The much-anticipated new animated film from Shinkai Makoto, hailed by some as even the “Post Miyazaki Hayao”. It features an all-star line-up of filmmakers, musicians, and voice actors including character designer Tanaka Masayosi, animation director Andou Masashi, the rock band RADWIMPS, and voice performers Kamiki Ryunosuke and Kamishiraishi Mone. Two high school kids who’ve never met, Taki, a city boy from Tokyo, and Mitsuha, who lives in the country, start inhabiting one another’s dreams, with Taki dreaming he’s Mitsuha and Mitsuha dreaming she’s Taki. This seemingly simple fantasy story about teenagers expands to an unimaginable dimension when a comet falls in the mountain village and completely reverses time and space. Any yearning for the natural or the urban vanish, the comet sending a crushing blow to Taki and Mitsuha’s fateful encounter. It’s as if this reflects the director’s wish to restore nature to the people who either died or disappeared in the March 11 tsunami that hit Japan. In the end, as always, Shinkai Makoto’s miniature paintings draw awe-inspiring emotions.