Quotes from Makoto Shinkai

'Your Name''s success told me movies still have the power to connect with society. As a medium, it still has a power that resonates.

When I was working at the game company, I wasn't just doing graphic design, I was doing the entire product management, so I would do the graphic design, I would create the advertisements, even the catch copies. I would figure out what kind of packaging and design of the packaging, so I was basically doing total product management at that time.

When I made 'Voices of a Distant Star,' I wanted to make money from making that movie, of course, but that wasn't my major reason.

I pay attention to the things that nobody else is looking at.

I personally am not very interested in awards or the awards circuit.

As soon as I have the idea, I need to create as quickly as possible, because it's what's going on in society, and that's what connects me to my audience.

Ghibli is about craftsmanship. They draw characters and put life in it.

Some people say, 'Well you're a man; how do you write about women or girls when you don't know about them?' Well, I've got my imagination, and I can write about women. Yes, I'll never be pregnant and give birth to children, but I can imagine a bit of what it's like. When you create characters, it's just about making them really real to people.

When I was young as a teenager, that was the biggest mystery in the world to me: Why don't people connect?

When you're a teenager, there are more things you don't know than you know, and more people that you haven't met than you have met. I felt that way when I was a teenager, and I think maybe, with my films, I'm targeting grown-ups who remember that feeling.

My life has had a lot of fun moments, but I tend to feel sadness more often.

I feel the best scripts are those that are originally written to be films: that is film in its purest sense.

I think that's a universal theme, you know: we don't know who we're going to meet tomorrow. And that person might change your life entirely. There's always that possibility, and while you're not necessarily actively seeking it, you have that desire deep down.

Miyazaki is a genius. He is the legend.

Miyazaki has a great talent, but I really struggle every time I create a new film and am far from Miyazaki.

I think love isn't doomed, of course, but in real life, love doesn't always work out.

I do receive some offers for live-action, but I'm not really that interested. It's not something you can just try out and give it a go.

In daily or everyday life, I am so impressed with tiny details, like when I look up at a street lamp falling on the street, it seems to have meaning or so much information in it.

People who draw tend to think they're craftsmen, so they really want to hang onto their pens and papers, but it's not terribly productive. To be honest with you, it's faster and easier to start with the computer.

I am from the countryside, very rural countryside, and I moved to Tokyo when I was 18 and have been living first-ever since. So yes, I am a city guy, but sometimes I sort of feel there's another me in a parallel world, still in the countryside.

I grew up in the countryside and wanted to go to Tokyo. I had Tokyo complex.

I think it is one of the common themes for many Japanese people to choose where to live: Tokyo or their hometown.

When we were doing 'Five Centimeters Per Second,' at that time, Japan was in an era when it felt nothing would ever change, so I wanted to make a movie that reflected that feeling.

When I was growing up, I didn't have tons and tons of friends.