Makoto Niitsu (新津 誠, Niitsu Makoto; born February 9, 1973), known as Makoto Shinkai (新海 誠, Shinkai Makoto), is a Japanese filmmaker and novelist. A founder of CoMix Wave Films, he is known for his anime feature films enriched with visually-appealing animation and romantic stories depicting teenagers and high school students.
Shinkai began his career as a video game animator with Nihon Falcom in 1996, and gained recognition as a filmmaker with the release of the original video animation (OVA) She and Her Cat in 1999. Shinkai then released the science fiction OVA Voices of a Distant Star in 2002 as his first feature with CoMix Wave, followed by his debut feature film The Place Promised in Our Early Days in 2004.
Shinkai's films have consistently received highly positive reviews from both critics and audiences, and he is considered to be one of Japan's most commercially successful filmmakers. His three most recent films Your Name in 2016, Weathering with You in 2019, and Suzume in 2022, collectively known as "Disaster trilogy", are all among the highest-grossing Japanese films of all time, both in Japan and worldwide at the time of their release.
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