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Time of India
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Time of India
The red string of fate in anime: What it means and 5 iconic anime that use it beautifully
Source: Collider In anime, few symbols are as powerful or emotionally stirring as the Red String of Fate. Rooted in East Asian folklore, this invisible thread is believed to connect two people destined to meet, love, or profoundly impact one another, no matter the distance or obstacles. It appears in many beloved anime, often used to explore themes of destiny, romance, and spiritual connection. From iconic films like Your Name to heart-wrenching series like Your Lie in April, the red string remains a timeless symbol of unbreakable bonds. In this article, we explore its meaning and 5 unforgettable anime that bring it to life. What is the red string of fate? The concept originates from East Asian mythology, particularly Chinese and Japanese folklore. According to legend, the Red String of Fate (or Unmei no Akai Ito in Japanese) is an invisible thread that connects two people who are destined to be together. The string is tied around the little finger (pinky finger) of each person and cannot be seen, broken, or removed—no matter the distance or circumstances. Unlike Western ideals of "soulmates," the red string doesn't always imply romance. In many versions of the tale, it also encompasses deep friendship, familial ties, or karmic bonds. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like No annual fees for life UnionBank Credit Card Apply Now Undo However, in anime, the red string is most often used to symbolise romantic fate—a bond so strong that not even death or time can sever it. Anime and films that use the red string motif The red string has made subtle and overt appearances in numerous anime and animated films, often acting as a narrative device to underscore the characters' inevitable connection. Your Name (Kimi no Na wa) Source: Crunchyroll Perhaps the most globally recognised modern use of the red string, Your Name (2016) by Makoto Shinkai centres around two strangers, Taki and Mitsuha, who mysteriously switch bodies across time. Mitsuha is often seen tying a red braided cord in her hair, which later becomes a key item in the plot. The cord symbolises their connection and fate. As the story unfolds, the red string becomes a visual metaphor for time, memory, and destiny. Tsubaki-chou Lonely Planet Source: Crunchyroll In this romantic anime and manga series, the red string appears as a symbolic gesture when the characters reflect on their emotional connection. The story delves into themes of unspoken affection and destined love, hinting at the idea that something larger is guiding their bond—even if they are not aware of it. Fruits Basket Source: Crunchyroll While not always literal, the red string symbolism appears thematically in Fruits Basket, especially in the relationship arcs of Tohru and Kyo. Their connection is built on emotional healing, understanding, and karmic ties—elements often tied to the red thread in folklore. Naruto Even action-based series like Naruto touch on the idea subtly. In the case of Naruto and Hinata, their love story is presented as fated from childhood, growing stronger through time and shared struggle. Though not shown through a literal red thread, the implication of destiny through bonds is a recurring theme in the show. Your Lie in April (Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso) Source: Crunchyroll While Your Lie in April doesn't show a literal red string, the emotional and symbolic connection between Kousei and Kaori strongly reflects the theme. Their meeting feels destined; Kaori enters his life just when he needs healing, and their bond changes the course of his future. The anime explores how people can be tied together by fate to leave lasting impacts, even if only briefly. Through music, memory, and loss, the story paints a bittersweet portrait of a connection that transcends time, much like the invisible red thread. Why the red string of fate touches anime fans The reason the Red String of Fate continues to appear in anime is simple: it speaks to a universal human desire that somewhere, someone is meant for you. Whether through time travel, chance meetings, or supernatural intervention, the idea that love (or meaningful relationships) is preordained provides comfort, hope, and emotional impact. In Japanese storytelling, where restraint and quiet emotions often dominate character interactions, the red string serves as a powerful visual shorthand for deep feelings that are rarely spoken aloud. The Red String of Fate is more than just a romantic trope in anime; it's a cultural expression of belief in destiny, emotional bonds, and cosmic design. Whether you see it tied in a character's hair, floating through time, or simply hinted at through symbolism, the red string reminds us that certain relationships are simply meant to be. In a world where anime explores everything from interstellar battles to inner turmoil, the red thread remains a quietly profound reminder: some connections are woven by fate itself. Also Read: If Demon Slayer hooked you, don't miss these 5 action-packed supernatural anime
Time of India
17-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
If you loved anime Your Name, these 5 Makoto Shinkai films will stay in your heart too
Source: Crunchyroll When Your Name (Kimi no Na wa) premiered in 2016, it didn't just become one of the highest-grossing anime films of all time; it became a cultural phenomenon. Directed by Makoto Shinkai, the film blends supernatural elements with teenage emotion, stunning animation, and an aching sense of distance. It tells the story of two strangers, Mitsuha, a rural girl yearning for city life, and Taki, a Tokyo boy caught up in modern chaos, who begin mysteriously swapping bodies across time and space. What begins as a quirky, almost comedic premise soon transforms into something far more poignant: a search for meaning, memory, and connection in a world that often keeps people apart. Your Name resonates because it captures something universal, the feeling that someone out there might understand us completely, even if we've never met. The film's unique mix of romance, fantasy, and emotional depth has left many viewers wanting more. And luckily, Makoto Shinkai's other works explore similar themes in equally moving ways. Loved Your Name? You must watch these 5 stunning anime movies by Makoto Shinkai If Your Name left a lasting impression, whether you're drawn to romantic longing, quiet sci-fi, or the emotional weight of time and distance, these five handpicked films by Shinkai offer something just as unforgettable. Suzume (2022) Source: Crunchyroll One of Shinkai's more recent and ambitious works, Suzume follows a high school girl who stumbles upon a mysterious door that leads to a disaster-stricken world. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Doctors Shocked: This Ginger Mix Shrinks Waistlines While You Sleep healthlifeexperience Click Here Undo As she journeys across Japan to close these portals, she confronts themes of grief, resilience, and recovery. Visually stunning and deeply symbolic, Suzume blends heartfelt storytelling with social commentary, particularly around the emotional aftermath of natural disasters, drawing inspiration from real-life events like the 2011 Tohoku earthquake. Weathering With You (2019) Source: Crunchyroll From the first frame, Weathering With You feels like a spiritual sibling to Your Name. It follows Hodaka, a runaway teen who meets Hina, a girl with the power to control the weather. As Tokyo faces unrelenting rain, their bond grows, but so do the consequences of altering nature. Balancing light romance, social struggles, and fantasy, this film touches on climate change and urban isolation, all while delivering the kind of stunning animation and emotional highs that Shinkai fans expect. The Garden of Words (2013) Source: Crunchyroll Short, poetic, and emotionally resonant, The Garden of Words tells the story of an unlikely bond between a teenage boy and an older woman, set against the backdrop of Tokyo's rainy season. At just 46 minutes, it's one of Shinkai's shorter works but arguably one of his most visually refined. This film explores loneliness, unspoken connections, and the healing power of empathy, all conveyed through breathtaking imagery of rain-soaked parks, cityscapes, and the silence between words. Children Who Chase Lost Voices (2011) Source: Crunchyroll Often described as Shinkai's most 'Ghibli-like' film, Children Who Chase Lost Voices ventures into myth, ancient civilizations, and the underworld. The story follows Asuna, a young girl who embarks on a journey to a hidden land where the living and the dead may reunite. Though different in tone, leaning more into adventure and folklore, it's still deeply rooted in themes of love, loss, and letting go. This film showcases Shinkai's range and his ability to create entire worlds that feel both fantastical and deeply human. The Place Promised in Our Early Days (2004) Source: Wikipedia Shinkai's first feature-length film, The Place Promised in Our Early Days, sets the tone for many themes he explores later: distance, longing, and parallel realities. Set in an alternate post-war Japan, the story follows three teenagers bound by a mysterious tower visible from their town and a pact they made to uncover its secrets. With its layered plot and slow-burning emotional core, this film is more subdued than Your Name, but it delivers a powerful exploration of friendship, lost promises, and the quiet ache of growing apart. Makoto Shinkai's films are more than just visually stunning; they're emotional journeys that resonate long after the credits roll. If Your Name moved you with its tale of time-crossed lovers, these five films offer even more of what makes Shinkai a master of modern anime: beautiful animation, haunting soundtracks, and deeply personal stories about connection, memory, and the passage of time. Also Read: Takopi's Original Sin (episodes 1–2) review (when cute goes catastrophically wrong)
Geek Tyrant
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Geek Tyrant
Teaser Trailer for the Live Action Adaptation of Makoto Shinkai's Hit Anime Film 5 CENTIMETERS PER SECOND — GeekTyrant
Anime fans have every reason to be wary when it comes to live-action remakes. For every good project, there's a long trail of underwhelming adaptations that miss the heart, tone, or just the basic visual magic of the original. But the first trailer for the live-action remake of 5 Centimeters per Second might just be the exception. Makoto Shinkai's 2007 film has been praised for its quiet emotional weight and dreamlike realism, and it's getting the live-action treatment, and based on this first look, it looks solid. Directed by Yoshiyuki Okuyama, 5 Centimeters per Second was Shinkai's second feature following The Place Promised in Our Early Days . It's told in three interconnected chapters, tracking the emotional drift between two childhood friends, Takaki and Akari, as they grow apart. The synopsis reads: 'Told in three interconnected segments, Takaki tells the story of his life as cruel winters, cold technology, and finally, adult obligations and responsibility converge to test the delicate petals of love.' The film stars Hokuto Matsumura as adult Takaki Tono, with Yuto Ueda and Noa Hirayama playing his younger selves. While Shinkai has expressed complicated feelings about the original, calling it a result of his creative immaturity, director Yoshiyuki Okuyama clearly sees something timeless in it, and he's committed to honoring that. Okuyama said: 'There are things that can only be made now and perspectives that we will eventually forget. I want to carefully and sincerely craft each scene and every second, together with the team I trust wholeheartedly, as if placing a warm hand on Takaki's back, who carries a sense of loss and anxiety. 'Since this is a work I've watched countless times myself, I feel the weight of responsibility every day. Every fan has their own interpretation and world of the story, and I am one of them.' The film opens in Japanese theaters on October 10th. Let's hope the rest of it is as beautiful as these first frames.
Japan Times
12-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Japan Times
Stop-motion sci-fi saga ‘Junk World' expands its bizarre universe
A year into the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, one of the bright spots was a film set in the dark. The stop-motion animation feature "Junk Head" followed a hapless, amnesic cyborg as he traversed a series of underground caverns populated by grotesque (yet somehow cute) monsters and made friends with a zany cadre of artificial lifeforms called Mulligans. The film's blend of horror and humor helped bring in ¥130 million at the Japanese box office. Not bad for a feature made almost entirely by one person: interior designer Takahide Hori, who had decided to try his hand at filmmaking for the first time at age 40. Hori, born in 1971, had always harbored artistic aspirations, he tells The Japan Times, producing work in fields like illustration, sculpture and manga, but despite winning some awards, he never felt there was much of a future in it for him. "I didn't want to be confined to one genre," Hori says. "I wanted to do something bigger." The inspiration for what form that 'something' might take came when Hori discovered animator Makoto Shinkai's ("Your Name.") 2002 short "Voices of a Distant Star," which Shinkai wrote and produced entirely by himself. Hori realized he might be able to do something similar. He chose stop-motion animation as his medium, combining his previous experience as a sculptor of marionettes with his interior design skills, which enabled him to create elaborate sets. "It really looked like my marionettes had come alive on screen," says Hori. "It was as if all the skills I'd built up until then had come together." Following his marionette experiments, Hori spent four years animating the 30-minute short "Junk Head I," which he finished in 2013, then expanded it into "Junk Head," his full-length debut. That film, which took Hori a total of seven years to complete, was the first chapter in a planned "Junk" trilogy. Now, Hori is back with "Junk World," his second entry in the series, which hits theaters in Japan Friday. And this time, it took him a mere three-and-a-half years. "Junk World," set over 1,000 years before "Junk Head," kicks off with a meeting between humans and Mulligans, who maintain an uneasy truce after a brutal war centuries earlier. Among the humans is Triss, a soldier with an eyepatch, a take-no-prisoners attitude and a robot companion named Robin whose sole purpose is to keep Triss safe. The Mulligan leader is Dante, whose guarded trust of humans isn't shared by all the members of his race — as evidenced by an attack on the meeting by rogue Mulligan forces mere moments after it begins. Triss, Robin and Dante are forced to flee and, during their escape, discover strange portals that allow them to travel in time. The battle then turns temporal as the varying factions begin to use time travel to outfox each other, going further and further back in time to influence the present. After years of harboring artistic aspirations, Takahide Hori tried his hand at filmmaking for the first time at age 40. His first feature, 'Junk Head,' brought in ¥130 million at the Japanese box office. | Matt Schley One of Hori's goals for "Junk World" was to expand the Junkverse's narrative and visual scope. While the first film largely takes place in subterranean hallways (essentially a single set which Hori could rearrange to create new locations), "Junk World" unfolds above ground, with some computer-generated elements — a new addition to Hori's toolkit — helping fill out the wider horizons. Another upgrade was the addition of 3D-printed models, allowing for multiple copies of the same characters to be filmed across different sets at the same time. But because "Junk World" was still an independent, low-budget production, Hori had to figure out a way to stretch the use of his new, more expansive sets, eventually hitting on the idea of time loops as a plausible way to reuse the same locations. "My budget for 'World' was about double that of 'Head,' but still very low," says Hori with a laugh. "The budget for the first film allowed a staff of three to barely get by, and this time, it allowed for a staff of six to barely get by." In many ways, Hori's "Junk" films embody the well-worn notion that limitations breed creativity. The entire concept of the underground world and its malformed creatures, for example, were initially born from budgetary constraints. "I realized that if it were set underground, I wouldn't have to worry about animating the landscape," says Hori. "And if the characters didn't have eyes, it would cut down on parts I needed to build and animate. When I put all that together, including research into real underground organisms, the 'Junk' world slowly came into view." Another example is the language the characters speak in the first film — gibberish, subtitled in Japanese, done to hide the fact that Hori was voicing almost every character himself. "Junk World," on the other hand, is voiced in Japanese, in part because it's a more dialogue-heavy film than "Junk Head," and the complicated story might be hard to track in subtitled form. However, after realizing how many fans were charmed by his invented language, Hori also produced a "gibberish version" of the film, which is being released alongside the Japanese version. It's like those big-budget Hollywood movies that get Japanese dubs and subs, except that cinemagoers will be able to choose between Japanese and 'Junkese.' Regardless which version cinemagoers choose, all the characters are voiced by Hori and the film's five other staff members. "We came down to the wire in terms of production, so the voices were recorded right at the end," says Hori. "If I'd hired professional voice actors, it might not have worked out schedule-wise. In any case, we might not be as good as pros, but I think that DIY, hand-made feel is part of the appeal of my films." While 'Junk Head' largely takes place in subterranean hallways, 'Junk World' unfolds aboveground to expand the narrative and visual scope of Hori's "Junk" universe. | © YAMIKEN For all the extra lore in "World," it retains the unique sense of humor on display in the first film, in which serious sci-fi plot points, thrilling action and splattery gore go hand-in-hand with fart jokes. One subplot involves two men who greedily feast on a delicacy that looks just like a man's, well, private parts. Like much of the movie, it's simultaneously cringe-inducing and laugh-out-loud funny. "I always want people to come out thinking, 'That was fun,'" says Hori. "I want the funny parts to surpass the parts that are grotesque or tough to watch." Hori is currently working on the script for the third "Junk" film, tentatively titled "Junk End." Set about 50 years after "Junk Head," it will reunite viewers with the protagonist of the original — and, thanks to the time travel introduced in "World," may feature some of its characters, too. An average day of stop-motion shooting yields just a few seconds of completed footage, Hori says, meaning it will be some time before "Junk End" hits screens. I ask how he stays motivated over long years of painstaking work. "You spend hours moving your models a fraction of an inch, shooting a frame, then doing it over and over again. But when you finish for the day and play back the footage, it really looks like they're moving. Those little moments of joy add up. Then you think to yourself, 'One day, this will be an entire movie, and that will be a great day.'" 'Junk World' is currently screening in cinemas nationwide. For more information, visit
Time of India
28-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Looking for an emotional anime film? 2016's Your Name will stick with you even after credits roll
Emotional anime films have a unique magic for sure, they break your heart and heal it all at once. Anyone who has been watching anime for a while will surely agree. One of the most popular genres in anime is the emotional drama, taking viewers on unforgettable, heartfelt journeys. If you're someone who loves getting swept away by stories like these, we have a must-watch recommendation for you. Released in 2016, Your Name is a breathtaking anime film that continues to captivate audiences around the world. Its beautiful storytelling, stunning visuals, and emotional depth have made it a timeless favorite. If you haven't watched Your Name yet, you're truly missing out. Here's everything you need to know about this masterpiece. All you need to know about the anime film Your Name The film, directed by Makoto Shinkai, takes audiences on an emotional journey by skillfully blending romance, fantasy, and drama. The main plot revolves around two teenagers, Mitsuha and Taki, who switch bodies and develop a deep bond before being separated by time, distance, and memory loss. The moments when they just miss each other, along with their longing to reunite, hit especially hard. What inspired Your Name? The frequent occurrence of natural disasters in Japan served as the inspiration for the movie. The movie features a comet-related catastrophic event that puts people at risk and is reminiscent of actual events like the 2011 earthquake in Japan. Your Name Voice Cast, Director, and Music Voice Cast: Ryunosuke Kamiki (Taki) and Mone Kamishiraishi (Mitsuha) Director: Makoto Shinkai Animation Director: Masashi Ando Character Designer: Masayoshi Tanaka Music: The popular Japanese band RADWIMPS created the orchestral score and memorable soundtrack. Fun fact: A month before the movie's release, Shinkai's light novel of the same name was released. Your Name Rotten Tomatoes score and IMDb rating On Rotten Tomatoes, Your Name has a 98 percent score and on IMDb, its rating is 8.4. You can watch Your Name on YouTube in India. For international audiences, the anime film is available on Prime Video. The runtime of the movie is 1hr 50 mins.
