The Latest Comic by a Honored Film Director: Makoto Shinkai is the rising star of the animation world, having won numerous awards across the globe for his stunning CG films. 5 Centimeters per Second faithfully adapts his most beloved film, of the same name, into a powerful timeless manga romance.

Established Fan Base: Makoto Shinkai has a strong and established fan-base globally, and this is one of his most recognized works.

Cost Friendly Presentation: Vertical is package this originally two volume series in a single 560 page $18.95 omnibus, to better replicate the feel and pacing of Shinkai’s film.

Makoto Shinkai is a Japanese film director, animator, and writer. 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

Author Residence: Tokyo, Japan

Author Hometown: Nagano, Japan

Marketing: The 5 Centimeters per Second animated film is available for subscribers through Crunchyroll.com

5 Centimeters per Second is available on DVD. The most recent DVD distributed by Bandai Entertainment was briefly the top ranked animated DVD on Amazon.com.

DVD also available in Austrailia through Madman Entertainment and the UK through Manga Entertainment UK.

5 Centimeters per Second posters are available through Pop Culture Graphics.

Special Summer 2012 preview featuring 5 Centimeters per Second, Flowers of Evil and Tezuka’s Adolf to be distributed in early Spring.

February 27th is known in the film industry as Global Makoto Shinkai Day, a day devoted to Makoto Shinkai and the production of one-person animation. On this date all his films are distributed for free online through Yahoo and Crunchyroll.com.

Publicity: Makoto Shinkai will be the guest of honor at New York Comic Con 2011.

Praise for the animated film by Makoto Shinkai:

[Makoto] Shinkai has been hailed as the next Hayao Miyazaki, and his dreamy mindscapes often equal or surpass the anime maestro in breadth of detail and depth of emotion." - Ronnie Scheib, Variety

"In 5 Centimeters [Shinkai's] imagination may not leap to Hayao Miyazaki's strange and wonderful heights, but he is better (blasphemy!) at piercing the veil of the everyday to reveal a poignant, evanescent beauty most of us notice only in rare moments...Is he really the "new Miyazaki?" He won't become one by imitating the master, but at 34 he is the anime world's bright new hope. That and a brilliant minor gem like "5 Centimeters per Second" are enough, for now." - Japan Times