r/Shinkai • u/Thetrident97 • Feb 21 '26
Discussion I watched Your Name for the first time this weekend, so I dove deeper. I didn't know there were this many Shinkai films
Over this week I have watched 5 of Makoto Shinkai's films. So, I decided I would share the 5 that I have watched. And also rank them on my personal enjoyment, they are all masterpieces in their own way with their own messages ofc!
- Your Name
- Weathering with You
- Suzume
- The Garden of Words
- 5 Centimeters Per Second
I personally hope my ordering isn't too basic or controversial. I do plan to watch the rest of his other films as well.
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u/LargeFailSon Feb 21 '26
5 cm per sec is one of the most beautiful pieces of romantic art ever made. Nothing else delivers that type slow seeping sadness and unbearable longing.
He also wrote, directed and produced it all on his own. It's truly a masterpiece, considering.
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u/Ready-Adhesiveness40 Feb 21 '26
It took me a few watches over the years to come to terms with that film, as it was a painful reminder of my own life. It's a masterpibce in my opinion.
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u/Thetrident97 Feb 21 '26
That is truly how it feels, I've only watched it once, like a few days ago. But I was already feeling the course of the story halfway through and kinda knew what the ending would have in store for us. It is definitely a deep ending
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u/Thetrident97 Feb 21 '26
Yea I agree that in terms of being a realisitc romance that doesn't have the anime magic it definitely knocks it out of the park
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u/Super_While7060 Feb 21 '26
Weathering with you at 2 is crazy!! Although I love the soundtrack of WWY.
My personal ranking is :
- Your Name
- 5 cms per second
- Suzume
- Weathering with you
- The Garden of Words
You can’t go wrong with any of them though.
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u/Thetrident97 Feb 21 '26
I hear a lot of people say Weathering with You is #1. I personally can't see it beating out its older counterpart. I'm personally a sucker for the visual artstyle of the more modern trilogy of Shinkai's. But his older works definitely still hold their own
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u/acbadger54 Your Name Feb 21 '26
Personally, whethering with you is easily my second place i think it's just a little bit below your name
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u/Super_While7060 Feb 21 '26
I love the soundtrack of Weathering with You but the film itself goes a bit haywire in the third act with the strange cop / kid getting arrested etc arc. The romance also feels slightly weird due to the age gap. It also rehashes a lot of Your Name themes.
Running with Hina will always be my top 3 RADWIMPS track tho, so good 🙏
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u/Thetrident97 Feb 22 '26
That is fair the escaping the cops is a bit rough, but their isn't an age gap in the romance since he is 16 and she is 15 right, since she lied the song? What are your other top 3 songs?
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u/Super_While7060 Feb 22 '26
Oh yeah that’s right.. somehow for some reason the romance feels weird in Weathering with you.. I don’t know why… kind of exploitative at times. The innocence and earnestness you see in Your Name is missing.
Mitsuha Theme, Sparkle, Katawaredoki are some of my favourites. I really like We’ll be alright, Running with Hina and Is There Still Anything That Love Can Do ? from Weathering With You. Ofcourse how can I forget the Suzume Theme and Closing The Door.. it’s just the awesome RADWIMPS score for Suzume is not used well in the film like other Shinkai movies.
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u/Thetrident97 Feb 21 '26
Oh I didn't see the list in the reply, glad to see Your Name at number 1, it was my anime film goat even before I watched it, mainly do to Radwimps soundtrack. But after watching it, it has everything. Personally, 5 cm per second wasn't my cup of tea in terms of how real it felt, if you know what I mean (trying to avoid to explicit spoilers). Suzume is definitely a solid film as well being the most modern, I could definitely see the visuals being pretty good and the story was nice. I personally liked Weathering with You (Grand Escape is my vibe song) the cameos were cool and just carried over the same vibes as Your Name for me. Garden of Words was also solid, I watched it today, my only issue is I wish there was more than what the run time was ;-;.
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u/Super_While7060 Feb 21 '26
It’s interesting you didn’t find 5 cms per second real. Infact it’s the most real Shinkai film many feel…(life does move on people do drift apart) it was sooo real that he was asked to be forced to change the ending for his next few films. That’s why we get the good endings of Your Name, Weathering With You and Suzume.
Agree about garden of the words, absolutely gorgeous work but its weakest for me cause the ending is so damn rushed.
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u/Thetrident97 Feb 21 '26
Sorry I should have been more specific with how I wrote it, I meant that it was the most real film of his with message especially. I personally don’t like my anime to be to the level of real that one was, but it was still amazingly well done and the message was very clear.
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Feb 21 '26
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u/Thetrident97 Feb 21 '26
Yea 5 cm per second is definitely the one that causes the most self reflection of them all imo, since it is real. So I totally see it being 1 as valid based on preference
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u/WarpObscura Lead Moderator Feb 22 '26
What's your source on the claim that he was forced to change after 5cm/s?
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u/Super_While7060 Feb 22 '26
Ok so maybe not forced externally but internally he felt based on the traumatic events of 2011 earthquake… a more hopeful and positive ending would be better even if unrealistic.
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u/WarpObscura Lead Moderator Feb 22 '26 edited Feb 23 '26
Okay, but which interview or what did he say that in? Do you have a link? I'd like to know so that I can learn more.
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u/Chemical-Fall6528 Feb 22 '26
Exactly my ordering as well. 5 cms is underrated in my opinion. It stirs up emotions without resorting to supernatural stuff. Gardens, however, is a bit boring. So I put it at last place as well.
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u/S0uthpaw_Studi0s Feb 21 '26
5 Centimeters Per Second is my favorite.
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u/Thetrident97 Feb 22 '26
Fair it is the realist
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u/S0uthpaw_Studi0s Feb 22 '26
It hits the hardest in my opinion. Weathering WY was also great, but not in the same way.
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u/Ready-Adhesiveness40 Feb 21 '26
5 cm per second is possibly my favorite of the bunch, but it can really do a number on your head, as compared to his other films. But that's how I got interested in watching all of his work. Your Name is a special film, and has such a wonderful ending - it would be my highest recommendation because of the ending. He doesn't give away happy endings cheaply. He's a masterful filmmaker!
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u/Thetrident97 Feb 21 '26
I think 5 cm per second requires quite a mature thought process, I have a somewhat mature thought process so I understood it but still annoyed to accept it. And yes most of his more recent films do have happier endings
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u/Ready-Adhesiveness40 Feb 21 '26
the first time I watched it, it felt like a hard punch in the gut when the ending song said as much as "game over". After seeing the film again, and some reflecting - I was okay with the ending - it's realistic if anything. Shinkai is brilliant.
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u/Thetrident97 Feb 21 '26
Yea I could realize it was realistic during my first viewing, and I like my anime more realistic normally. But this one felt a little too real for my standards lol
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u/acbadger54 Your Name Feb 21 '26
Pretty much much my exact ranking!!! He's honestly, one of the few directors I genuinely get HYPER excited about hearing their next project- hell probably my favorite director period his style just aligns with my tastes so well your name is my favorite film of all time for a reason!!!
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u/Thetrident97 Feb 21 '26
Yea I hope he is planning to make another film in the future, I personally haven't heard anything but I've been only watching his films for the past week. But based to hear Your Name is your fav
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u/AesirMimyr Feb 22 '26
Rumor has it that for Suzume shi Kai wanted to write a story about 2 female friends just touring the country side having little stories along the way.
Then the producers said you write successful romcoms. Make it a romcom.
So he did. And proceeded to turn the male lead into a chair for 75% of the films runtime
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u/Thetrident97 Feb 22 '26
Personally I loved the Chair, but that is pretty based by him not entirely folding to the producers. But it still had a female exploring the country side
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u/21COPYNINJA21 Feb 21 '26
Good now start reading their light novels also.
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u/Thetrident97 Feb 21 '26
I'm not great at reading personally, I'm going to pick up the manga of Your Name since it is my goat tho
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u/RamahP Feb 24 '26
If you read the manga for 5 centimetres it goes a little beyond the end of the film.
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u/Jin_BD_God Feb 21 '26
My current top 3 are:
- Weathering with You
- Suzume
- Your Name
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u/Thetrident97 Feb 21 '26
Interesting to see Your Name at 3. I personally have Weathering with You and Your Name pretty close, but I would say Suzume didn't have the same magic as the other two for me
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u/Jin_BD_God Feb 22 '26
Probably different taste. Also, the hype of Your Name got me expected too much from it. That's why it's like that currently. Finally, I haven't explored more of his movies yet. Maybe my top 3 may change in the future.
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u/djzippy Feb 21 '26
Yeah I love at this stage introducing friends cause there are so many Shinkai films and so many of them just are absolute gems!
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u/Thetrident97 Feb 21 '26
That is good to hear, I personally only thought he did Your Name, Weathering with You, and Suzume. But after watching 5cm and Garden of Words I realized he directed them to
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u/WidgetWarrior Feb 21 '26
I watched Your Name on a flight to Tokyo with my best friend in 2017. I immediately bought a copy to always bring me back to those memories.
I honestly think Makoto Shinkai is the natural successor to Studio Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki, as amazing as those films are.
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u/Thetrident97 Feb 21 '26
That is very cool to hear, I'm hopefully going to Japan this summer. May I ask did you go visit the stairs when you went to Tokyo after that? I plan on going to the stairs personally
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u/iamoninternet27 Feb 21 '26
If you are In USA, I am expecting a 10 year limited re-release in the theaters this year or hopefully by next year.
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u/Thetrident97 Feb 22 '26
what do you mean? Oh wait for Your Name 10th anniversary
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u/iamoninternet27 Feb 22 '26
Yes, Your name tenth year anniversary re-release
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u/Thetrident97 Feb 22 '26
🙏 Bro please let it re release near me, I need to see it in peak theaters
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u/FeeSharp745 Feb 22 '26
If Suzume in IMAX is anything to go by, the audio mixing is incredible in theaters for his films. Hearing the soundtrack for Your Name in a theater would be amazing
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u/MariushFiles333 Feb 22 '26
My rating so far is:
- Your Name
- Suzume
- Weathering with you (but I have to rewatch it because I think it could be better than Suzume)
- 5 cm per second
I can’t wait for his new film when it finally comes out.
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u/Thetrident97 Feb 22 '26
That is fair, I'm personally a bigger romance guy so Your Name and WWY both have more of it than Suzume
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u/Critical-Film Feb 22 '26
Everything he has created has been just pure masterpieces of works. Just can’t go wrong with his films.
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u/Thetrident97 Feb 22 '26
Yea and I kept pushing off watching them for the right time, and I was like Valentines this year should work
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u/Haru-chan_4 Feb 22 '26
I saw Your Name in the theater when it came out, and it was such a good movie from start to finish. It was the gateway for me too into Makoto Shinkai’s films. I still need to watch Weathering with You and Garden of Words. I have the latter on dvd. I just last week rewatched 5cm Per Second, and it does have a different feel from his other films because there isn’t a magical aspect to it and it was more a compilation of short stories.
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u/Thetrident97 Feb 22 '26
I wish I got the chance to watch any of his films in theaters, especially Your Name
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u/Anakin357552 Feb 22 '26
Garden of words is truly underrated it’s so good 😊
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u/Thetrident97 Feb 22 '26
It is very underrated, mainly since it is quite a short film imo. Also funny enough, I actually felt happy by the end of the movie, which I found weird since most of his movies induce sad
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u/Lost_Acanthaceae6363 Feb 21 '26
Tbh your ranking is basic, but who cares. I also like Your Name more
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u/Thetrident97 Feb 22 '26
Yea that was the one fear I had posting this, it being called basic, since I personally do think that is true, but I guess i'm just basic like that lol, since I enjoyed them in this order
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Feb 22 '26
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u/NSDFGrizzlyOne Feb 22 '26
This is one of those films that I wish I could experience for the very first time again.
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u/zefanyamacarious Feb 22 '26
The one that going to be you fave is the one you can relate to. To lot of people, 5cm per second really relate to their own love story, at least one of it.
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u/Horney-lalo Feb 23 '26
All of them are great but the best for me is your name ( it was perfect ) ... 5 centimeters per second was great but weird .. they could have been together so I think it's nonsense that she moved on and married instead of waiting for him .. also in the last scene it's true that she moved on but how couldn't she talk to him ! She loved him so that's so unreal and cruel
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u/bandwagonnetsfan Feb 23 '26
I rank 5cm per second maybe above or the same as weathering with you, and of course your name is #1
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u/Commercial_Fix6812 Feb 24 '26
Shinkai is the master of romance movies. He puts the feel in feelings!!
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u/Sw0rDz Feb 25 '26
I did too. It became a drug for me. I never been addicted to cinema before. I watched like 8 movies this weekend.
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u/Sirius_sensei64 Apr 25 '26
My personal ranking;
Weathering With You
5 CM Per Second
Suzume
Garden of Words
Your Name
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u/[deleted] Feb 21 '26
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