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Garden of Words Music Video Features Director's Cut by Shinkai
posted on by Sarah Nelkin
The official website for singer Motohiro Hata began streaming the short version of the “Koto no Ha” (Leaves of Words) director's cut music video on Tuesday. The song is the main image song for Makoto Shinkai's Garden of Words film, and Hata also performs the film's ending theme song, “Rain.”
The video includes comments from Shinkai himself. He reveals that he tried to combine the feeling of the image of Hata's original “Koto no Ha” music video and scenes from the his The Garden of Words movie.
The director's cut of the music video will be released for download on iTunes in Japan on August 28.
The Garden of Words follows the story of shoemaker-in-training Takao, who begins sketching shoes in a Japanese-style garden. He meets a mysterious older woman and the two start meeting and deepening their relationship. Shinkai previously wrote that The Garden of Words will be his first story about love in the traditional Japanese meaning of the word. Originally, "love" was written as "lonely sadness" (koi), and, according to Shinkai, the modern concept of "love" (ai) was imported from the West. While his new film is set in the modern era, it will be about koi in the original "lonely sadness" meaning — of longing for someone in solitude.
Kenichi Tsuchiya designed the characters and oversaw the animation process. Hiroshi Takiguchi served as the art director, and Daisuke Kashiwa composed the music. Miyu Irino and Kana Hanazawa headline the cast as Takao and Yukino, respectively.
Shinkai began his career by creating his own anime titles almost single-handedly — being responsible for the writing, directing, and even voice-acting. He now works with CoMix Wave Films and other staff members on anime projects. His titles include She and Her Cat, Voices of a Distant Star, The Place Promised in Our Early Days, 5 Centimeters Per Second, and 2011's Children Who Chase Lost Voices.
Sentai Filmworks licensed the film and released it on DVD and Blu-ray disc on Tuesday for North America.
[Via Makoto Shinkai]
