I don’t post reviews for anime here but I’ll make an exception this time. Last night, I watched Kimi no Na wa (Your Name) at a local cinema. I didn’t really plan on watching but I’ve seen some reviews and they’re all quite positive, even one of my favorite movie reviewers (Chris Stuckmann) gave it an A+ and he doesn’t usually do that unless it’s actually good. That piqued my interest.
This is such a huge hit in Japan and I was worried it might be overhyped but when I walked out of the cinema, I thought it exceeded my expectation. I actually enjoyed it a lot. I won’t go as far to say it’s perfect because the plot does seem a bit clichéd, but I’m glad they didn’t focus too heavily on the romance. You know how some love stories can get really cheesy, lack substance and sink into that melodrama abyss.
They managed to make this deeper than I expected, starting from body swapping, thrusting the two leads into a chaotic yet exciting out-of-the-world experience. It really helps if you’re familiar with anime or Japanese culture, because there are certain body languages and even the use of pronouns/dialects that are different for the leads (one coming from the countryside and another from Tokyo). So it’s nice to pick up the slight variations, largely thanks to the amazing voice acting by Kamiki Ryunosuke (Taki) and Mone Kamishiraishi (Mitsuha), especially when they’re in each other’s bodies, Taki sounds more feminine while Mitsuha, more masculine.
Novel: Kimi No Na Wa
BTW, did anyone think of Kokoro Connect? Because the body swap really reminded me of that anime, if you haven’t heard or seen it, I recommend it!
To be honest, when the twist came, I didn’t really know how I felt about it. Perhaps, I was thinking of something different from a comet disaster (in my mind, I was hoping for some time slip or them coming from a totally different era; not just a few years, which would make this totally heartbreaking XD) but anyways, the connection between the comet and the body swap alongside the whole ‘musubi’ beliefs are tied nicely together.
Apart from that, I don’t have much to complain at all. I wouldn’t expect any less from Makoto Shinkai, judging from his previous works. So it’s visually stunning and color-rich I don’t know how anyone wouldn’t appreciate the beauty. The impressive details in the landscape, for example, the crater where Mitsuha, Yotsuha and their grandma visited, that particular scene was just breathtaking! So pretty. Tokyo’s urban landscape is equally remarkable. The skies too.
Your Name. 1 By Makoto Shinkai
Onto the music, it’s perfect. Firstly, having RADWIMPS to deliver the songs is one of the best decisions they ever made, I haven’t watched anime where they insert songs in between (I think there were 3-4 times) so that was refreshing, even the lyrics are fitting (Yojiro Noda, the vocalist was asked to compose and write lyrics that match the characters/plot). If not for the soundtrack, I don’t think I would have enjoyed this as much so make sure you get the soundtrack, it’s beautiful and stirring. If I were to pick some memorable scenes with great music in the background, the train scene where Mitsuha went to find Taki for the first time, the piano track is so poignant, my heart almost stopped beating. Even that scene when they met during twilight at the crater is so whimsical and melancholic.Overtaking Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away as the highest grossing Japanese animated film to date is Makoto Shinkai’s latest film Kimi no Na wa or also known as Your Name, a fun and emotional teen body swap story between a city boy in Tokyo and a country girl in the remote fictional town of Itomori.
Mitsuha (Mone Kamishiraishi) is school girl living in Itomori, a remote town in the Hida mountains, who spends her days going to school and tending to the family shrine. She’s bored and hates living in a small town in the middle of nowhere, exclaiming to the sky to make her a “handsome Tokyo boy in her next life”. Taki (Ryunosuke Kamiki) is a city boy living in Tokyo who spends his time between school, cafes and working at an Italian restaurant, while also struggling to make anything of his crush on his work colleague Okudera (Masami Nagasawa). At some point in time (as the film never makes it clear as to when) Mitsuha and Taki start to body swap on different days every week. At first, they assume the experiences to be dreams but they soon realise the reality of the situation when friends and family speak of how they have been acting strangely recently. The two begin to communicate through messages left in notepads, on their arms and faces and in the phones. While in Mitsuha’s body Taki increases her popularity in school while also experiencing the beauty of the town of Itomori, while when Mitsuha is in Taki’s body she indulges in extravagant food and desserts while getting things going between Taki and Okudera. They learn about each other through these experiences as the film builds up to the event of the comet passing overhead in the night sky.
In English) received heaps of praise as one of the best animated films to ever come out of Japan. Upon the release of the film, Makoto Shinkai has been hailed as the ‘next Miyazaki’. However, this shouldn’t be taken as Shinkai becoming a copy of the famous director as his own style of using gorgeous looking animation shines through in
Film Review Kimi No Na Wa: Full Of Typical Emotional Scenes Makoto Shinkai — Steemit
Visually the film is stunning, so much so that most frames of the film could be taken out and hung up on the wall like a painting, especially in scenes showing the beauty of Itomori. When Taki stares in awe at the lake surrounded by the Hida mountains, the beauty and detail of the scenery allow us to stare in awe with him. It’s not just the scenery in the countryside that holds this amount of detail either; we also experience a different kind of beauty in the bright and lively city of Tokyo, watching the city lights dim as the sun rises between the skyscrapers. However, the most stunning shots in the film can be seen when the comet flies overhead as the night sky is filled with colour. Seeing all of this on the big screen will leave you speechless. This film is visually stunning in more ways than just the scenery though, as can be seen in the animation of the kuchikamizake ritual performed at the shrine by Mitsuha and her younger sister Yotsuha (Kanon Tani), who I should mention is one of the most adored members of the cast for those who have seen the film. There is also a magnificent hand drawn cell animated sequence later in the film which to go into too much detail about would spoil the events of the story.
The music in the film composed by J-rock band Radwimps has been criticized by some for feeling out of place and in some cases ruining scenes, however I think that the pop music suits the themes of the film perfectly as it captured the essence of teenage drama while getting you dancing in your seat when upbeat and close to tearing up in the more emotional moments. The music by Radwimps gives the film life and gives it a unique feeling that makes it stand out from the crowd. It’s different from what we’d usually see in Japanese animated films, but it works. The sound design was also stellar, overall the film looks and sounds great.
In terms of what we come to know about each character, we learn much about Mitsuha and her past while not much is known about Taki’s past, for example the absence of his mother is never explained, but this is not something that really affects the narrative, as much of Taki’s story takes place within the film. While most of the focus is on the two main characters Mitsuha and Taki, the supporting cast is given just enough screen time to still feel relevant, and seeing the interactions between the friends and family of Taki and Mitsuha when they’ve been body swapped is both humorous and entertaining. This isn’t just another teen body swap film either, as what I’ve described so far is only under half of the film’s plot, as the story takes a very unexpected turn after the first third of the film, using the body swap trope in a very unique and interesting way.
Your Name Manga & Books Buying Guide (kimi No Na Wa)
The only negatives the film has are very few and can mostly be seen as nit-picking, for example, there are some jokes throughout the film that kind of require a very basic understanding of the Japanese language and culture, so if you’ve seen much Japanese animated films and shows before you’re more likely to understand certain jokes and references, however seeing as this is a Japanese film this can hardly be seen as a fault. There are arguably also some plot holes in regard to the
Visually the film is stunning, so much so that most frames of the film could be taken out and hung up on the wall like a painting, especially in scenes showing the beauty of Itomori. When Taki stares in awe at the lake surrounded by the Hida mountains, the beauty and detail of the scenery allow us to stare in awe with him. It’s not just the scenery in the countryside that holds this amount of detail either; we also experience a different kind of beauty in the bright and lively city of Tokyo, watching the city lights dim as the sun rises between the skyscrapers. However, the most stunning shots in the film can be seen when the comet flies overhead as the night sky is filled with colour. Seeing all of this on the big screen will leave you speechless. This film is visually stunning in more ways than just the scenery though, as can be seen in the animation of the kuchikamizake ritual performed at the shrine by Mitsuha and her younger sister Yotsuha (Kanon Tani), who I should mention is one of the most adored members of the cast for those who have seen the film. There is also a magnificent hand drawn cell animated sequence later in the film which to go into too much detail about would spoil the events of the story.
The music in the film composed by J-rock band Radwimps has been criticized by some for feeling out of place and in some cases ruining scenes, however I think that the pop music suits the themes of the film perfectly as it captured the essence of teenage drama while getting you dancing in your seat when upbeat and close to tearing up in the more emotional moments. The music by Radwimps gives the film life and gives it a unique feeling that makes it stand out from the crowd. It’s different from what we’d usually see in Japanese animated films, but it works. The sound design was also stellar, overall the film looks and sounds great.
In terms of what we come to know about each character, we learn much about Mitsuha and her past while not much is known about Taki’s past, for example the absence of his mother is never explained, but this is not something that really affects the narrative, as much of Taki’s story takes place within the film. While most of the focus is on the two main characters Mitsuha and Taki, the supporting cast is given just enough screen time to still feel relevant, and seeing the interactions between the friends and family of Taki and Mitsuha when they’ve been body swapped is both humorous and entertaining. This isn’t just another teen body swap film either, as what I’ve described so far is only under half of the film’s plot, as the story takes a very unexpected turn after the first third of the film, using the body swap trope in a very unique and interesting way.
Your Name Manga & Books Buying Guide (kimi No Na Wa)
The only negatives the film has are very few and can mostly be seen as nit-picking, for example, there are some jokes throughout the film that kind of require a very basic understanding of the Japanese language and culture, so if you’ve seen much Japanese animated films and shows before you’re more likely to understand certain jokes and references, however seeing as this is a Japanese film this can hardly be seen as a fault. There are arguably also some plot holes in regard to the
