Your Name: Review

Introduction

The story is set one month after a comet has fallen for the first time in a thousand years in Japan. Mitsuha, a high school girl living in the countryside, wants to live in the city because she is tired of life in the country. Then, there’s Taki. He’s a high school student living in Tokyo with his friends while working as a part-timer at an Italian restaurant. He also has a strong interest in fine arts involving architecture. One day, Mitsuha dreams of herself as a young man. On the other hand, Taki also has a dream where he is a female student attending high school in the countryside. What’s the secret behind their dreams?

Storyline

The movie centers on two characters, Mitsuha Miyamizu – a schoolgirl in rural Japan who dreams of going to the city, and Taki Tachibana, an aspiring architectural student in Tokyo. With the passing of a rare comet, the two start imagining out of body experiences in which their consciousness swaps with each other while they sleep and dream. This leads to some comedic moments and the characters make rules regarding those switches. As the nature of their dreamlike, out of body experiences is revealed, the two resolve to meet each other. But in their attempt to do so, a dark truth of their relationship emerges, accelerating the story and replacing the comedic elements with a suspenseful quest to find each other and ultimately, race against time. I don’t think any can explain any further without spoiling the plot but I assure you its one of the best stories you can experience.

Characters

Mitsuha Miyamizu

There’s no way we could meet. But one thing is certain. If we see each other, we’ll know. That you were the one who was inside me. That I was the one who was inside you

Mitsuha Miyamizu is the female protagonist of Kimi no Na wa.. She is a 17-year old high-school student living in a small rural town called Itomori and a member of the Miyamizu family where she serves as a priestess in her family shrine.

Taki Tachibana

I’m not sure if I’m searching for a person or a place, or if I’m just searching for a job.

Taki Tachibana is the male protagonist of Kimi no Na wa.. He is a 17-year old high-school student who lives a busy lifestyle as he juggles his part-time job at an Italian restaurant, spends fun times with his friends and hopes for a future in architecture.

Animation

The animation is really beautiful as expected from Makoto’s works as he have spended three years into animated it. The film has some stunning backgrounds resources and information. It is definitely one of the most visually appealing anime I have seen after a long time. The art in itself is enough to evoke tears.

Music

They spent time to develop the whole album for this movie! No big complained for me, just some suggestion to fill. They should use a mix of womans voice in the song more often! They also need to put some more nuance using soundtrack for some places. But this is already good. However the OST and Song lacks characteristic. I can’t hear the songs at some point and recalled it correctly as this movie OST. Different from, for example Yuki Kajiura’s that is easily recognizable. On another note, it can be seen that the song only served to help set the mood, and not to stand out on its own. Different from the case of Byousoku 5 cm, where the song is very vital for the ending and presentations. So, nice usage too.

Theme

It plays on the hope we have that there’s someone out there who we’re destined to be with. You don’t know who they are but you know when you meet them — when everything clicks as if you’ve known each other for years. Mitsuha and Taki’s story is a visual representation of what it feels like to find your soulmate.

Voice Acting

I got to credit the voice actors for trying to sound like what it would be like if someone from the opposite gender were playing them and they do a great job in subtle ways. The rest of the cast do a great job at their roles as well.

Story pacing

The story might felt long but not so long cause of the slow pacing of the story. But the duration of the movie is only 1 hour and 47 minutes which is not too long for a movie. The duration is about right. However I admit, that there is not enough time to show the whole body swapping experience and explore more on that. Well, you have to choose on something.

Conclusion

At last, for review notes, if you didn’t get the whole story at first viewing. I suggests you just enjoy the first and watch again to experience it in more detail. This movie is kinda like Inception. Sometimes you don’t get it the first time.