(Children Who Chase Lost Voices)

by Makoto Shinkai

Animation, Giappone, 2011, 116′

Director, Story and Screenplay  Makoto Shinkai

Voices  Hisako Kanemoto, Miyu Irino, Kazuhiko Inoue

Music Tenmon

Produced by  Noritaka Kawaguchi

Production CoMix Wave Films

Official site (in japanese)

Along the road towards her secret hiding on the hills, young Asuna is attacked by a strange monster, but she’s saved by Shun, mysterious boy who tells her he comes from a faraway land called Agartha. The two kids become friends, but the boy suddenly disappears. Asuna, accompanied by Mr Morisaki, sets off for an adventurous journey through Agartha, legendary underworld where all secrets of the earth are hidden, where all wishes may come true, even bringing back to life the person one loves.

 Makoto Shinkai (Nagano, Japan, 1973) has graduated in Japanese Literature and worked in a videogame company for five years. He has realized several anime short films, among which She and Her Cat (2000) and Voices of a Distant Star (2002), which gained him diverse awards in Japan. His first anime film The Place Promised in Our Early Days (2004) and the following 5 Centimeters per Second (2007) were hits and made him popular in Japan and the rest of the world. After a year in London, in 2009 he started working at his new film Children who Chase Lost Voices. He is a keen fan of Hayao Miyazaki’s works, and several specialized magazines have celebrated him as his artistic heir.

Filmography
She and Her Cat (Kanojo to kanojo no neko, cm, 1999)

Voices of a Distant Star (Hoshi no koe, mm, 2002)

The Place Promised in Our Early Days (Kumo no mukō, yakusoku no basho, 2004)

5 cm per second (Byōsoku 5 Centimeter, 2007)

Children Who Chase Lost Voices (Hoshi o ou kodomo, 2011)