The director of anime Your Name gives us a glimmering glimpse of the beauty of the Asian nation, and also civil engineering.
Makoto Shinkai, director of Your Name, is yet to solidify plans for his next full-length feature, because when you create the biggest anime hit in decades, you get to take as much time as you want for your next project. However, there is a brand-new piece of Shinkai-directed animation that was just released this week.
Shinkai recently collaborated with J-pop duo Sukima Switch to produce an anime music video for the band’s new song “Mr. Kite.” Handling the animation duties is CoMix Wave Films, the studio Shinkai routinely works with and who also dd the visuals for Your Name.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCs0XjNUYOA
While the video’s run time is a brief two minutes, it’s packed with Shinkai’s signature motifs, including dazzlingly colored skies, high contrast between light and shadow, and a glimmering effect that creates an atmosphere that’s somehow simultaneously nostalgic and future-focused.
If the video seems to have a lot of infrastructure on display, that’s because “Mr. Kite” is also being used as the background music in a commercial for civil engineering firm Taisei. Shinkai has previously directed a commercial for the company, and the music video combines footage from a previous ad with brand-new animation showing a Japanese woman working to help build a subway line in Singapore.
The new animation is also part of a 30-second Taisei TV commercial, in which the woman tells us that she’s missing her class reunion to work on the project, but that it’s worth it to help support the dreams of tomorrow’s young people.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNc2l9SNPOk
Counting CoMix Wave Films short anime set in Canada and upcoming movie set in China, this is its third time to turn its talents towards depicting a foreign country. So while we’re going to have to wait a little longer for our next chance to fully step into the world of Shinkai’s movies, it’s nice to know that in the meantime, he and CoMix Wave Films are giving us these beautiful versions of our world.
Source: YouTube/OfficeAugusta via Anime News Network/Lynzee Loveridge
Images: YouTube/OfficeAugusta
Follow Casey on Twitter, where he hopes he looks as dramatically cool when doing desk work as the characters in the video do.