Kotonoha no Niwa
Makoto Shinkai announced the release of his next anime movie on Christmas Eve. It will be a love story set in the present day, but based on the ancient Japanese concept of love as “lonely sadness”. From the information on his website, and the title (Garden of Words or Garden of a Thousand Pieces of Words,) it seems that the concept of words and meanings will be central to the story.
Shinkai’s previous works have been about loss, longing, the spaces between people and the crushing impact of the everyday world on the innocent dreams of youth. They are all stunningly beautiful and his authorial voice is so strong and distinct that some critics hailed him as “the new Miyazaki” based on a career total of less than three hours of film. This will be one of 2013′s most interesting releases.
