With Hayao Miyazaki in sporadic retirement, it's reasonable to call Makoto Shinkai the greatest anime director working today. A critical darling and audience favorite in his home country for his early films, he’s become known internationally with his Disaster trilogy, tying together relationships with the natural cataclysms that have affected Japan: earthquakes in Suzume, rainstorms in Weathering With You, and tsunamis in series opener Your Name. The story of how two teens – Mitsuha in rural Gifu province and Taki from Tokyo's hip Shinjuku ward – switch bodies and become part of each other’s lives becomes a story of the tectonic effect that even strangers can have on our lives. – Richard Whittaker