Mamoru Hosoda Birthday: September 19, 1967 Notable Works: The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Summer Wars, Wolf Children, The Boy and the Beast Mamoru Hosoda began making movies in middle…

Title: Summer Wars Run time: 114 minutes Released: 2009 Director: Mamoru Hosoda Studio: Madhouse Summer Wars was my introduction to Mamoru Hosoda. I don't remember exactly when I watched it, but…

Title: The Girl Who Leapt Through Time Run time: 98 minutes Released: 2006 Director: Mamoru Hosoda Studio: Madhouse I picked The Girl Who Leapt Through Time as the first movie we'd discuss…

Makoto Shinkai Birthday: February 9, 1973 Notable Works: Your Name, The Garden of Words, 5 Centimeters Per Second Makoto Shinkai has been called "the new Miyazaki," and he has outright rejected…

Title: Your Name Run time: 107 minutes Released: 2016 Director: Makoto Shinkai Studio: CoMix Wave Films I can't really talk about Makoto Shinkai without talking about Your Name. It is the highest…

Title: The Garden of Words Run time: 46 minutes Released: 2013 Director: Makoto Shinkai Studio: CoMix Wave Films The Garden of Words is aggressively short. Makoto Shinkai tells the story he's…

Satoshi Kon Birthday: October 12, 1963 Notable Works: Perfect Blue, Millennium Actress, Tokyo Godfathers, Paprika I first encountered the work of Satoshi Kon in 2005 or 2006 when Paranoia Agent was running…

Title: Millennium Actress Run time: 87 minutes Released: 2001 Director: Satoshi Kon Studio: Madhouse Millennium Actress was, for me at least, a challenging film. It tells a fairly simple story at…

Reader beware. Paprika is a mystery. To provide proper analysis much of the mystery is going to have to be spoiled. I've placed a "Read More" line before the spoilers. Go…

Sayo Yamamoto Birthday: April 13, 1977 Notable Works: Michiko and Hatchin, Lupin the Third: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine, Yuri!!! on Ice Sayo Yamamoto is one of the comparatively few women…