Kimi no Na wa.

By no means is this a bad anime, however it is far from worthy of the number one spot on MAL. The story is well-written and one of the most well-structured anime I have seen in a while, however the story itself is quite lacking in that it doesn't show enough character development. The concepts that the director have instilled in the characters are very pronounced and admirable, however it is belief that others see this as true character development. Even at the end of this show, it felt that the characters themselves were rushed and were easily predictable, making them quite cheesy (though that ... seems to not be something the director focused on). All in all, it IS a movie; this does not, however, mean that it is better than anime series just because it can compact many ideas.

Although the main concept of alternating lives is an intriguing one I haven't come across before, it does not make up for the rest of the story, which lacks in depth. It is good to watch as a simple, well-constructed movie, but it does not have all the characteristics required for the most astonishing and creative anime.

Verdict sentence: Over-hype.

Seeing this movie so high, at the top ratings, made me incredibly curious about it, and I watched it with the highest expectations possible.
So, overall, I can tell that I enjoyed it, and that it was as fun as it was emotional... HOWEVER, Kimi no Na wa, has its flaws:

Let's start by briefly explaining what the plot is:
SPOILERS AHEAD
A boy and a girl, suddenly ( and I doubt it's ever explained why ), start switching bodies, each time they go to sleep. They also wake up with amnesia-like symptoms, not remembering what each other's names are. So, they start using ... diaries to contact each others when they switch, and living with this mysterious phenomenon.
However, once they stop switching for a good while, the boy finds out that the girl died in a natural disaster ( in this case, a comet crashed onto her village, killing pretty much everyone ), three years prior to this supernatural phenomenon. The boy then, finds a way to switch bodies with her once again, and tries to change the past by warning everyone about the incoming catastrophe. Unfortunately, he fails, and the girl dies once again.
The ending is quite odd. Both the protagonists find each others in their adulthood, and there the movie ends.

So, I honestly can enjoy seeing the interesting experience of two individuals switching bodies, especially when they are both of different gender and live in completely different settings... However, I was not happy about how they simply went along with it, didn't question it, or simply have not figured out that they lived in different timelines. In this regard, I feel like the movie skips very important parts of storytelling, and stretches itself out in useless scenes that do not advance the story at all. The beginning itself is very confusing, and slow.

The animation and effects are beautiful, but when it's about a movie and not an anime series with several episodes, there has to be more than godly animation to impress me. The sound was pretty good, but doesn't quite fit as I wish it would have.

The main characters, just as the plot, concern themselves too much on romance, and almost never on drama, despite the situation and the circumstances would require them to. And also by the fact that these two haven't even actually spoke to one another. Their personalities are also very difficult to pinpoint. You may say that the side characters are actually written, or interpreted better.

The ending made no sense, and it's unexplained as well, plus it is also a cliffhanger.

Honestly, I can say that I enjoyed this movie a lot, but the ratings are absolutely overrating it. This is NOWHERE near the best between every anime series and movies! WAKE UP, PEOPLE!

Anyway, despite its flaws, it was a really fun and kinda unique movie to watch.
A good 7/10. I would give it an 8 if at least a few things would have been handled in a better way.

Having Watched Garden of Words, 5 Centimeters a Second, I could kind of guess that Kimi No Na Wa would be a film of similar caliber. By similar caliber, I mean astounding visuals but lacking in plot and character. Kimi no Na Wa follows this trend, but flops completely when it comes to story and character.

Story 1/10

To be honest, I would give the story less than 1 if I could. Its not unexpected however, If you've watched similar movies such as Garden of Words and 5 Centimeters. However, Kimi no na Wa does exceptionally bad at the story.

Although a general slice of life, ... romantic comedy is acceptable, Kimi no Na Wa attempted to try to become something it was not. Most notable is the beginning of the story, in which the characters swap bodies and affect each others lives. Although this part of the story is admittedly generic and not outstandingly creative, it does give the story a casual air to it, which also leads to some throwback humor as well. I admit that I personally was curious as to how severely the main characters could alter each others lives. However, the story goes in the wrong direction when it attempts to swing the entire story towards disaster.

If Kimi no Na Wa was simply a romantic comedy with some quirks and spins of its own, the story would be acceptable. However the story completely destroys what little it had by beginning to focus on the meteor falling apart, which leads to ideas such as amnesia, body swapping, death, and some ridiculous plot holes.

Although no story is without flaw, Kimi no Na Wa fails to explain what is happening, and gives not the slightest clue as to why it is happening. After watching the movie, nobody knows why the main character's can't remember each other, why the male protagonist randomly decides to search for the girl, and why they swapped bodies. However that's not it.

The major sins of the story lie in the ridiculous concepts. The writers attempt to convince you that a child is able to first convince her friends that they are all going to die, and then proceeds to convince her father, the Mayor as well, who ultimately evacuates the entire town. It's hard to swallow that her friends could simply nod their heads and accept that they are going to die today, and its even more ridiculous how she was able to convince her father.
It only adds to my disappointment that the movie doesn't even show how she convinced her father, and simply cuts it out.

I could write a book on Kimi no Na Wa's story, but lets just leave it at the most outstanding major flaws.

Character 1/10

The character themselves are bland, boring, and most importantly, have ideals, goals and ideas that the watcher simply cannot understand.

There's no clear indicator as to why the characters fall in love, and what they like about each other. However their unrealistic motives only add to their already boring characteristics.

And let me just say that boring characters are at times, okay. When it comes to casual shows or a simple slice of life, one can expect a character to be somewhat bland. However as a show that tries to make a huge impact, Kimi no Na Wa's characters jump from stagnant to super heroes, which gives the viewer no room for connection as the characters seem to act as puppets whose only purposes are to allow for the story to develop.

In general, the characters begin as generic and boring, and ended off as unrealistic and even more bland than before.

Art 10/10

However not all is lost, as Kimi no Na Wa shines in its vivid animation and golden scenery. This is to be expected by the producing studio, and it does not disappoint.

Sound 8/10

This is to be expected for any movie.

Enjoyment 3/10

I hate to rate enjoyment, as I was slightly interested in the beginning but quickly lost all interest as the story progressed. The arts good, so I wont give it a 1/10.

Overall 1/10

My general advice to you is to watch the movie and critique it by yourself first, without the input of others. However I would not recommend this movie to anyone, as there are so many better movies out there begging to be watched. Go watch a Gibly film and do yourself a favor.

How do I describe the greatest piece of media to ever grace my lowly existence? Well, let’s start with what’s immediately obvious about Kimi no Na wa, because just the surface layer of this masterpiece is enough to impress even the most cynical of critics.

Without getting into spoilers, I’ll sum up the plot as convoluted and poorly paced. The sloppiness in storytelling really touched me and added an immeasurable amount of weight to the gorgeous animation. That’s right, the rumors were correct. This movie is beautiful. The sheer amount of lens flares present during the runtime shone brightly on my soul and illuminated what ... life really is about. If I had a body pillow for every time the rays of the sun were enhanced to unsightly levels in the post-production of this movie, I’d have my own cotton harem.

Besides the presentation being obviously exceptional, the writing takes spotlight at the same time and plays like a symphony to accompany the art on screen. Both protagonists are incredibly complex and distinctive, as is typical of Makoto Shinkai’s films. In fact, I was so dazzled by the natural characterization that I can’t even remember the personalities or features of either the girl or the boy! How incredible is it that the title of the film, ‘Your Name’, would tie in so seamlessly with how I can’t remember their names? It’s like I’m constantly finding new masterful brushstrokes in this Mona Lisa of an anime.

In the end, this movie’s message poignantly shaped how I think. Previous to my first viewing (of dozens), I would have thought that if I got switched into the body of a random person consistently over weeks, I should probably figure out her location relative to mine or at least try to call my number. But now that I’ve watched Kimi no Na wa, I know that in order to advance the suspense in the plot I should just partake in such classic antics as living her life for her and groping her boobies! How else would the movie sell well to the widest audience possible? All I can say is, thank you Makoto Shinkai. You’ve given meaning to my life, and I’ll forever cherish this gift of enlightenment.

Overall 10/10, but actually 7/10 because on my eleventh rewatch I realized that it was supposed to be a romance.

This is just The Lake House but animated, and instead of a mailbox, they body-swap. If you can watch this without thinking it's a 1-1 facelift of The Lake House, congratulations, you're delusional. There are way too many similarities, practically all of them, to believe that Shinkai had not seen The Lake House before making this atrocity. They even have a train scene where he tries to meet her. Ironically, the only part I enjoyed- the body-swapping- is the only part that is different. Well, aside from the sudden amnesia subplot in the last half-hour, because Shinkai felt he needed further justification for the title, ... which he didn't, that puts the last nails of the plot into the coffin.

Your Name also marks the first time Shinkai officially sold out to teen consumer culture by departing from his usual, good adult contemporary stories. It's one of the shallowest, easiest crowds you can sell out to, as seen by this awful, copy-pasted plot. I actually enjoyed 5 Cm for its realism in an industry bombastically oversaturated with wish fulfillment, and this takes an axe to that. Even his prior fantasy works could not be considered wish fulfillment. Children who Chase Lost Voices is currently my favorite of his works (I still need to see his old OVAs). It has some distinct themes about coping with death, but mostly it's just pure fun, something Your Name forgets to have because it was too busy checking off a marketing list for teens.

Sure, this movie looks great, but why watch a bad movie that looks good when Ghibli is a studio?

[7.0/10]
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So I finally got around to watching Your Name and it was a pleasantly surprising movie. It didn't intrigue me much from the trailer. While the idea seemed at least sort of interesting, these kinds of teen romances haven't ever been an object of enthusiasm from me. They often feel overly naive and cloying. I can't control my own cynicism, can I?

Your Name surprised me in two ways. One, it provided a fairly hefty twist midway through which thankfully wasn't spoiled in the trailer. Two, its focus on romance was less abrasive than I expected. I was pleased with how little the focus ... got in the way with the story that was actually interesting to me, which both serves as a criticism and a compliment. The objective of Shinkai was to create a romance, but the romance he was creating wasn't that interesting. Ethereal connections rarely peak my interest.

That being said, the story around the romance was much tighter. A refreshing dose of like-able secondary characters, at least from one side, provided an added bonus. Inject some beautiful animation and serviceable voice acting and you get a product that feels both easily like-able but also oddly detached from any emotional core. Regardless, it was a good, yet somewhat unremarkable movie.

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[Chemistry Class]

The story of Mitsuha, a seventeen year old girl born in the countryside; who's sick of the countryside, wishes to be an attractive boy living in Tokyo. Enter Taki, an attractive seventeen year old boy living in Tokyo. Her wish gets granted, inexplicably, and she switches bodies with this boy for a day. Obvious hi-jinx ensues and they keep switching bodies until one day they don't.

This entire concept takes place within around forty minutes and while it is nice, compact, and tidy. It never actually resonated with me. There were a few visual gags here and there, mostly played towards the girls expense, but they really didn't craft a solid, cosmic relationship between the two. Don't get me wrong, it is very difficult to create chemistry between two characters that never met. However, that is what Shinkai set out to do and unfortunately, he didn't succeed. This tight summary and introduction to these characters was decently interesting but, as I said, it lacked any emotional attachment. I never felt as though they were bonding with one another through stepping into each others shoes.

Perhaps this served to bring the story into its more dramatic second act, however, the total lack of dramatic storytelling felt at ends with the romance that the viewer needs to believe in. What i'm trying to say is that they learned nothing about one another. I suppose that's the point. To create a cosmic connection. However, I don't believe it. Maybe i'm just a victim of my own bias and interest in different kinds of stories, but the whole "fate brought us together" is such a unbearable cliche to me. This is my cynicism talking, but you can't just form a connection through vague metaphors about time.

The story itself, though, was very well structured. While the connection between characters was never intriguingly romantic, the connection they had to their environments and the narrative that weaved through them was most definitely interesting. Especially come the second act where your notions about the story are completely derailed in the best way possible. Suddenly I cared, not about the two protagonists, but about the concept of the story.

While Mitsuha's side of the narrative was better, as she had more developed secondary characters that played a significantly more important role in the story. Taki's side felt extremely barren in comparison. The secondaries never felt lively or engaging and hardly had any fun interactions with one another. This even permeates to Taki himself. A character is only as good as the characters he or she bounce off of, if that is what the writing requires. So the lack of decently realized secondaries really drags his character down as well.

Since Mitsuha's side was more prominent, the story never felt meandering. When Taki eventually dominated the scene by himself, it was more compelling since he wasn't in need of bouncing off the lifeless corpses that were the side characters in his story. I'll speak about the concept of scenery later.

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[Sound and Visuals]

What can I say. This film is beautifully animated. Was there ever a doubt? The designs are slick, the landscapes are gorgeous, and everything is perfect and easy on the eyes. Apart from one moment towards the second half of the second arc where you are taken through some pretty surreal and awesome imagery, the movie never really flexes the animated muscles. It's a beautiful film to look at, but it never makes a statement about that.

If I had to point out a minor complaint it's that there was a lot of noticeable CGI utilized in various scenes. Particularly the vehicles moving around the highway. Especially in shots that are closer, it becomes a bit too clear that they are totally computer generated. In other words, the compositing could've used some work. However, other moments where blatant CG was composited within the image were smooth and easy on the eyes.

What a lot of viewers don't realize is just how much CG is being used in animation now a-days. Even this kind of cell-shaded animation utilizes fully rendered CG landscapes with some well-placed cell-shading to make it look like what you'd expect from two dimensions. This allows the director, in this case Shinkai, to do more complicated shots without the need of painstakingly redrawing certain frames and images. For example, there is a panorama early on in the movie and it was completely rendered, thankfully, very well made and virtually unnoticeable.

Great compositing mixed with slightly below-average compositing occasionally detracts from a few of these more atmospheric scenes. However, it never makes a big enough impact to ruin any of them. In fact, you don't even see many cars on the highway. It's fine. The directing, as well, is serviceable. A few dazzling and creative segments intertwined with less-inspired imagery dominated the film. Some moments I can't help but admire the shot composition, other moments are kind of boring. I wish directors played around with dialogue a bit more in general, since a lot of the dialogue here rarely actually looks interesting apart from maybe the scenery in the background elevating it.

The sound is good. Again, some great sound effects mixed in with music that I personally don't really care for. I think there was one moment later on in the film that felt completely dissonant in terms of the song being played and the events happening. The people are in a panic but there is this up-beat pop-song in the background. It was jarring and completely unnecessary. Your Name also included a series-like opening introduction which felt unnatural and baffling. Even the montage, while the smallest offender here, still didn't work that well.

Sonically, it wasn't bad, it just had a hard time fitting in. The sound effects themselves, such as the rain pouring down and Shinkai's fetish for opening (and closing) doors all sound great. The music itself could use some work. It felt as though the producers got a few people to write this music and they just had to shoehorn it into the film somehow.

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[Place Over People]

Towards the third act of the movie, I began realizing something kind of strange happening. I started to realize that I care more about the land than I do the people inhabiting it. I personally can't tell if this was intentional or not, but the countryside that Mitsuha inhabits is so detailed and gorgeous and has such a alluring whimsical appeal that I couldn't help but fall in love with it. The focus on this little town was abundant, but it never felt as if it was the purpose. It was written in as a story point, rather than a character in and of itself. Yet I had a better connection with this town than I did any of the characters.

Once again, I'm not sure if it was intentional or not but in art I always love giving the benefit of the doubt. Even as our two protagonists forget each others names and that's the emotional string being snapped, Taki, an aspiring architect, remembers the town Mitsuha inhabits. The fact that he forgets her name, yet remembers this world she lives in creates this wonderful connection that was never elaborated on. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. Would that connection lose its value if Shinkai elaborated on it?

What's even stranger is that Mitsuha wants to desperately leave this place. She thinks it is boring, lame, and totally not what she wants. She waxes on about how much she rather live in a bustling city like Tokyo, with cafes and people surrounding her being. Yet Tokyo, while pretty, never has even remotely the kind of life and vibrancy that this town has. Yet this is never addressed. She never talks about this again. If this is subtle storytelling it comes from a completely unexpected place since, for the most part, everything is explained pretty well within the world. Of course they don't touch the "time" and technical aspects of the body-swapping. But I never expected them to. With stories like these, stories which aim to tell an ethereal experience with a celestial connection, there is no need to bog it down with a technical side of the whole ordeal.

Regardless, this fascinating location helped elevate the stakes of the story for reasons I dare not spoil. I will say, however, this connection I drew added so much more than the romance these two characters are explained to have.

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[Conclusion]

Your Name is a good movie. I can definitely recommend it to just about anyone, anime fan or otherwise. I can even see why it is so highly rated. It is an infinitely accessible story with just enough nuance to become a narrative people feel is original and making a statement without ever becoming something esoteric or avant garde.

There are a few issues here and there that often detract from certain scenes that I won't harp on. For example, the amount of out-loud monologuing that happens is just unacceptable. It feels as though it is there simply to explain, bluntly, to the viewer what these characters are thinking. Visual storytelling is never really utilized, which is unfortunate since the movie itself is so beautifully drawn. There are also a few logical lapses that cause character motivations and decisions to be extremely questionable and occasionally stupid. However, it is almost wholly a positive, albeit somewhat unremarkable experience.

Your Name brings gorgeous animation, decently realized characters, just enough charm, and a surprisingly interesting premise. What it lacks is heart. Apart from the little town that I drew a connection to, I felt almost completely detached from everything in this movie. It never felt like a passion project. Which unfortunately caused me not to become invested in a lot of the scenes being created. Thankfully, Your Name's restraint on overly-cloying and obnoxiously dramatic romance deserves praise. Anime, often rightfully so, is criticized for presenting emotions way too bluntly. Romance is often overly-saccharine, anger is often overly-angsty, and so on. While Your Name isn't devoid of sappy sentimentality, it doesn't indulge in it.

Which speaks for the movie as whole. It has this extraordinarily talented group of animators with all the budget and time in the world working on it, yet it never feels the need to show off. The story is surprisingly understated, albeit for an absurdly huge blockbuster that it is, and was meant to be. The romantic themes may not be fully realized, but the film itself feels like a whole. I appreciate that.

TL;DR: If you’re watching for the plot, wait for one of your friends to pick this up on blu-ray. If you’re here for the overall experience, it’s totally worth your twelve bucks to see this at the theater. In fact, it’s worth it to go twice.

STORY (5/10)

One of my favorite authors is Ray Bradbury. If you’ve read any of his stories, especially “Night Meeting,” it’s difficult not to compare Kimi no Na wa. to his work. The mix of heartfelt slice-of-life and compelling, almost breathtaking science-fiction is what initially made me love his writing so much, and it is exactly this that is the ... strong point of Kimi no Na wa. We are introduced to our main characters as they find themselves inhabiting each other’s bodies, and, instead of delving into the (probably boring and obnoxious) science behind this, the story simply plays out in a very enjoyable and easily digestible way, showing how they cope with each other’s everyday life. About halfway through, a very well-foreshadowed plot twist hits, which was what really sold me initially on this movie. In truly Bradbury-esque fashion, we watch as the bonds built up between these characters are slowly broken down by a cosmic force beyond their control.

If you’re determined enough to find plot holes in something, you will find them. Obviously, Kimi no Na wa. is no exception. This is especially true because of the inherently convoluted nature of its premise - it explores understandably confusing topics like dreams, soul-swapping, time travel, unconditional love, and hallucinations. The fact that all of these intriguing ideas are blended together does make the plot at times difficult to understand, but luckily, thanks to Shinkai’s great directing, the viewer can always tell what emotion they are supposed to be feeling and what details are important at any given time. However, if you choose to dig a bit deeper into the concepts presented, you can find some plot holes (I can't describe them without delving into spoiler territory). Of course, because of how little is known scientifically about all of the topics explored in this movie, it's also equally easy to find justifiable explanations and cover-ups for these plot holes.

What really bothered me about the story, though, was not the presence of plot holes, nor its confusing nature. After the plot twist halfway through, the movie starts to pile on more and more plot twists, which range from clever to goofy. Shinkai is known for making his viewers cry during his movies, but it felt as though this movie was trying a bit too hard to affect its audience near the end by piling on new ideas that neither meshed with the overall message and themes of the film nor made logical sense with the rest of the plot. There's a time about a half hour before the end where it feels like the movie is going to be over soon, but it keeps going on for a while, trying out all of these new ideas that almost feel like alternate endings. It's as though this movie has planned out ten possible endings but can't decide which to use, so it tries its best to use all of them at once, using time travel as a cheap excuse for the inherent convolution which follows. Naturally, it feels sloppy, and the scenes which focus on romance actually subtract from the movie’s effectiveness by straying from its focus on fate and supernatural forces in favor of throwing in desperate attempts at making the audience cry, which feel wholly unnecessary. Emotional appeal does not necessarily equate to a good story. Just look at Scum’s Wish - it felt uncomfortable to watch, but that didn't make it good, did it?

ANIMATION (10/10)

Breathtakingly beautiful. Some of the opening shots are of a comet streaking through the sky, and it only gets better from there. At one point, it even turns multimedia, with colored pencils and a different drawing style… There's really not much to say here other than GO WATCH THIS F***ING MOVIE.

SOUND (8/10)

There were three tracks that really stood out to me here. The opening theme, the ending theme, and the song that plays during a montage about halfway through were all great. Besides being a bit generic (teen romance movies always need rock music, right?), they are certainly good. When I went to see this with my friends, we were rocking out to the soundtrack during both car rides. I’ll probably be listening to that montage song for the next couple years.

Of course, because there is rock music used in this anime, it is impossible not to make jokes about Naruto.

CHARACTERS (4/10)

This was by far the weakest part of the film. I find it ironic that I couldn't even remember their names after the film was over. Both the male lead and the female lead were the most generic possible teenager characters, with neither characterized by anything other than where they worked. Their reactions to being in each other’s bodies were quite well handled, with an emphasis on initial surprise and confusion, and this helped to demonstrate their personalities. However, because we were given minimal background on these characters and therefore no reason to believe that they would act any other way, it is worth noting that these were the most generic reactions possible.

Even worse are the side characters. If the motivations of the main characters were foggy, these characters have no motivations at all. We are told about their relationships with one another, but these relationships never end up being explored. Some are simply forgotten about. The best example of this is near the beginning, when characters complain about how the mayor’s daughter gets along with the son of someone the mayor is working with, and it is hinted that nobody likes the mayor. Following that scene, the topic is never revisited. This seems like a genuinely interesting side plot that could really lead us to understand our characters better, but it is absolutely dropped for no reason.

Perhaps it would have been interesting to see how the side characters reacted to our heroes switching bodies. In a few cases, we do see how the body switches have impacted their lives. But we never see the side characters legitimately concerned about the sudden changes in personality that they see the main characters undergo. They mention the characters acting strange, and leave it at that. Never do they actually grow suspicious, even when it is hinted that other characters have experienced the same phenomenon. This becomes especially problematic after the main plot twist, when one side character just accepts a seemingly impossible story told by his friend because the plot requires him to provide the exact materials needed by the main character.

Near the end we have one of our leads going in for a job interview in a hilariously blatant show of forced character development. The main idea of character development is that it is supposed to help the hero grow out of a flaw that they somehow developed for themselves long ago. This scene does not connect to any problems the main character had had earlier.

Another thing that you will notice is that the only possible ending that the writers decided not to visit in the final half hour would have offered an opportunity for much more coherent character progression. However, it was left untouched.

ENJOYMENT (7/10)

I said it before, and I’ll say it again: If you're seeing this at a theater, you're going for the visuals, not the plot. And, as a Bradbury fan, I even found the plot to be pretty enjoyable. I knew most of the storyline going in, so I could see that there was a fair amount of rewatch value included in the movie as well. I’m a stickler for Chekhov’s Guns and plot holes, though, so I was a bit more bothered than most by the film’s storytelling problems.

Also, I found it difficult to be emotionally affected by the movie because I felt no attachment to the characters. As explained previously, if the ending had handled itself differently or if we had seen some more background to these characters, especially the male lead, I would have cared about them much more.

Nonetheless, this was still a treat to see in the theater.

OVERALL (7/10)

The car ride home from the theater was spent with my three friends (all who gave the movie a 10/10) trying to convince me to raise my rating. I don't see that happening, but I completely understand why they enjoyed it as much as they did.

It's not hard to see why this is ranked number one on this website. It may not be the best anime, but I'm certainly comfortable with Kimi no Na wa. remaining as the face of MAL for quite some time.

Let me start off by saying this is a movie that is heavily "supernatural" driven. While other shows may contain supernatural elements, they fail to lay out the foundation of those very elements until it is convenient; in other words, they usually wait to explain until the very end. However, with Your Name, it was laid out from the very beginning. By doing so, it marks a consistency and gives itself time to explore its world while not leaving you in the dark about the paranormal that is at play. This was one of the movie's essential strong points.

From the starting point, a comet ... was able to be seen by people from many places - two in particular. While the heavily populated city life brings up this sense of individuality and independence, the more community-based counterpart has a motif of connectivity and unity. Understandably, the contrasts of living in an exciting city or serene countryside - reinforced by the undeniably attractive visuals - is enticing to any eye. One could argue that anime, a form of art, is intended to make you feel, or make you think, or simply to be enjoyed. Although, one should also ask themselves what the perspective really is when viewing someone's story. Every good story should have a purpose, and every purpose should be supported by its story. Makoto Shinkai's works are similar in the sense that they are on an emotional spectrum with a sensitive side rather than a philosophical one more grounded to reality. You could debate about whether an anime is "realistic" or not, but then you would lose sight of the point. Kimi no Na wa ends up fabricating an interesting spin on the theory of time travel by implementing a supernatural twist of body switching along with it. However, by creating a reason that triggers these two elements, it manages to combine them both.

The body switching aspect playfully reveals the lives of our two main characters, the adventurous Mitsuha Miyamizu and the diligent Taki Tachibana. Mitsuha lives a more traditional and spiritual life while Taki lives a more modern and covetous lifestyle. While being in each other's bodies, they learn the little details about each other and grow to understand or respect one another's viewpoint. They, quite noticeably, influence and grow as individuals despite the unconventional role of communication or interaction. The prevalent theme of being connected is both shown from a direct and indirect position; from a straightforward supernatural approach to a much more broader concept of the "universe" in an intangible, spiritual sense. This theme is particularly supported by the comet itself that is present from start to finish. While the themes were certainly consistent, Kimi no Na wa's message is made evident by the "divide" in time and polarity of differences.

Overall, Your Name has an unyielding story right down to the title. Although it may not be on the realistic side, it is certainly an interesting and engaging experience that manages to deliver its overarching message of looking at the bigger picture.

I went into watching this movie expecting a masterpiece but I was left kind of underwhelmed at the end. My review will focus more on the flaws of this movie because this movie has been praised many different ways and nothing can be said that hasn't been said before.

Don't get me wrong this movie was really enjoyable. Animation, visuals and soundtrack are amazing and top notch.
Story was good as well.

But there are some issues with the execution of the story. In the beginning there is a problem with story-telling like some events critical to the plot occurring off-screen then being told about in third person ... the next day. Its always better to show, not tell. Because of this for the first 30-40 minutes, at times, there were some pacing issues where the plot seemed to drag. The plot seemed unfocused at times where important plot points are put aside in favor of side stories. This kind of story-telling would have been fine if it were a 12-episode anime but for a 106 min movie every second counts especially when you are dealing with 2 stories that could have been 2 separate movies.

The main characters' relationship was somewhat under-developed. First there is some body swapping with accompanying comedy and then there is some hint of mutual appreciation and care. Then a montage happens and then we are literally told "they like each other, so root for them". For a movie that relies heavily on romance to drive its plot there needed to be some significant development of romance early on. So it could act as an effective catalyst for the last half of film.

There were also some major tonal shifts at times from standard rom-com to straight up tragedy but this was somewhat necessary to keep the movie enjoyable without being too heavy handed.


Before watching it I was kind of pissed about this movie not being nominated for an Oscar. But after watching it I get why it didn't get nominated.

Overall this movie is really good and enjoyable but don't expect it to be a masterpiece.

"Your name", nostalgic isn't it?
Two powerful words used in the conversation between two people who have just meet, thinking that bond will last forever, yet as years go by and "your hair eventually turns gray" we tend to forget who we are and who we were.
Who you loved, who cared about you, who helped you, who...was always there for you when you were younger. We cant go against this law of nature, this flow of time, this forever lasting curse that is called memory. For we humans are the peak of evolution who have a built in instinct to survive,adapt and overcome any obstacle ... that is in our way including human emotion and memory.
Yet this movie gives you the impression that there is still hope, that there is still that one shinning star in a gloomy sky who illuminates the way in front of us.
I do not write reviews, so bare with me my brothers and sisters for this movie is such a masterpiece that you cannot just write this review with minimal effort.
Note that i will try NOT SPOIL this movie for you in any way, if you think that i have in any way overstepped my boundaries feel free to inform me and i shall remove/edit it asap.
Now without further ado let me begin.

Story: 10/10
The plot is simple and unusual, and yes i have already watched 5 Centimeters Per Second, i mean who hasn't?
So maybe i am giving it a 10/10 for the plot simply because i can somewhat relate to the movie + i am a sucker for romance, overall its just my opinion.

Art: 10/10
Nothing to say here, if you watched the trailer for this movie you already know that these people put in a lot of effort into making it thus it would be unfair to give it anything less than a 10, heck i would rate it even 11 if i could.
The animation is breathtaking and flawless, simply said : Omigoto *claps*

Sound: 9/10
Well if you watched the movie you should have noticed that some scenes are just "Wow the feels", what i mean by that is some soundtracks are perfectly selected for some scenes,for example scene 1 and soundtrack 1 are in perfect harmony which equals to perfection, while some are like scene 2 + soundtrack 5 equals to just "meh", there is no harmony in that, if you catch my drift?
If you don't understand what i mean ( cant blame you tho, i am a complicated individual) then just watch the whole thing and you will hopefully notice these little details.
But overall i gave it a 9/10 because they almost did it flawlessly, note that this little thing is not going to affect my overall opinion.
But like they say "You watch it, you rate it. "


Characters: 6/10
I am always rough on the whole character thing to be honest, but to keep it plain and simple.
I am a sucker for romance, the emotions are there, the voice actors did their part yet why am i giving it only a 6 out of 10?
Cliche friends, cliche.
You can notice all these traits almost in every genre/tag in the Romance section.
The two MC are nothing new in this department, clumsy, likable and did i mention clumsy. If you find this sentence to be a spoiler then my man/girl you probably forgot to do your homework. I know its harsh, i know i am a baka but please do not hate on me for this one people..

Enjoyment: 10/10
Nothing to say except Shinkai Makoto, you the man.
If you watched 5 Centimeters Per Second you know what i am talking about.
This man know his stuff, he knows how to punch and always saves his best punches to finish you off.
Just watch it and you will know what i am talking about.

Overall: 10/10
Really enjoyed this work of art, haven't boarded the feels train in like a week, you know the rest.
Moral of this story is quite simple and quite the hard hitter.
I won't give you the details but know this.
Enjoy your life, never forget the bonds you already have, try to keep and cherish them for as long as possible.
Value your opinion and of course respect yourself and your family.
Keep moving forward without looking back because you never know what the future hold in store for you, maybe just maybe you get one more chance from life to try something with someone you love and cherish.


Keep it real you beautiful people and i hope you have a nice day.
Much love, from meh <3

So the movie that's made 11.19 million in just 2 weeks, does it deserve that income or is it just a flop. :) Well it's okay definitely an enjoyable movie but a little too fast paced at places. It's not perfect but it gets a message across.
This film is wonderfully animated of course it's a shinkai film, it's gonna sparkle. This movie tried to build suspense at the end, would they meet and remember everything?? But it felt kinda just like yay at the end without any emotions, maybe because of the pacing. Of course it was emotional when Taki was trying to save ... Mitsuha. But none of the characters were remarkable they we're just your average students with a scene done from freaky Friday every time they "dream". ⠀
So do I recommend it sure just most of the first half felt unnecessary, as it was just saying hey these are the characters. And the plummeting too fast 2nd half. If anything I will take this wonderful soundtrack away from this movie, and hey this started out like a great idea for a movie. But hey everyone has different opinions some of you will enjoy it more than I did.

When I saw the reviews and the rating that this anime has got, I was so intrigued. It's been rated much better than FMA:B or Gintama or HxH. Well, I was obviously hyped and unfortunately, this movie did NOT live up to its expectations.

Read on, but mild SPOILERS ahead:

---start of spoilers---
what irked me the most were the obvious GLARING mistakes in the plot. Both these kids exchange each others bodies and live as each other and go to each others school. Now, I dunno about you, but I remember writing dates in my notes EVERYDAY, along with the YEAR. I also always notice the year ... in my phone, not just the time and date of the month.
Besides, a friggin' meteor falling on a town and killing hundreds is NEWS that's gonna last friggin months along with the devastating video/photos, which is what happens after every calamity. It's ridiculous that none of the people recognised the damn scenery when that town should've been friggin' famous.
Pop culture, politicians, international events are just some of the things that change rapidly over 3, besides the softwares of your phone. Sigh.
---end of spoilers---

So in a nutshell, if you ignore the glaring inconsistencies and plot holes that really make this anime not for those who like a robust story, what you're left with is a cutesy romance story that has a mix of supernatural in it. Yea, doesn't sound spectacular now does it? I definitely wouldn't watch it a second time. The art and sound make the animation pretty good. But the story itself really fails to impress imho. The characters are also nothing special. There isn't much development of either of the two. I suppose it's silly to expect that from a two hour movie in the first place. I don't like stories that put a bit too much drama in it, and well, this one did overdo it a bit with the constant loss of memory for no reason (there was no reason why the guy had to lose memories of a meteor crash, cause it was independent of the girl anyway)
I really don't understand why this has been rated so highly. I guess the ratings will go down eventually.

Ok, so this is my first review up on MAL, but I think this movie deserves my first.

Makoto Shinkai, you've done it again. A work of beauty and marvellous storytelling. I won't summarise it since almost everyone else has, and plus, there's a synopsis for a reason. I will say, though, that the plot, though initially I thought was pretty generic, twisted its way right to my heart. How Shinkai transformed a seemingly bland story into a heart-wrenching movie that kept me on the edge of my seat was extraordinary. Given, Shinkai has extraordinary talent himself, producing titles like "The Garden of Words" and "5 ... Centimetres per Second", both on my all-time favourites list, so it's not exactly unexpected that he created this masterpiece.

I rated the story 10/10. Most people will probably disagree and say that the plot was unoriginal and bland, which I did mention above. I can't disagree, but the 10 comes from how Shinkai revamped the traditional plot of "fantastical circumstance draws a boy and a girl together". The twists kept me hooked and I almost cried when I learned that...oh wait, no spoilers...sorry. Without giving away too much, I loved how he addressed the issue of the time gap, providing a common ground for both MC's to coexist. I did cry when she dropped the pen, however.

EDIT - Story 9/10
I've watched Kimi no Na Wa close to ten times now - it's my all time favourite movie. However, closer inspection of the story does reveal time-honoured tropes and cliches that I did notice in my first viewing, but my lame excuse the first time was the blend of cliches were refreshing and blah blah blah. Now that I have basically memorized the whole movie, the cliches and scenes found in every movie did reveal a slight lack of imagination on Shinkai's part. Don't get me wrong, he's still a god. But I have noticed similarities in conveyance from other movies, like the "boy meets girl, boy falls in love with girl, boy loses girl, boy finds girl, happy ending". The ending was unnecessary - don't get me wrong, I also love happy endings - but the way they interacted *after impact* threw me off a bit. Mitsuha is supposed to be strong-willed, playful, and a bit of a tsundere, but her character in the end was so passive I almost didn't recognize her.

Was there any surprise that the art is a 10? Probably not. I don't have to elaborate on this one just because it's a Makoto Shinkai film. Enough said. Beautiful.

The sound was a 7/10, the weakest category, but still good nonetheless. Others have said it, and I'll repeat it. The song choices were good, fit with the mood, and overall enhanced the scenes they were played with. However, after the fact, I'm not humming the tunes of any of them; they're just not that memorable. No offence, but if I heard any of them again, I probably wouldn't recognise them. In the movie, though, they were appreciated and complemented their respective scenes well.

EDIT - Sound 10/10
I lied. They're very memorable. I have bought the whole soundtrack, both original and piano scores :p. I can sing/hum all the main songs - Yumetourou, ZenZenSense, Mitsuha no Theme, Kataware Doki, SPARKLE, and Nandemonaiya - by heart. No further elaboration required.

The characters in the movie are well deserving of an 8/10, nine might be pushing it a little. The characters are a boy and a girl of the same high school age. The boy lives in the city and the girl lives in the countryside. Being of that adolescent age, they are naturally somewhat shy when it comes to feelings and love, but still adventurous enough to climb mountains by themselves. Let me talk about Taki, the boy, first. Only child, single parent who doesn't seem to care a whole lot, works long hours, has a few friends, and is diligent when he sets his mind to something. Voiced by the giant baby from Spirited Away who everyone loves, Taki was voiced well. Ryunosuke did a good job portraying surprise, endearment, and despair. He also did a pretty good job of sounding like a girl with a guy's vocal chords. Taki himself gets a 9 for being a good, solid MC. Now for Mitsuha, the shrine maiden from the country. Her family was estranged, and she lives with her traditional oba-chan (if you don't understand, get off MAL...just kidding). She's a little unorthodox compared to the rest of the community, and has a bit of a wild streak. What makes her a great character is that she's a tsundere...haha. What actually makes her a great character is her headstrong attitude, the seriousness to do what she sets her mind to. Like Taki, she is diligent at what she does, but she just does it better. Ups and downs are not uncommon for Mitsuha, but she will go to great lengths to meet Taki. She's voiced by Mone Kamishiraishi, a relatively new voice actress if MAL's actor/actress information is correct (she's 18!!!). Individually, Mitsuha is a 9.5. You're probably thinking "ok, if they're a 9 and a 9.5, why is the character rating only an 8?" The answer is that both these characters are pretty static throughout the movie. The development is just not strong enough. Their attitudes only change superficially according to the mood (ie. comedic relief) and no change internally really happens. The fact that they started off as really strong characters saved their score, but in order for them to be a 10, they should be dynamic, changing their outlook somewhere in the plot line. It just doesn't happen for me, so it's an 8.

EDIT - Character 9/10
I just bumped it up because I realized I wasn't giving enough credit to the seiyuu's for acting like the opposite gender. And, I felt attached to both of them. Mind you, however, Shinkai did mention in a recent interview that he may have emotionally manipulated the audience...

The enjoyment on "Kimi no Na Wa" is a 10. If I had a scouter and my name was Vegeta, this would've been over 9000. Hehe. Anyways, back to the point. I thoroughly enjoyed this movie for numerous reasons: (1) Makoto Shinkai is a god, (2) I'm a sucker for romance, (3) I'm an even bigger sucker for twists and reveals, (4) The art and animation was outstanding, (5) The characters followed their hearts, and I'm a huge sucker for that, (6) The plot blends really smoothly and has a lot of depth...as you can see, I can go on forever. But I won't. What I will say about my enjoyment of this movie is that it really does hold a spot in my heart now.

Thank you Makoto Shinkai for yet another breathtaking movie, and I look forward anxiously at your next release. I hope you found this review insightful, and you'd better watch the movie.

EDIT
I recently came back from Shinjuku, Japan, and I spent 5 days in that area, not to mention Akihabara, only a 20ish minute train ride. Anyways, aside from immersing myself in Akiba, and shopping my ass off, I went to a theatre that happened to be steps from my hotel. You can only guess what I watched. No English subs? No problem, I have the movie basically memorized. Every aspect of it was enhanced, and I cried three separate times I think. I took a peek at everyone else's face (it was still showing after almost half a year, and THE THEATRE WAS FULL) they were all wet with tears, or showed the remnants of tears. Man, I love this movie.

First things first, calling this movie is an understatement. This movie would be 11/10 if there was that option. This is no joke one of the best anime movies I have seen. HELL! I just made a MAL account just so I could review this gem of a movie. This stunning film is Makoto Shinkai’s best film yet, and that's saying A LOT.
It took me on a rollercoaster of feels and tears. The plot, the sound, the art, the characters and the cinematography, they all took my breath away. I had a myriad of feelings from every aspect of this film. I highly ... recommend just forgetting reading reviews if you haven’t seen it, as this gold deserves not to be spoiled. However, since you are here, I'm going to write one and make sure you damn see it. Don’t worry~ it's spoiler free ;)

Art: Charming. From just the opening sequences my heart jumped in excitement. The colour Makoto Shinkai brings to his films are unlike any other. You can see how much work went into every aspect of this film, but especially the art. The scenery was mind-blowingly artistic and beautiful, creating a beautiful esthetic. Crisp and utterly beautiful. I especially loved how the scenery and art were used. The cinematography at points was like a drug to me. Such beautiful animation should be illegal.
BTW: For those who have seen a lot of anime of similar genre, the art may look very familiar. The character designer was Takana Masayoshi also known for the design of AnoHana and Ano Natsu De Matteru. Indeed this only just added to the charm (and also the feelz).

Characters: Somehow Makoto Shinkai made these beautiful loving characters through what seemed to be very little scene time. By about 30 min in I already LOVED the characters and their qualities. Sure, I would have loved to see more but within a movie like this a director doesn’t usually have that much connection time to establish such colourful characters within such a complex plot. Yet Makoto Shinkai managed to do it (claps). Movies like this usually have such rushed character development and I was really worried coming into this movie that this movie would fall under such category, however, this movie delivered way more than asked.

Plot: I really don’t want to spoil this. Seriously. But what seems to be quite a simple premise is just SO MUCH MORE. Adding to the gold, the plot and story are just magnificent. New and original, quite unpredictable, the plot grabs you and takes you. Literally takes you on a journey. Reading the synopsis you may think that this is a typical romance movie with a slight twist. It really isn’t! its romance but it doesn’t have the sort of cliché you are thinking of. I love seeing such original content such as this, really warms my heart.

Sound: I feel that a lot of people may not 100% enjoy this aspect of the movie as it actually played quite a large role. However saying that I'm not one of those people. For me, it added to the feels and the enjoyment of the film. It was seriously beautiful and fit perfectly with the aesthetic of the film. There were points within the film where I was like “oh okay… music” as it was quite abrupt however overall it added to the film.

Overall this movie takes the cake. All the cake. From every aspect, it was just beautiful. Sure you might think this is going to be a typical rom-com however it really isn’t. I full heartedly say: watch this movie! From day one, after seeing the trailers and poster art, I knew this movie was going to be gold (and it was). Freaking beautiful.

Kimi no Na Wa.
Another masterpiece, done by Makoto Shinkai.
This is my first ever review I've ever done so go easy on me :3, and also it's my first ever anime I've rated a masterpiece or 10/10

This anime movie had many aspects that were 'perfect'. The background music done by RADWIMPS were well done and the ost's that they have produced are top of the anime ost lists. People may believe this anime was over hyped but I believed that a beautiful anime like this wasn't hyped enough. If you're interested in the states and how well this anime has done, this anime made roughly 1.3 ... billion yen on the first day of the movie coming out.
The story line that was developed was fairly complicated compared to many other romance animes that are out there, The techniques that were used very professionally like for example 'time travel'.
One of the most impressive things about this movie was the visuals, most animes aren't able to afford such animation like Kimi no Na Wa so we are blessed to view such animation. Unfourtnletly I don't live in Japan so I'm not able to view the quality that I wished to and I missed a few amazing 'mise en scenes' due to the lack of quality that I had. Never less I still did view the anime in the quality '720p' which is still amazing.
The plot was unpredictable, at the start, i thought I was able to predict most of the anime but I was wrong, I should have expected Makoto Shinkai to throw a few curve balls at us.
Well, that concludes my review I understand that I missed many important and essential details about the movie, but in the end, if you still haven't watched it yet I highly recommend watching the film :3.

Check out my full review of Kimi no na wa @

https://callmeojiisan.wordpress.com/2017/01/28/review-kimi-no-na-wa-your-name/

Story: 10/10

Artwork: 10/10

Sound: 10/10

... Character: 9/10

Enjoyment: 10/10

“Elegant. Amusing. Moving.” – Ojii-san

Imagine yourself in a dream as another person without knowing it was reality that allows you to do the things you always dreamed of by using another’s life but later to draw affection towards one another. This was the plot line of Kimi no na wa (Your Name). Not much words come to mind when describing a movie like this. It is simply stunning. This movie will trigger many of your emotions from happy to sad. As we follow the main characters, Taki and Mitsuha in an amusing adventure as they are able to switch bodies through sleep and get to know about each other’s friends, family and their lives. It seemed at the beginning it was all fun and games, the mentality as if you were in a dream. However, the story started to escalate after the two knew it was more than just a dream, it was reality. After time passed the two main characters drew feeling for one another and promised to write a note on their next switch. The switch never happened. They weren’t able to confess to one another and at that time on, as every second passes a little more of what you recall is lost, just like a dream. The reason why they were not able to switch bodies anymore is for you to find out. This movie presents the struggle to see, save, remember and be with the one you truly care for one last time.

“A stellar animation that will keep you wanting for a second movie. A must watch.” – Ojii-san

Rating: 10/10

Makoto Shinkai is without a doubt THE most visionary and diligent Japanese animation director as of 2016. A statement like this is pretty much just a matter-of-fact at this point in time. The man is extraordinarily talented and has a knack for creating fleshed out characters, with compelling story and dialogue to boot. With every subsequent release his films build more anticipation and more hype.

Kudos to him, kudos for all those who enjoy this movie and will continue to enjoy this film, but Makoto Shinkai needs to go back to the drawing board. It seems with every release he gets closer and closer to perfecting ... his formula and style, and Kimi No Na Wa (your name), sadly was the exception to that trend. Although Shinkai is tweaking and refining all of the elements of his craft, It just left me asking the question "for what purpose? " The plot was more drawn out, and more convoluted, and even more crammed into a running time that it could not fit than any of his previous films.

The movie was not bad by any means. Shinkai has come to a point in his career where making a bad film for him would be a challenge. But, this movie has no focus, no direction, and barely any thematic cohesion.

For the sake of brevity I will leave you with this. Miyazaki, Oshii, Takahata,Shinichiro Watanabe, Satoshi Kon, while all of there movies had flaws, these guys knew how to craft a compelling story! Which is what made their films so memorable in the first place.

Do yourself a favor and watch one of Shinkai's stronger installments like 5 cm per second or The Place Promised in Our Early Days( if you haven't already) to fully understand my perspective.

With the exception of maybe Dokyuusei, I can't think of a single original anime movie in recent times that has gotten as much fanfare as Makoto Shinkai's latest work did before it became available to the gaijin public. Even before it arrived in Japanese theatres, the fanbase that erupted from its exclusive Anime Expo-showing have been making their voices louder than a Siberian tiger scratching the world's largest chalkboard. And now that it has arrived in the Eastern theatres, it's made more money on its opening weekend than The Nice Guys had during its entire box office run. Whilst its currently high MAL score is ... almost guaranteed to go down once it reaches the wider audience that is America's toxic anime fanbase, the fact remains that Shinkai has really hit the big leagues as of late, and as one of anime's last remaining auteurs (let alone one that's actually good), I think that alone should be worth celebrating.

Will he become the next Miyazaki as time goes on? I don't know, and quite frankly I doubt he cares, so why should I? This isn't a review of his career anyways. It's a review of Your Name, or Kimi no Na wa as the weeaboos like to call it, and I was really looking forward to watching this one once I discovered that the premise was about a boy and a girl going through a Freaky Friday routine, because that's usually the kind of premise reserved for a cheap harem anime or One Piece. Not something you'd expect a man of Shinkai's caliber to do, and especially not a premise deserving of so much visual porn that it'd make art students cum within five seconds of exposure. Sure when you think about it, it's not too far out of his domain. Shinkai has dabbled with putting a serious take on wacky anime premises in the past (his first major work was basically a modern take on Gunbuster after all). Still, I never really expected this sort of premise to get a big-budget treatment in general unless it was a cheap franchise movie, let alone be put in the hands of such a talented guy. And now that I've seen the result of that combination, I can safely say I should never underestimate this dude.

Now before going on, I should point out that I'm fully aware most of you guys haven't had a chance to see the movie as of this time of writing, and unfortunately I can't talk about the majority of Your Name's story because of how heavily dependent it is on things not being as clear-cut as they seem. That's right. A movie about a boy and a girl who can swap bodies with each other has a lot going on underneath the surface that I can't spoil for fear of ruining your enjoyment like all of pop culture does for Citizen Kane. So let's just start off by saying that I do recommend Your Name. It's easily one of the best anime I've seen this year (not that the competition has been all that fierce) as well as one of the most emotional roller coasters that I've seen this medium produce in quite a long time. Oh, and if you are even slightly interested in shipping culture, there is a 99% chance that you will consider this movie a masterpiece, because it pretty much hits every major shipping button in the book - including ones that most hardcore shippers didn't know they had. If you want a more visual representation of what I'm talking about, remember what you loved about ERASED before it went to shit. Now imagine that show never going to shit and make sure to step out of that puddle of drool and tears you just made.

The tone of Your Name is distinctively more "anime" than most of Shinkai's stuff. It felt like he was trying to cater more to a mainstream audience whilst not sacrificing his signature style in the process throughout the entire runtime, and if the later Persona games are anything to go by, that can really pay off if done well. And it does pay off in quite a few ways I didn't expect. The movie made me laugh a lot, even at jokes that I wouldn't normally laugh at, and the story actually progressed in a way that I wanted to see things end happily rather than the usual bittersweet closures that I generally love about this guy's take on romance. And any anime that can get that amount of investment from me is always worth my time, even if the characters themselves don't have too much going for them individually.

Having to look up their names for this review is one thing because I'm bad at remember names in general, let alone foreign ones. But if you were to ask me to describe the two leads, I wouldn't have much to say besides a normal girl who wants to be free of the traditions set on her by her family and a normal boy who just wants to get by in life. I think it was an intentional decision on Shinkai's part to make his characters "normal" so that we can relate to them more and they're both likable/interesting enough, but I prefer characters who have story to them first, and relatability second. And it's hard to get too invested in a character's dilemma when I'm not given a non-circumstantial reason regarding why I'd want to follow this character in the first place.

For example, the main boy's name is Taki Tachibana, and his goals in life are to get into university, get closer to his hot female co-worker at the restaurant he does part-time work in, and grope his own breasts when he suddenly discovers he has them. That's stuff you can say about any normal Joe, and whilst I can definitely relate to those issues enough to not find Taki boring, the sort of connection I can form with him from just that is limited when I'm not the one who's actually experiencing those problems first-hand. Even when the movie gets into deeper material, Taki never really experiences any emotions or problems that are particular complex to analyze. And considering Shinkai has managed to balance both the intellectual and the emotional aspects of his stories in the past, I found the heavy emphasis on the latter at the expense of the former to be kinda disappointing. Hell, even the majority of Ghibli's output after they peaked did a pretty decent job in that department. Maybe my opinion will change if I watch the movie again (and you can bet I will), but I'm just going to say right now that I liked the character presentation in 5/cm. You fanboys may call it emotionally distant. I call it the solution to you guys overrating the hell out of Holo and Lawrence's thing.

But let's move on to another aspect of Your Name I can actually talk about: the technicals. Frankly, I am quite amazed at how much Shinkai is improving in that field, especially considering how high he sets the bar with each film he does. Not only is the visual quality of the animation so stunning that it makes Garden of Words look like someone's Flash animation and the Radwimps soundtrack one of the most fun anime soundtracks I've heard in quite some time, but the way he utilizes these technicals is so masterful that it can make even the most basic of emotions expressed throughout this film feel like you've just been hit in the face and you want more because you love it. I'm really hard-pressed to come up with a cartoon that gets emotional storytelling down the way the animation in this one does, even compared to what I consider superior cartoons like Kaiba, Haibane Renmei, or a good chunk of Pixar's output. Hell, I'd need a whole other post (and a digital file of the film) just to talk about the specifics.

A lot of you guys are watching Re:Zero, right? Well let's put it like this: if White Fox's "masterful" direction of Subaru's bawl-fests is the equivalent of getting hit with a cannonball, Your Name's direction of the emotions constantly vibrating in its characters, setting, dialogue, and just about everything that makes up a single frame of this film is the equivalent of getting hit with a cannonball the size of Jupiter, and there are thousands more frames where that came from. It knows when to play it light. It knows when to play it heavy. It knows just the right amount to make it seem natural. And it doesn't sacrifice more important things in the process. Well okay, I just said it sacrificed some important things a few paragraphs ago. But never to the extent that I ever walked out thinking to myself "well that was good enough". The Boy and the Beast is an anime I consider "good enough". Your Name is plain good, regardless of the actual magnitude of positive feelings I have for it.

I really wish I could talk more about the plot with you guys, but I can't. Not even regarding the movie's themes, which I'm still not quite clear on myself, but I will tell you that part of the movie's plot was inspired by Japan's recent earthquake disasters. However, I only knew this because Shinkai himself told us. Otherwise, I would never have made the connection, because the "event" that said inspiration is based on...well let's just say depending on your suspension of disbelief, you'll consider it emotionally heart-breaking or completely arbitrary. I'm not for heavy-handed commentary or anything, but if there is a deeper meaning that I'm missing in Your Name that'd make me join on the "masterpiece" bandwagon with the rest of the die-hards, I really think Shinkai should have made it more obvious. After all, some anvils just need to be dropped, because otherwise you'll risk the opposite problem of people reading too much into things. There's open to interpretation, and then there's just laying out a bunch of plot elements and telling your audience to make their own story.

Don't take my word for it though. Watch the movie yourself and come to your own conclusions. Or watch it because this review has just a raised a million questions regarding what the hell could possibly be in Your Name that's making me so cryptic in regards to describing the experience. Either way works fine. Just don't get spoiled before diving in. You'll probably still enjoy the movie regardless, but there can only be one moment of discovery, and no one should have the right to take it away from you but yourself. And even then, only when you decide that you are ready.

This was one of the good ones I've watched. Nevertheless, the only unexpected twist was in the moment when Taki realized that what he saw happened 3 years ago. Also the time-line twist is fairly original mixed with switching bodies and the addition of religion was somewhat interesting (not my taste but fairly interesting).
Characters development was somewhat disregarded and other then being body-switching individuals - the main characters had no personality traits that stand out.
I gave it overall ate because even if the topic of the story was not very original, it was actually interesting to watch and the whole story wasn't monotone and ... it felt like it has 4 stages:
1. Everyday life and body-switching
2. Meteor disaster
3. Realization and going back in time
4. Present time where they both meet at the same point in time-line
I find this to be very good story development with very little or none loop holes in the story.

The story isn't anything special but the execution of it was good mainly because of how great the character design is. The characters are normal and don't really have anything super crazy so when they start to understand their feelings despite the fictional tone of it it's still pretty easy to relate and feel the same feelings that the main characters are feeling in those scenes.

I think the romance could have been done better Makoto Shinkai has this strange obsession with waiting until the end for the relationship to develop into something more which is kind of a double edged sword for him. On ... one end the impact of the development is much stronger on the other hand there isn't much time left in the movie for the viewer to experience the two characters as a couple rather than two people who kinda like eachother. I think he pulled it off better in this film than he does in other films but I still felt pretty unsatisfied with how it turned out and it's definitely something I hope he does differently in the future although I doubt it.

But the main draw to this movie is undoubtedly the animation. Which is absolutely stunning and probably his best so far. The colors change depending on the mood as well as the style of cinematography. When the scene is supposed to be happy and lighthearted there are lots of fast cuts and when it's supposed to be more emotional and sad it will stay on one camera angle for longer periods of time to make it more impactful. Which is nothing super special but I think a lot of animators get lazy with that kind of thing nowadays and I figured it was worth mentioning.

Overall I think this movie is worth watching it's my favorite Makoto Shinkai film so far and will probably make my top list for 2016. I'm going to give it an 8/10.

TLDR - Stunning art, meh romance, good characters and character design.