Makoto Shinkai Films in Order, From Voices of a Distant Star to Suzume
Shinkai's debut short and his seven theatrical films in Japanese release order, with dates, running times, the other shorts and the 2016 TV series.
Makoto Shinkai's films come to eight if you count his debut short alongside his seven theatrical films: Voices of a Distant Star (2002), The Place Promised in Our Early Days (2004), 5 Centimeters per Second (2007), Children Who Chase Lost Voices (2011), The Garden of Words (2013), Your Name (2016), Weathering With You (2019) and Suzume (2022). Each is a separate story, so there is no required order. We suggest starting with Your Name, then going back to the start if you want to see how he got there.
That list and its years come from his official profile, his official works site, which files Voices of a Distant Star under shorts and the other seven under theatrical films, and the works pages of CoMix Wave Films, the studio behind them. The exact Japanese dates come from Anime News Network's encyclopedia, linked per film below, because the studio pages give years rather than days.
Every Shinkai film in release order
| # | Released in Japan | Title (Japanese title) | Length | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2002 (ANN lists February 2) | Voices of a Distant Star (ほしのこえ) | Short, about 25 minutes | His commercial debut, made by himself |
| 2 | November 20, 2004 | The Place Promised in Our Early Days (雲のむこう、約束の場所) | Feature, about 91 minutes | His first feature film |
| 3 | March 3, 2007 | 5 Centimeters per Second (秒速5センチメートル) | Three linked parts, about 63 minutes in all | |
| 4 | May 7, 2011 | Children Who Chase Lost Voices (星を追う子ども) | Feature, about 116 minutes | |
| 5 | May 31, 2013 | The Garden of Words (言の葉の庭) | Medium length, about 46 minutes | |
| 6 | August 26, 2016 | Your Name (君の名は。) | Feature, about 107 minutes | World premiere at Anime Expo in Los Angeles, July 3, 2016 |
| 7 | July 19, 2019 | Weathering With You (天気の子) | Feature, about 113 minutes | Japan's submission for the 92nd Academy Awards' international feature category |
| 8 | November 11, 2022 | Suzume (すずめの戸締まり) | Feature, about 122 minutes | Selected for the competition at the 73rd Berlin International Film Festival |
Lengths are the approximate running times on each film's CoMix Wave Films page. They matter more here than in most filmographies: three of the eight run under about 65 minutes, which changes what "watching them all" asks of you.
The early films are short, and that is the point
CoMix Wave's page for Voices of a Distant Star says Shinkai made it entirely by himself, and his profile calls it his commercial debut. It runs about 25 minutes. The same page lists two casts: a voice-actor version and the original, in which Shinkai himself voices Noboru. ANN's entry gives two 2002 dates for it, February 2 and April 19; the earlier is the one in the table.
The Place Promised in Our Early Days is the first feature, at about 91 minutes; ANN records its Japanese opening on November 20, 2004. 5 Centimeters per Second is three linked parts, 桜花抄 (Ōkashō), コスモナウト (Cosmonaut) and the title section, about 63 minutes together. ANN dates its Japanese cinema release to March 3, 2007, at the Cinema Rise in Shibuya.
Children Who Chase Lost Voices is the odd one out: its CoMix Wave page describes it as a full-scale juvenile animation and as a film meant to be made with traditional Japanese animation production methods. ANN gives its Japanese release as May 7, 2011. The Garden of Words returns to short form at about 46 minutes; ANN lists a Gold Coast Film Festival screening on April 28, 2013 before the Japanese release on May 31.
The three big films
Your Name opened in Japan on August 26, 2016, after a world premiere at Anime Expo in Los Angeles on July 3, according to ANN's encyclopedia. A July 2016 date for the film refers to that premiere, not to the Japanese opening. Weathering With You followed on July 19, 2019, and Suzume on November 11, 2022, the date the official Suzume site also gives.
Shinkai's profile says that with Suzume he became the director of three consecutive films to pass ten million admissions in Japan. It also records that Weathering With You was chosen as Japan's entry for the international feature category at the 92nd Academy Awards, and that Suzume was selected for competition at the 73rd Berlin International Film Festival. Our sourced Your Name quotes cover the first of the three; that page discusses the ending.
What is not on this list
CoMix Wave's works page tags more under Shinkai's name than these eight films: commercials, a piece for NHK's Minna no Uta, two very short films and the 2016 TV series She and Her Cat -Everything Flows-. The shorts are 猫の集会 (A Gathering of Cats), a one-minute piece he directed for NHK's Ani-Kuri 15 in 2007, and だれかのまなざし, made for Nomura Real Estate's PROUD FUTURE THEATER. Neither is a film in the sense the table means. The studio's page for that series says it is based on a short Shinkai made in his independent days, and that it was directed by Kazuya Sakamoto at Liden Films' Kyoto studio. Shinkai wrote the original; he did not direct the series, so it is not in the table.
As of October 14, 2026, his official works site lists Suzume as his most recent theatrical film. A new one is coming: in August 2026 ANN reported that Crunchyroll had acquired most of the worldwide distribution rights to Shinkai's next film, without a title or other details. We will add it to the table when it has a title and a Japanese date.