I didn't know there's a day called Global Shinkai Day on 28 February. Well, I didn't know that guy has a fan site/forum either.

Makoto Shinkai (wiki) has produced some pretty amazing anime.

The ones I've watched are Voices of our Distant Star (wiki), The Place Promised in our Early Days (wiki) and 5 Centimeters Per Second (wiki). The latter two are pure visual treats where every frame is so beautiful and well composed, relatively. Voices has a very touching love story told in less than 30 minutes.

These three anime are as good as any Miyazaki's movies, to the effect that Makoto Shinkai is referred by some as "The New Miyazaki".

They are highly recommended and well received by the anime world. Just read the Amazon reviews to see for yourself.

Too bad they don't have Blu-ray versions.

Country-specific Amazon links for Voices of a Distant Star:
Amazon.com | Amazon.ca | Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.fr | Amazon.de

Country-specific Amazon links for The Place Promised in our Early Days:
Amazon.com | Amazon.ca | Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.fr | Amazon.de

Country-specific Amazon links for 5 Centimeters Per Second:
Amazon.com | Amazon.ca | Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.fr | Amazon.de

And below's an early work called She and Her Cat

I wrote this entry after reading Tim Maughan's anime review for 5 Centimeters Per Second. Great blog on anime stuff by the way.