Garden of Words

15-year-old Takao skips school one morning, as Tokyo is drenched in summer rain. He lives with his mother and older brother, and has decided that his only chance of getting ahead in life is by becoming a successful designer of women’s shoes. As he ponders some changes to his shoe designs in the park, Takao meets an older woman, Yukino, who is sitting on a bench eating chocolate and drinking beer. This coincidental meeting is the first of many. Takao and Yukino see each other many more mornings, but only when it’s raining. They are both escaping from their lives, but their motives for doing so couldn’t be more different. This animated featurette is made for a mature audience, and is of the impeccable quality we’ve come to expect from Shinkai. Enjoy the fantastic views of Tokyo, and don’t miss the epilogue after the end credits. htb

Makoto Shinkai (b. 1973) is a celebrated director of animated shorts, featurettes and feature films. He is perhaps best known for 5 Centimeters Per Second (2007) and Children Who Chase Lost Voices (2011), and is widely regarded as one of the greatest of the young Japanese directors working in the shadow of the Studio Ghibli behemoth