The Garden of Words (Novel)

The Garden of Words Novel

On rainy mornings, Takao can never bring him-self to go to school-instead, he spends that time at the beautiful Shinjuku Gyoen gardens and finds a brief reprieve from everything else in his life among the trees and flowers. And on one of those mornings, he discovers a mysterious woman named Yukino in his haven, skipping work, and an unlikely friendship blooms between them. But though these two are the center of this story, they are far from the only ones trying to find their way in life.

From director Makoto Shinkai comes a deeper look at his award-winning 2013 film, The Garden of Words, full of additional scenes and perspectives to show a whole new side of the many characters who brought the film to life.

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

Title Notes:

A novel adaptation of Makoto Shinkai’s The Garden of Words.

The Garden of Words is a touching and emotional movie that was released in 2013, a year in which it was part of many international film events.
The Garden of Words currently streams on Netflix.

Due to the popularity of your name. and Weathering With You, Makoto Shinkai has become one of the most respected storytellers and filmmakers in the world of animation.

The success of your name. and Weathering With You have given Makoto Shinkai mainstream recognition in the Western world that is only rivaled by Studio Ghibli’s Hayao Miyazaki.

More details on Makoto Shinkai:

Makoto Shinaki’s Twitter Page

More works by Makoto Shinkai