15 Years Later, Makoto Shinkai’s Most Underrated Magical Movie Officially Streams on HBO Max

Makoto Shinkai has become synonymous with impossible skies, aching goodbyes, and romances stretched across impossible distances. But before Your Name, Weathering With You and Suzume turned him into one of anime’s most recognizable filmmakers, he ventured somewhere considerably stranger. Children Who Chase Lost Voices originally premiered in Japan on May 7, 2011, making it more than 15 years old now.

The 116-minute fantasy adventure has now landed on HBO Max in the U.S., giving a new generation another chance to discover one of Shinkai’s more unusual films. It is a fascinating time capsule from the period before Your Name transformed his international profile, yet many of its emotional obsessions are unmistakably Shinkai. And if you know him mainly for gorgeous modern cities, star-crossed romance, and weather doing emotional heavy lifting, Children Who Chase Lost Voices has a very different trick up its sleeve: it sends a grieving girl underground.

Children Who Chase Lost Voices Finally Finds a New Streaming Home

Children Who Chase Lost Voices, also known as Journey to Agartha, was written and directed by Shinkai and produced by CoMix Wave Films. The studio’s official page lists its runtime at 116 minutes and credits Shinkai with the direction, original story, and screenplay.

The film debuted theatrically in Japan on May 7, 2011, with the Japan Film Database classifying it as drama, science fiction/fantasy, and animation. Its long home-video journey has included Japanese DVD and Blu-ray releases, North American licensing through Sentai Filmworks, and a later North American rights acquisition by GKIDS alongside several other early Shinkai works. HBO Max’s current U.S. catalog lists the film among its GKIDS offerings, with streaming trackers confirming its availability there. The availability is regional, however.

This isn’t the movie’s first streaming or home-video destination. What HBO Max offers is something arguably more valuable for an older title: discoverability. Someone who arrived at Shinkai through Your Name or Suzume can now stumble into the bizarre, beautiful detour that came before his worldwide blockbuster era. In fact, it wouldn’t be far-fetched to say that this Shinkai movie was The Boy and the Heron before Miyazaki won an Oscar.

Shinkai’s Underground World Blends Myth, Grief, and Forbidden Worlds

Asuna and Ryuji from Children Who Chase Lost Voices. [Credit: CoMix Wave Films]

The story begins with Asuna Watase, a lonely schoolgirl who spends her spare time listening to mysterious music from a crystal radio left behind by her deceased father. Her strange signal leads her to Shun, a mysterious boy from Agartha, a hidden world beneath the surface. After Shun disappears, Asuna’s path eventually takes her underground alongside her teacher, Ryuji Morisaki.

Agartha is where the film stops behaving like a conventional Shinkai romance and starts looking like a full-blown mythological adventure. Ancient civilizations, strange creatures, and the possibility of communicating with the dead turn the journey into something considerably darker. But beneath all that fantasy spectacle is a very Shinkai question: what happens when saying goodbye feels impossible?

Asuna’s journey is shaped by loneliness and loss, while Morisaki is driven by a far more dangerous refusal to accept death. His desire to reconnect with his deceased wife gives the story its darkest emotional edge, transforming Agartha from a magical escape into a place where grief can become obsession.

That is what makes the movie such an intriguing bridge between Shinkai’s early and later work. The setting is wildly different from the contemporary Japan of Your Name or Weathering With You, but the emotional DNA is familiar: people separated from those they love, characters struggling against forces larger than themselves, and the painful realization that love does not always mean refusing to let go.

Even its official Japanese description frames the adventure around Asuna experiencing the beauty and cruelty of the world and learning about parting. So yes, Children Who Chase Lost Voices may look like Shinkai decided to sneak into an underground fantasy epic for a while. But beneath the monsters, mythology, and enormous landscapes is the filmmaker’s favorite subject wearing a different costume. For anyone who thought Shinkai’s movies began and ended with star-crossed teenagers staring dramatically at the sky, Agartha has news for you.

Did you miss Shinkai’s underground fantasy era? Tell us in the comments.

Watch Children Who Chase Lost Voices in the U.S. via HBO Max.