5 Most Touching Anime by Makoto Shinkai Besides Your Name, Ranked by Rotten Tomatoes 

Makoto Shinkai made a name for himself in the early 2000s, and since then his name has always appeared on lists of top Japanese animators, along with Hayao Miyazaki.

These are his five major works, filled with first love, light sadness, and the incredible landscapes of Japan.

5. Children Who Chase Lost Voices, 2011

Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score: 68%

With this animation, Makoto Shinkai wanted to talk about dealing with loss. The main character is a schoolgirl Asuna. Her father died when she was very young, leaving her only a mysterious crystal radio receiver. And Asuna's only entertainment is to climb the hill and listen to the music it makes.

The only person the girl could get along with, a guy named Shun, dies the day after they met. During a class at school, the teacher tells them about the afterlife of Agartha, where the dead can be resurrected. Asuna and the teacher, who wants to bring his wife back from the dead, go in search of it.

4. The Place Promised in Our Early Days, 2004

Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score: 79%

Makoto Shinkai's first feature-length animation, with which he loudly announced himself to the world. It is a science fiction love story set in an alternate modern reality.

At the end of the 90s, part of Japan belongs to the Union, including Hokkaido, where there is a mysterious tower that attracts the attention of three kids – best friends Hiroki and Takuya and their classmate Sayuri.

All three dream of building an airplane and flying to the tower: Hiroki and Takuya even get jobs in a military factory to earn money for spare parts. But just as their dream is about to come true, Sayuri suddenly disappears.

3. The Garden of Words, 2013

Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score: 84%

A high school student skips school in the rain and meets a young woman in the park. From now on, every time it rains, he will run to the park to meet her again.

The tear-jerkingly beautiful nature in this anime is one of the main characters of the story. The location was not made up by the director – it is a detailed recreation of the Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden in Tokyo, near which Shinkai lived for several years.

But in the anime it is even more stunning: every blade of grass, every ray of sunlight, every petal of a flower was created by Shinkai with great love for his work.

2. 5 Centimeters per Second, 2007

Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score: 88%

A touching and sad animation about unrequited and sometimes unfulfilled love. The anime consists of three stories that take place in the life of a guy named Takaki Tono.

The first, Cherry Blossom, is about his friendship with a classmate named Akari. She became his first close friend, but her family moved to another city, and they were forced to part, promising each other to keep in touch.

In the story Cosmonaut, Takaki is in high school, where a classmate falls in love with him and can't admit her feelings. And in the third and final part, the adult Takaki, who has quit his job and is going through a breakup, accidentally meets a girl from the past, Akari.

1. Weathering with You, 2019

Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score: 96%

Tired of life in the outback, 16-year-old Hodaka runs away to Tokyo and tries to make some money. But in the capital, only poverty and endless rain await him.

Everything changes when he meets Hina, a girl who works at McDonald's and knows how to control the weather.

Weathering with You is an exemplary anime by Makoto Shinkai, who has spent his entire career developing a unique style. All his stories are naive but touching melodramas about first love.

This project is an incredibly beautiful movie, full of light sadness. It is also an excellent animated guide to Tokyo: the characters visit many real places, and the life of the Japanese is shown as realistically as possible.