, born as , is a Japanese movie director, writer, producer, animator, editor, cinematographer, voice actor, manga artist and former graphic designer. He directed the highest-earning anime movie Your Name.
Biography
Shinkai was born in Nagano Prefecture. He went to Chuo University where he studied Japanese literature. He was a part of the literature club there and he drew picture books there. He said that he liked creating because he had read manga, novels and had watched anime when he was young. After finishing university in 1994, he got a job at Falcom. It is a video game company. He worked there for 5 years by making video clips.
In 1999, Shinkai released She and Her Cat. It is a five-minute short movie that is black and white. It won many awards. It won the grand prize at the 12th DoGA CG Animation contest (2000). The short movie is about the life of a cat. It is from the cat's point of view. Shinkai quit his job at Falcom after winning the prize. He began making a new movie about a girl in space, which was called Voices of a Distant Star. After, he released his first full movie. It was called The Place Promised in Our Early Days and was released in Japan on November 20, 2004. His next movie was called 5 Centimeters per Second and was released on 3 March 2007. It consists of three short films called Cherry Blossom, Cosmonaut, and 5 Centimeters Per Second.
In 2009, he started to work on his next movie. Shinkai said that the movie he was making would be his longest movie that he made and said the story was a "lively" animated movie that would have adventure, action, and romance. He revealed that his next movie would be called Children Who Chase Lost Voices from Deep Below. The movie was released on 7 May 2011. His next movie, The Garden of Words, was released on 31 May 2013. On 26 August 2016, he released Your Name, which was praised by audiences. It became the highest-grossing anime movie. Shinkai directed the 2019 anime movie Weathering With You.