I agree with you – gorgeous art, but narratively the films don’t quite work. I don’t mind them thematically, I just think Shinkai needs someone on his team that can turn his basic ideas for a story into the best narrative possible, i.e. a structure and narrative arch that works, tightly & carefully edited, with all the motivations for happenings and character development in place. Particularly with Hoshi Ou o Kodomo I thought so: many wonderful bits are there, but the sum of pieces doesn’t quite add up. Still better than many other animations though.

I don’t think you are the only person who feels this way.

The whole “next Miyazaki” debate is silly to start with, it’s not conducive to anything and I’m fairly sure Shinkai himself doesn’t wish to be the next Miyazaki either. (Wouldn’t you rather want to be yourself?)

I would be very doubtful of any reviewer that is blind to the problems in the narrative structure in Shinkai’s films – I mean, we all have our own preferences and might favour one film over another, but these weaknesses are difficult to ignore.

I think I said in my review of this film, other than delighting us with gorgeous artwork, Shinkai wonderfully conveys a sense of certain feelings and emotions (not all, but some), but he isn’t a storyteller. I’m not convinced he can become one (and just like you, I’m saying that without any disrespect aimed at him), I think he’d do better to play to his strengths and let someone else write the story…