Makoto Shinkai’s next anime film is Suzume no Tojimari, and the art director for the film is Takumi Tanji, who previously worked on several other films with the famous director. CoMix Wave Films, the studio behind many of Shinkai’s works, is in charge of the animation. They recently shared an image of him working on the key visual for the film, along with a message to introduce him as the art director.
Their message reads:
『Suzume no Tojimari』Staff Introduction / Art Director, Takumi Tanji🌟
He is one of the indispensable staff for Shinkai’s works, such as “The Place Promised in Our Early Days”, “5 Centimeters per Second”, “Children Who Chase Lost Voices”, “Your Name.” He gives study sessions to the art staff and is always friendly and very reliable. Here’s a shot of him at work!
As they said, Takumi Tanji worked with Makoto Shinkai on several other films in the past. While Your Name. was the most notable one, he was also the art director for Children Who Chase Lost Voices and Dareka no Manazashi. In addition to the art director roles, Tanji was credited for background art on all 3 of the above, along with The Place Promised in Our Early Days, 5 Centimeters per Second, Children Who Chase Lost Voices, The Garden of Words, Crossroad and Weathering with You. All of the mentioned films were directed by Makoto Shinkai. The director even made a tweet on his personal Twitter account, sharing an image of his own:
His tweet reads:
Ever since a small group of staff worked and slept in my house 17 years ago, Tanji-san has been as dependable as Superman!
Most recently, Takumi Tanji co-directed the 2021 short film COLOURS with Dong Yi. The film was animated by studios HAOLINERS Animation and STUDIO TUMBLE, and you can watch it on the HA’ official YouTube channel:
Besides Makoto Shinkai as the director and scripwriter and Takumi Tanji as the art director, Suzume no Tojimari has Masayoshi Tanaka as the character designer and Kenichi Tsuchiya as an animation director. The original anime film will premiere in Japan on Fall 2022, and the story is described as:
Doors of Disaster open across Japan. 17-year-old Suzume lives in a quiet town in the Kyushu region in Japan. The story begins when she meets a young man on a journey to discover the Doors. She follows him and finds an old door at an abandoned building in the mountains. As if drawn by something, she reaches out to the door. This is the start of her journey across Japan to lock up the Doors that bring disasters. Makoto Shinkai’s modern adventure and battle story about a girl’s freedom and growth sets off.
Source: Comix Wave Films Twitter, Makoto Shinkai Twitter, EMON Haoliners Animation YouTube
©”Suzume no Tojimari” Production Committee