Hello guys, this is my first review since after seeing so many bad reviews about this anime, I feel that I have the obligation to tell the owners of those reviews the bad points they said are actually already explained thoroughly in the anime, just that they did not pay attention and then blame the anime for it. I already watched 5cm/s or Kotonoha no Niwa, and those two did not leave any emotion on me compared to Kimi no Na wa. In my opinion, this is the best work so far of Shinkai Makoto.
I went to the cinema in Japan to see it without any subtitles and in HD definition, so maybe the impact the anime did on me is much more larger than what it did to people who watch it in low definition and with subtitles, but I will try to write an unbiased review as much as I can.
Art & Sound: 10/10
I guess there is nothing more to say about the art in Shinkai Makoto's works. However, why I put Art and Sound together? Because this is the most important point of the anime that make the greatest impact on the audience. Shinkai Makoto takes us to the magnificent scenery of Japanese rural area, and he knows how to arrange the music so that it blends so well into the anime. I am not talking about the BGM because honestly the BGM did not make any outstanding effect. I am talking about the insert songs they put together into the scenes. Even the lyrics fit well into the mood, for example, the scene when our protagonist - Taki - searches for our main heroine - Mitsuha - the song [Nan de mo iya ] is played, with the repeating lines of [Ato sukoshi dake de ii], literally means only for a little more is okay. This repeatitive line together with the flow of the anime leaves great impact on the audience. Moreover, the band performed this song also did it so well that we can even feel the emotion throughout each of the line in the song being sang out.
Story: 9/10
I believe this section is arguably the most downside of the anime that other reviews mentioned. The story itself is good with proper plot. I would say it is somehow typical and not typical. The body-changing genre is not so unfamiliar to the anime world, but the thing that feels original is that there is no ecchi included, as well as both two of them are strangers and live far away from each other. Needless to say the time-twist also make a great point in the anime. At this point, many of our reviewers said that the movie did not explain anything about the time-travel, as well as their body-swapping occurrence, and they rated the anime bad because of this so-called convenience plot hole. Firstly, let me explain about the occurrence of the body-swapping. The movie did gives an unofficial reason about this situation, when Taki got swapped into Mitsuha for the last time, just before the night of the disaster. Mitsuha's grandma did say that the body-swapping occurred to her before as well in her youth days, so it can be understand that this occurs to the Miyamizu household in periodically. You may ask why? Taki did mention that maybe this body-swapping tradition from long ago's reason is for this day, for him to save the Miyamizu household from the destruction by the fall of the comet. Moreover, let me remind you that the Miyamizu house is an old household with a tradition of being Miko and offer worship to the Gods. They even have their own shrine, and the inhabitants in the city also worship them. This can be explain as the Gods want to save their longtime worshipers, so that they make this miracle. To the next so-called bad points is that the time travel when Taki meets Mitsuha on top of the mountain. Please remember that during the first half of the anime. a scene with Mitsuha in class did mention about twilight. This is the time of the day that superficial things can happened, and that time-travel maybe also included. Moreover, I will not called that a time travel. It is more like the current Taki meets the past Mitsuha (or the current Mitsuha in her own time frame) since they have that small thread of hair tie bounding them together, and thus make this possible. Lastly. this is not a realistic-based anime or psychological reality anime, so these little miracles are acceptable as long as the anime has the means to explain it.
On the other hand, the plot also has it downside. There is a little rush at the middle of the movie, when our two main characters accept their body-changing situation pretty fast (given the fact that it is only around 1 week or more after they started experiencing the paranormal situation). Furthermore, it might be argued that why the body-swapping did not occur when the disaster happens, but 3 years later into the future. The anime did not say anything about this, but I think each of us can have our own explanation for this since this is not much of a big deal.
Character: 8/10
The characters in Kimi no na wa is a little above average in my opinion. The movie did flesh out their personalities, as well as a couple of development, but I feel like that this is not enough. However, given the time of a movie, not a series, this is in an acceptable zone. On the other hand, I feel like the feeling called [Like] between our two main characters is a bit rush, since they barely knows others from the notes they left when body-swapping, and Taki as well as Mitsuha are pretty bold to go and search for a person that they did not even met for once. Nevertheless, given the fact of our current society, where a highschool boys fall in love with a girl in only a few days after they met, I believe this point is not that much of a ruckus as everybody has said. People at that age tends to do many great things that they believe is right without listen to others, so I guess this is not that much of a downside.
Enjoyment: 10/10
I gave this anime a 10 in enjoyment because of the lingering feelings it left behind. This anime has a good ending, but all of the past scenes, together with the music arrangement will make you feel regret about something in life, or feeling that there is something incomplete, and this emotion keeps lingering inside your mind even after the anime is finished. It has been a long time since I felt such emotion, maybe the last time was when I watched Kaguya-hime no Monogatari.
Overall: 10/10
There is nothing perfect in this world, so as anime. A perfect anime does not exist, so I want to give this a 9.5 rating, but the scoring bar does not have that function. I gave it 10 for the enjoyment it brings to me, for the lingering emotion that I have not felt after such a long time, as well as the feeling of reliving your high school days in a beautiful scenery, which reminds us about our youth, the age when we think that everything is possible, the age when our mind is still pure. I personally enjoy this anime a lot, and I intend to watch it again when the bluray comes out. In my opinion, this is the best work so far of Shinkai Makoto, above that of 5cm/s and Kotonoha no Niwa, which I do not really like watching.
I am sorry for the long review and thank you for reading till the end. Hope this helps people who are still uncertain about the anime.
