It's the start of a new miniseries! Michael and Jake are back to chart the rise of one of Japanese animation's blockbuster filmmakers, Makoto Shinkai, from his homemade beginnings with his very early works, She and Her Cat and Voices of the Distant Star.

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Comic book artist, animator and film director Dash Shaw joins Michael to speak about his new graphic novel, Blurry, and his two animated features, My Entire High School Sinking into the Sea (2016) and Cryptozoo (2021), as well as his salad days as a young anime fan, his love of independent and European animation, and looking to Miyazaki as an 'old man' mentor.

Blurry is available now from the very best book and comics shops as is Cosplayers; Cryptozoo is streaming on Mubi and My Entire High School Sinking into the Sea is available on DVD and Blu-ray.

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Screenwriter, author and Children's Laureate Frank Cottrell-Boyce joins Michael to speak about adapting Michael Morpurgo's novel Kensuke's Kingdom, as well as the art of adaptation, when adaptations go wrong, and his career as a writer of books for children.

Kensuke's Kingdom is in UK cinemas now. Find a screening near you: https://www.kensukeskingdom.com/.

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With Coraline celebrating its 15th anniversary and returning to cinemas, Henry Selick joins us to talk about his life and career, from his days at Cal Arts to his work at the forefront of stop-motion feature animation. He talks about the process of developing Coraline, those early days during the formation of Laika Studios, and how technology has changed since his debut feature, The Nightmare Before Christmas. He also tells us about his formative influences and favourite filmmakers within the world of animation.

Scroll back through our archive for our in-depth miniseries all about the films of Henry Selick and Laika, the Selick-tionary and the Laika-nography.

Coraline returns to cinemas from 15th August, and the BFI's Stop Motion season runs through August and into September. For more information about the BFI's Stop Motion season, click here.

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Author and poet A.F. Harrold joins Michael to speak about the experience of having his novel, The Imaginary, adapted into a feature film by Studio Ponoc, as well as his memories of writing the book, his love of libraries, and his approach to writing stories for children.

You can find out more about A.F. and his work at his website, http://www.afharroldkids.com/

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Studio Ponoc founder Yoshiaki Nishimura (Mary and the Witch's Flower, Modest Heroes) speaks with Michael about Ponoc's new film, The Imaginary, as well as his love of children's fiction and live-action cinema, and his time at Studio Ghibli producing The Tale of the Princess Kaguya and When Marnie Was There.

Thank you to Eyre Kurasawa for translating our conversation. If you want to hear the full conversation with all of Mr Nishimura's Japanese responses intact, skip to around 31 minutes.

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This special episode of the podcast dives into the stage adaptation of Spirited Away, which is currently running at the Coliseum theatre in London's West End. With Jake on parental leave, Michael enlists the help of co-host Steph Watts and friends of the show Adam Woodward (Little White Lies, TCOLondon) and Sam Clements (90 Minutes Or Less Film Fest) to tackle this epic production that brings Hayao Miyazaki's magical masterpiece to the stage.

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Michael is joined this week by Shannon Tindle and John Aoshima to talk about their new film, Ultraman Rising, as well as their approach to animation, running a smooth ship through production, their experiences studying at The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), and their first exposures to the world of Studio Ghibli.

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