The Garden of Words

The Garden of Words

The Garden of Words brings to the manga page all the beauty and mystery of the award-winning film from artful animator Makoto Shinkai. Beloved for the simple grace of its artwork as much as the poetic elegance of its text (adapted by Midori Motohashi), The Garden of Words begins with a chance, rainswept encounter between Takao, a young man who dreams of becoming a shoe designer, and Yukari, an enigmatic woman he finds sitting alone, nursing a beer on a park bench.

The spare interaction of these two lonely souls sparks a spiritual transformation for the young man, and perhaps the woman as well. As this intriguing, understated story unfolds, their lives will become further intertwined amid rain, beer, school, and shoe cobbling. Words are not often necessary, but in this case just a few words can make a difference in one’s heart.

Biographical Notes:

Makoto Niitsu, better known by the pen-name Makoto Shinkai, is a Japanese film director, animator, and voice actor. A native of the Nagano prefecture in Japan, he studied Japanese literature at Chuo University. He traces his passion for creation to the manga, anime, and novels he was exposed to while in middle school.

Considered one of the best animators in the world today, he is often called the “next-Miyazaki”. Shinkai developed his abilities as a video game designer for FalCom, where he worked on the cult-classic role-playing game Y”S. Shinkai is unique as an animator as he cut his teeth by producing almost all elements many of his works – from animation to music composition to voice acting.

He has won numerous awards: 12th DoGA CG Animation Award; 1st New Tokyo International Animation Festival Grand Prize; 7th Kobe Animation Prize; 6th Japanese Media Art; Award for Digital Media; 34th Nebula Award (World Con); 59th Mainichi Films Animation Prize; 2007 Asia Pacific Film Award; and the Lancia Platinum Grand Prize (Italy).

His film credits include: Voices of a Distant Star, The Place Promised in Our Early Days, 5 Centimeters Per Second, and Children who Chase Lost Voices from Deep Below

Midori Motohashi is the artist of the manga adaptation of Makoto Shinkai’s Novel “The Garden of Words”.

Title Notes:

The latest from award-winning director Makoto Shinkai: Makoto Shinkai is often heralded as the next Hayao Miyazaki and the success of his films and comics support that fact. Shinkai’s works are often filled with a sense of longing and sadness that resonates with modern youth. And his artistic designs are equally memorable as they are visually stricking.

Multimedia property: The Garden of Words is based off Shinkai’s 2013 feature length motion picture release of the same. The movie made its world debut in Los Angeles in June 2013 and quickly was picked up by American studios for theatrical and home-media distribution. DVDs and digital-download editions are available through major distribution channels such as Apple iTunes and netflix.

Deluxe paperback release: Much like the hit 5 Centimeters per Second, The Garden of Words will be a slightly oversized paperback including numerous color plates and additional bonus materials from the director and his character designer.

Another title in Vertical’s manga cinema line: Starting in 2012 Vertical began releasing comics works with a movie tinge. Of those works, Makoto Shinkai’s 5 Centimeters per Second, Yoshikazu Yasuhiko’s Gundam the ORIGIN, Shuzo Oshimi’s Flowers of Evil, Satoshi Kon’s Tropic of the Sea and Kyoko Okazaki’s Helter Skelter have dazzled readers earning tremendous praise and most of those works have also seen commercial success as well.

More details on Makoto Shinkai & Midori Motohashi:

Makoto Shinaki’s Twitter Page

More works by Makoto Shinkai

More works by Midori Motohashi