I say “yet” because fans of Makoto Shinkai will remember that a while ago we got Taki and Mitsuha from Your Name as PUPs. 

Which, I must add, were so well made that even the distinguishing eyes of otaku collectors couldn’t tell the difference between the two when we challenged you on our Instagram.

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Memorable movies deserve their own figures, and we’re so glad that GSC is always there to immortalize these moments in highly detailed AND affordable figures!
👛(-ω-｀｡)♥

In case you haven’t had the pleasure of a Makoto Shinkai experience, I’ll try to condense it for you in a quick recap. HOWEVER, when I say he’s memorable, I mean it in a *revolutionary* way. Iyashikei enthusiasts and Ghibli fans will feel his works d e e p l y. (๑╥n╥)  Other otaku will, at the very least, agree that the animation is out of this world. So please, watch it. 人 ´∀｀)

Feet on The Ground, Eyes on The Stars

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and Makoto’s eyes are brimming with it. Thank heavens he became an animator and filmmaker! After all, a movie is one of the most effective ways of sharing dreams and perspectives. He has an incredible ability to impart wonder onto us, his audience, making us see the beauty in the world. ✨

His 1999 short movie “She and Her Cat” is a pretty good sample of his style of animation and storytelling. You can watch the original in Japanese here and the version with English subtitles here.But the movie that really put him in the international spotlight is the 2016 movie Your Name. Makoto Shinkai’s works are often compared to Ghibli because of how dreamy and slow they are. However, after experiencing his movies, you will see they’re quite different.

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Ghibli creates fantastical worlds that are completely different from ours. Or, when it’s more realistic, it’s set in a different era. The feeling that you end up getting from Ghibli movies is deep nostalgia, and the melancholic awareness that those worlds are unreachable, either because they never existed or they don’t exist anymore. So, their movies feel more like memories or like forgotten dreams.
( ु⁎ᴗ_ᴗ⁎)ु.｡oOMakoto Shinkai is all about the present. He portrays real-world, modern locations exactly as they are today, so right after you watch his movies, you can book a trip to the sites in the following month and everything is exactly as you saw in his movies. It’s all about the present, the slow seconds that drag across the clock and the quick months that fly by across the sky.His scenes are less escapist and more grounded in reality. He chooses to see the beauty of the real world and the present moment, instead of daydreaming or reminiscing. It’s like seeing the world through an Instagram filter, a treasure trove of aesthetic reels!
＼_(´∀｀★)

And that’s just the background against which an interesting, suspenseful and heartfelt story is being told! The scenery may be real and beautiful and slow, but the story progresses quickly, just like any adventure would feel! They are fantastic, outlandish, mind-blowing, yet… incredibly relatable. 

Adventure at First Sight

In the most recent heart-touching movie, we follow Suzume Iwato, a high schooler living in Kyushu with her aunt. One day, she meets Souta Murakata, a mysterious and handsome man who’s looking for some ruins.

She points him in the direction of the mountains, where he can find a little abandoned town. But you know that feeling you get after giving someone directions and not being sure if what you said is actually correct? ε-(´・｀) ﾌ So, not wanting to be the cause of a tourist getting lost, Suzume skips class and goes to check up on him.

There, in the ruins of the abandoned town, there is a door. 🚪Curiosity killed the cat, as the saying goes. Or rather, it released it. (^•ﻌ•^)

A very naughty cat named Daijin comes out, and it’s very jealous of the attention Suzume was giving the man. So, he turns Souta into a little chair and runs away. And this marks the start of a chase across Japan, all the way from Kyushu, through Kansai and past Kanto! Σᕕ(・U・)ᕗ

I can’t blame Suzume. Souta’s very handsome, even chibified! And that calm, focused personality is endearing even as a little chair.

His nendoroid comes with two poses of the cat Daijin: one acting all sweet and the other running away. (￢ω￢;)

This nendoroid also comes with a Closer Key to be worn around his neck.

Both of these lovebird nendoroids and their travel companions are scheduled to be released at the end of February 2024. Pre-orders for Suzume and Souta are currently open at our store, so go check them out! (   ゝ◡╹)

We hope you enjoyed this one!

Don’t forget to follow us on Instagram for more chibi fun! Just look at this scene our staff put together with the nendoroids from Your Name. (๑˃́ꇴ˂̀) 

Until next time! ヾ(＾∇＾)