News

Manila Shimbun Hosts Screening of Shinkai's Garden of Words, Voices of a Distant Star Films

The Daily Manila Shimbun newspaper announced last week that it will host a screening of Makoto Shinkai's The Garden of Words and Voices of a Distant Star anime films. The screening will take place at the TIU Theater in Makati on Wednesday at 8:00 p.m.

The screening is the first screening of the Manila Shimbun Cine Club, which aims to "showcase various genres of film related to Japan as well as the Philippines." The Daily Manila Shimbun launched the Manila Shimbun Cine Club in partnership with The Japan Foundation Manila and the Film Development Council of the Philippines.

The Garden of Words opened in Japan in 2013. The film centers on the relationship between Takao, a 15-year-old boy training to be a shoemaker, and Yukino, a 27-year-old woman. Takao and Yukino meet each other when Takao elects to skip class and sketch shoe designs at Shinjuku Gyoen, running into Yukino, who is avoiding work due to problems at her workplace. The two continue to find each other at the park on later rainy mornings, sharing more about their lives with each other.

Shinkai released the Voices of a Distant Star anime in 2002. The 25-minute anime centers on Mikako Nagamine, a middle-school girl who harbors a crush on her friend Noboru. In their near-future world, humanity is at war with an alien race called the Tarsians. Mikako and Noboru are first separated when Mikako elects to join the military as a pilot to fight the Tarsians. When war calls her further and further away from Earth, her messages take longer and longer to reach Noboru, eventually reaching years. As the distance between them grows, Mikako begins to doubt the strength of her connection to Noboru.

Shinkai wrote, directed, animated, and produced the film mostly by himself using a PowerMac G4 desktop computer. Like She and Her Cat, the anime short that Shinkai produced before this one, he and his then-girlfriend and future wife Mika Shinohara voiced the two main roles, although it eventually received a new Japanese dub in the home video release.

Shinkai recently gained notoriety for his newest film, your name., which opened in Japan last August. Pioneer Films screened the film in Philippine theaters for a week. your name. has become the fourth highest-grossing film of all time in Japan, the second highest-grossing Japanese film, and the second highest-grossing anime film. As of January 15, the film has earned 23.23 billion yen (about US$204 million) in Japan, and has earned US$281 million worldwide. The film has topped Studio Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away in its worldwide box office total. While Spirited Away is still the highest grossing anime film domestically (30.8 billion yen), your name. is now the highest-grossing anime film worldwide.