The Worlds of Mamoru Hosoda at HOME

There’s a treat for fans of Japanese animation this summer as HOME present a short season dedicated to the films of director Mamoru Hosoda. Featuring three earlier titles alongside his celebrated 2018 film Mirai, the screenings in Manchester offer fans the opportunity to explore the singular vision of one of Japan’s most famed animators in 4K, ahead of Scarlet — his newest film, scheduled for release at the end of the year.

Hosoda’s hand drawn films combine elements of fantasy and science fiction with more grounded, autobiographic details and a focus on family and childhood. The work on show at HOME demonstrates this perfectly, starting with 2006’s The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (Sun 27 & 30 July), about Makoto, a teenage girl who discovers the ability to time travel when she jumps backwards in time to avoid being hit by a train. The film follows as Makoto uses her ability to undo her everyday regrets, from a bad exam result to awkward romantic confessions, but is soon faced with the fact that her time-travelling has effects beyond her intentions.

There’s further science fiction in Summer Wars (Sun 3 &Tue 5 Aug) which sees Kenji, a student and mathematical genius, invited to a family birthday party by a fellow student, who to Kenji’s surprise, introduces him as her fiancé. Once there he receives a mystery email containing a maths problem, which he solves, but by doing so he inadvertently unleashes a malevolent artificial intelligence that both steals his identity and threatens the very fabric of society. Contrasting scenes of lush Japanese countryside with epic virtual worlds, the film emphasises the value of family and community through a story of impending cyber apocalypse.

2012’s Wolf Children (Sun 31 Aug & Tue 2 Sep) is more fantastical, and yet also celebrates the bond of family, through the story of college student Hana who falls in love with a “wolf man” and has two half-human, half-wolf children only for the father’s life to be cut tragically short. Hana struggles to raise the children in the bustle of the city and so moves to a dilapidated house in the country in the hope that her children might have the room to decide their own destiny in light of their parentage.

Audiences following HOME’s season will recognise the combination of fairy tale and family as typical of Hosoda’s work

Last on HOME’s schedule is the one that earned Hosoda a nomination for Best Animated film. The 2018 animation Mirai (Sat 6 Sep) explores family hierarchy and childhood jealousy with wit and charm. The birth of his baby sister Mirai seems like an imposition and inconvenient competition to spoilt-rotten, four-year-old Kun. That is until a series of magical encounters with an older Mirai allow the siblings to connect and bond across space and time. Audiences following HOME’s season will recognise the combination of fairy tale and family as typical of Hosoda’s work, as the film shows Kun’s perspective on his parents and sister broaden.