

per second.

Shinkai's characters are often introspective about their own existence, their place in

the world, ambitions or their romantic interests, and the sky allegorises that yearning for

meaning, and for one another.

Though his characters may be separated by location, time or some other divide, the sky

joins them under one constant.

It's a refreshing reminder of solidarity in a world where solitude is so common.

Ironically, this introspection often grounds the characters in Shinkai's films.

They are reminded of their place, in the world, in society, and after these brief moments

grow and develop as people.

The sky is simultaneously inspiring and humbling.

They're also a vehicle for a moment of peace: providing a clarity and serenity juxtaposed

with the busyness and stresses of the urban, modern cities in Shinkai's worlds.

Shinkai is clearly now the forerunner to be the most interesting and exciting director

in Japanese animation after Miyazaki.

His willingness to adopt new cutting-edge technology into his work is a markedly opposite

approach to the old masters of Ghibli.

With Your Name, Weathering With You and The Garden of Words before them both, he's established

his style as a master of photorealistic animation.

Though, importantly, he merges this with the traditional, and nothing could illustrate

this better than his eternal, impossible skies.

Thank you for watching.

If you enjoyed this video, here are two more for you!

The first showcases a selection of video games that, if you're a fan of Studio Ghibli,

you might enjoy.

The second showcases how Hayao Miyazaki's childhood, in wartime Japan, influenced his

entire body of work.