Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. Today’s review has me legitimately scared for my life because the film I am about to review has taken the otaku culture by storm and one misstep could get you killed. The film I am talking about is Kimi no Na wa aka Your Name. Coming out in 2016 and directed by Makoto Shinkai the film is based off a light novel written by Makoto himself. This film surprising aired first in America at Anime Expo 2016 in Los Angeles and then in Japan. Following it’s released this film received critical acclaim not just in Japan but from all over the world. This film received critical acclaim for its animation and emotional impact that it kept people going back for 2nd and 3rd viewings. As you can imagine it killed at the box making more money than Spirited Away which at this point was the highest grossing film in Japan. That’s right, Makoto actual out sold Hayao Miyazaki (oh~ he has just made a powerful enemy). The fan obsession with this film was out of control and even got to the point where Makoto himself sent out a public message pleading with people to stop watching the film saying that their obsession with it was becoming unhealthy. Wow, that says a lot and the fact that it out sold Spirited Away hands down my favorite animated movie, you know somethings up. Well, I’ve stalled long enough let’s take a look at this film. This is Your Name. Please be gentle with your death threats.
The film opens up with our two main characters Taki a high-school boy voiced by Ryunosuke Kamiki (Kenji from Summer Wars) and Mitsuha a high-school girl voiced by Mone Kamishiraishi doing a narration about how they feel something is missing from their lives (dare I say it’s love?). We get a opening sequence (starting to think the original idea was to make this an anime but they realize they didn’t have enough material and decided to turn it into a film adding in this opening sequence since they worked so hard on it). We then focus on Mitsuha a girl who lives in the countryside with her little sister, grandma, and dad who is trying to get re-elected as mayor (first the countryside, then the cities, and then the country). We see that Mitsuha and her dad don’t get along that much and in class she sees a message in her notebook asking who is she (that’s deep)? At lunch her friends want to know why she was acting all weird yesterday in class to which she doesn’t recall what happened (*Nitsuj stares at the Jack Bros.* (Corbin): Hey don’t look at us our hands are clean on this. (Baron): Yes. This time the pumpkin and the snowman did nothing. Although they would like to do something). We also see she doesn’t like the countryside because there’s nothing to do and wants to graduate so she can move to Tokyo and live in the city. That night, she and her sister perform a ritual together to make sake for the gods as part of this festival about to happen soon (I highly doubt the gods will want to drink chewed up rice spit out by girls. (Corbin): You clearly haven’t met our Duke of the Right Fischer. Guy gets off on that kind of stuff. You think we’re bad, you ain’t seen nothing yet). A few of her classmates see this and make fun of her a little which embarrasses her and she shouts out into the night sky how she wishes to be reincarnated as a boy and live in the city. The next day Mitsuha finds herself in the body of our male lead Taki (wow, dreams do come true. (Isis): For some at least. (Nitsuj): Why, what’s your dream? (Isis): Something a boy like you would never understand). She goes to Taki’s school but not before getting distracted by all the sights of Tokyo while under the impression that this is all a dream (you wish, you can read stuff. This is all real. (Mira): It could be lucid dreaming. (Nitsuj): A possibility but no). She seems to be enjoying herself and hanging out with Taki’s friends until she gets called in for work where he works as a waiter in an Italian restaurant where she helps Okudera (Taki’s crush) and even walks home with her. After that, she heads back home where she writes her name on Taki’s hand and falls asleep.
The next morning Taki returns to his body as does Mitsuha where they see they each did some pretty crazy stuff in each other’s lives and figure out quickly that their dream isn’t a dream and by some divine power (*Nitsuj stares at the Jack Bros.* (Baron): It’s not us, I swear! (Yin-Yang): Having a hard time believing that. (Corbin): If we really could switch bodies don’t you think we would have done that with you guys by now? (Yin-Yang): Good point) they’ve been allowed to switch bodies with each other. So we get a montage of them switching with each other while also trying to figure out what’s going on. They communicate with each other through their cellphones laying down ground rules with each other as to not mess up each other’s life and giving a report of what happened so neither one is surprise (oh my God they’re actually doing the body switch formula correctly). Taki (now in Mitsuha’s body) goes to the remains of the town’s historical temple with Mitsuha’s sister and grandma to offer the sake to the gods. When he returns, he finds out he has a date with Okudera (alright Mitsuha hooking him up) where it doesn’t go so well (it’s not School Days bad but there was no real connection between the two) and she can sense that Taki likes someone else even though he denies it. Back with Mitsuha she goes to the first night of the festival with her friends where they see a comet fly pass the town (it’s beautiful). After this event the two stop switching entirely with Taki not sure why.
We see him develop a bit of an obsession with trying to find Mitsuha’s village hoping to find her (and confess that he loves her). Having to go off on nothing but his memories and drawing pictures of the town’s scenery, Taki sets off to find Mitsuha’s town by going to other towns in the countryside but no one seems to know about the town until he stops at a ramen shop where the owner of the shop sees his drawing and tells him about the town and the tragedy that happened there. It turns out the place doesn’t exist because that comet at the festival crashed into the town and killed just about everyone (here’s where things really start to get interesting). This disaster took place 3 years ago which means that Taki and Mitsuha have been traveling through time while switching bodies with each other (holy shit that is a good twist). Since Mitsuha is dead that means that everything that happened after her death is slowly starting to disappear from Taki’s life including his memories of when he was in Mitsuha’s body but he thinks he might have discovered a way to switch bodies one more time and save everyone. He returns to the remains of the town’s shrine (first the shrine gets destroyed than the town. I think the gods are trying to tell us something) where he finds the sake and drinks it since it contains traces of her essence (you drank 3 year old sake that’s been sitting underground in a temple? That’s just gross). He slips and falls unconscious where he sees visions (done in amazing drawings) of Mitsuha’s life (say Yume, Chibi. You guys are experts in this line of work how would you explain all of this? (Yume and Chibi Isis): Magic. (Nitsuj): I thought so). Taki returns to Mitsuha’s body where the grandma knows she’s not speaking to Mitsuha and hears what Taki has to say but she says nobody will believe him (Shizuku: Obviously, you need something more threatening and likely to happen to scare people. (Seras): I suggest a fire. What? The town’s going to be destroyed anyway so why not get a head start and destroy it on your terms). Taki gets together with Mitsuha’s friends where they come up with a plan to hijack the communication systems in town and evacuate everyone to the school grounds where they’ll be safe from the comet however they still need to get the town council on their side so Taki goes to speak to Mitsuha’s dad where he doesn’t believe him (or her. You know what I mean). As Taki walks the streets defeated he bumps into Mitsuha’s sister who tells him Mitsuha left for Tokyo yesterday which gives Taki the idea that Mitsuha also went to the shrine so he goes there where he starts to remember that 3 years ago he actually met Mitsuha on a train but because of that 3 year difference the Taki, Mitusha met didn’t know her. Taki makes it back to the shrine where sure enough Mitsuha is there in Taki’s body but in different times. It’s only when the twilight hour arrives where the two finally meet each other and realize what they have to do. As the twilight hour comes to an end they decide to write each other’s name on each other’s hand so they don’t forget each other. Taki writes his name but before Mitsuha can write hers she vanishes. Mitsuha returns to the town where she and her friends put Taki’s plan into motion. They blow up the small power station (oh my God they’re criminals) and make the announcement telling everyone to evacuate but city council puts a stop to their plans. Mitsuha rushes to her dad where she convinces him to evacuate the town before it’s too late. A majority of the people get saved with only a few dying however both Taki and Mitsuha forget each other and Taki instead of writing his name on Mitsuha’s hand instead wrote I love you (okay, as romantic as that is that was stupid on his part). We fast forward 5 years later where Taki has graduated from college and is now looking for work. While riding in a train he spots Mitsuha but loses track of her. They see each other again while on separate trains, get off, and finally see each other on a staircase and ask for each other’s name ending the film on a cliffhanger leaving us to wonder if they do remember each other’s name and if they do will they end up together (I think so).
Final Thoughts
So that was Your Name and what can I say about that no one else hasn’t already? It’s a great film, it has good characters, an excellent soundtrack, a story that captures your interest, it does the body switching correctly, and it features some of the best animation I have seen in an animated film. But despite all these great things I just don’t see how this beat Spirit Away. Don’t get me wrong, like I said before it’s a great film but there are 3 problems I have with it.
The first is the romance. While it’s clear that Taki and Mitsuha love each other we never see how it happens. They just both wake up and realize that they love each other. How? We never saw them interact with each other or talk about each other. It be different if they set aside time to show us that they used their notebooks or phones to ask each other questions and from there went on to get to learn more about each other and slowly develop feelings for each other. That would have been a great idea but they never show any of that, they just wake up and realize they love each other and I just wish they did this part better in my opinion. The second is why were they able to switch bodies in the first place? We never get an explanation as to why this is happening or what the cause of it is. Even Taki and Mitsuha pretty much stop caring about it even though they said they were going to figure it all. For that matter why these two? I can understand Mitsuha but why Taki? From what we see he doesn’t have any real disdain for his life like Mitsuha so why was he chosen and why the 3-year difference to boot? The final problem have is I left with nothing. One of the things that makes me like Spirited Away so much was that it left me with a new perspective on growing up, not being afraid of the unknown, and having the courage to do what needs to be done even when you’re afraid. The Castle of Cagliostro left me with the idea of how to balance out a film that welcomes new fans, doesn’t betray the expectations of current fans, stays true to the source material while also adding something new, and keeping you interested in what’s going to happen next. Your Name didn’t leave me with anything new. While it’s true they did the whole body switch thing correctly we’ve known how to do it right for years thanks to past movies and in terms of romance and how it develops between two people it doesn’t offer me anything nor does it attempt to be unique or memorable as past romances I’ve seen.
Final Score
My final score for Your Name is an 8.5/10 with a must watch stamp of approval. I know it sounded like I was bashing the film at the end but despite the 3 problems I have with it, this is still a fantastic film and one of the most beautiful films I’ve seen in my life. It’s just that in the end when all is said and done and I compare this film with Spirited Away, I think Spirited Away was the overall better film. Well that’s my review and before you guys start writing your death threats and while I have your attention I have an important announcement to make. I will be going on hiatus this summer. Nothing bad has happened to me. I’m not sick, injured, not in trouble, nor is there a death in my family. I’m just taking the summer off to recharge, relax, and come back better than ever. The hiatus isn’t indefinitely, I’ll be back in August and when I do I’ll have an arc ready and everything. This is goodbye for now but I’ll be back. Until then, thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.
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