Today Makoto Shinkai is primarily known to the world for being the hugely successful director behind some of Japan's top anime films like Your Name, Weathering with You, and Suzume.
But, before he kickstarted his career in animation, what many people probably won't know is he previously held a position at the famous RPG developer Falcom, where he storyboarded and directed the opening movies for the 1999 RPG The Legend of Heroes III: Song of the Ocean and the 2000 Windows title Ys II Eternal.
Shinkai worked at Falcom from 1996 to 2001, which is when he ultimately decided to leave his job at the company, going on to direct the award-winning sci-fi short Voices of a Distant Star and various other animated projects.
Recently, as Shinkai mentioned on Twitter/X, he took some time out to pay a visit to his old employer in Tokyo, which he claims is where he "was taught everything including how to work and how to think." This visit was his first "in a very long time" to the place where he used to work, with the director marking the occasion by sharing some photos on social media (h/t: Bowloflentils).
Among these was a set of photos showing some of the old storyboards that he had put together for Nihon Falcom back in the day, which an eagle-eyed fan immediately identified as belonging to the opening of YS II Eternal.
In a comment, posted alongside these images, Shinkai seemed genuinely moved that the company had gone to the effort of keeping the original storyboards for 25 years, stating (as translated by Google), "I was deeply touched to see that my work from that time has been carefully preserved."
Did you already know about Shinkai's past career in the video game industry? Let us know in the comments!