Children Who Chase Lost Voices (2011) - Rewatch on Blu-ray
This is the film that introduced me to the great Makoto Shinkai and it continues to amaze me. I fell in love with it right away and my appreciation for it has only grown with repeated viewings. Shinkai is a master at creating an immersive experience and he doesn't fail here. One thing is worth mentioning. Some have taken to comparing Shinkai to the legendary Hayao Miyazaki, both favorably and unfavorably. Some have even called him, “the next Miyazaki,” a title Shinkai himself disagrees with, having a lot of respect for Studio Ghibli's founder. To be perfectly honest, I think it's dangerous to compare Shinkai to Miyazaki. If you want to know what I think, let Miyazaki be Miyazaki and let Shinkai be Shinkai; each is great in his own way and trying to compare the two is meaningless, much like comparing apples and oranges. With that said, let's move on. The story is a great one, exploring themes of life and death and whether or not it's right to try to bring back the dead, eventually deciding that, as James T. Kirk says in the opening minutes of
The Wrath of Khan, “How we deal with death is at least as important as how we deal with life,” and as Shin says in the latter half of Shinkai's film, “The living are more important.” Shinkai and his team of animators also do a great job of making it exciting and making the world of Agartha both interesting and threatening. Fun Fact: After some fans did their homework, they figured out that the film is set in 1973, the year Shinkai was born. Matching the story, the animation is stunning, as is the norm with Shinkai, which Sentai Filmworks has reproduced exceptionally well on the 1080p transfer with every color well-saturated but not garish, every line crystal clear without tipping over into edge enhancement, and every stylistic choice and visual effect readily apparent. Tenmon, in his final collaboration with Shinkai to date, provides an excellent musical score which, along with Anri Kumaki's
Hello, Goodbye and Hello, comes across loud and clear on the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track without drowning out the dialogue or sound effects. Speaking of which, since I recently turned off the Dynamic Range Compression setting on the Blu-ray player, sound effects packed more of a punch this time than they did on previous viewings. Sentai has also produced an excellent English dub. Hilary Haag is excellent as Asuna Watase, the film's 11-year-old protagonist whose life has been difficult ever since she lost her father at a very young age, matching the character's age without devolving into being whiny or screamy, and actually molding her into a strong character who is arguably the film's most likable through her adventure in the underground world of Agartha, where some believe it is possible to restore life to the dead. So is Leraldo Anzaldua as Shin Canaan Preases, who Asuna befriends in Agartha, as is Corey Hartzog as Shun, Shin's older brother who Asuna meets early in the film and whose death sets much of the plot in motion. David Matranga is also excellent as Mr. Morisaki, Asuna's substitute teacher who wants to resurrect his wife, portraying the character as flawed and selfish, though not necessarily evil. Shelley Calene-Black is also solid as Asuna's mother who has had to work hours upon hours on end ever since losing her husband, limited as her screen time may be, and the dub script is completely natural. This is one of Shinkai's best for sure and it easily sucks me in every time I see it.
Your Name (2016) - Rewatch on FunimationNow
So this is it, the film that put Shinkai on the map and what a film to put him on the map. This one also never ceases to amaze me. The story is still a great one. Fun fact: Mitsuha's teacher was the female lead in Shinkai's short film
The Garden of Words. The animation is stunning, which Funimation more than capably reproduces on the 1080p transfer, though I guess it would probably look even better on Funimation's Blu-ray release. It still looks better than the DVD did, though. On this go around, I couldn't help getting a kick out of Taki looking pissed about Tsukasa and Ms. Okudera goofing off. The RADWIMPS score is still completely and utterly charming, as are the songs, which I can't imagine the film without. They'd most likely sound better on the Blu-ray's Dolby TrueHD 5.1 track since the audio isn't much of a change from the DVD, but that's fine since streaming doesn't exactly have the bandwidth for Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio. Funimation's English dub is still one of the best I've ever heard. Michael Sinterniklaas and Stephanie Sheh, who also directed this dub, are still amazing here as Taki Tachibana and Mitsuha Miyamizu. It still amazes me how well they did switching dialects and tones when the two teens switch bodies, lifestyles, and genders. Sheh was also the casting director on this dub and she picked everyone just right, from Glynis Ellis as Hitoha, Mitsuha's grandmother, to Ray Chase who is better here as Takagi, one of Taki's friends, than he was as Gendo Ikari in the Netflix dub of
Neon Genesis Evangelion. The dub script is also completely natural. This is also one of Shinkai's best that has no trouble sucking me in and one of the most emotionally satisfying films of the past few years. There's no doubt in my mind that Shinkai is one of my favorite directors working today, and I can't wait for his
Weathering With You to show up Stateside since he certainly knows how to make a good movie.
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