Familiar with some of his earlier work i wasn't sure what to think going in, i felt 5 Centimeters per Second, while visually amazing, was slow and at times boring and Voices of a Distant Star was too short and empty, so i was a little worried about Kimi no Na wa.
I was blown away!
From the soundtrack to the visuals the attention to setting the scene and mood of the movie is obvious, this is someone who has the movie already playing in his mind before it's even on paper.
The movie starts with a Tokyo city boy Taki and a remote village girl Mitsuha who discover they are both dreaming of being someone else.
As the movie progresses we see that they are dreaming of each other, and while dreaming they actually switch bodies.
Classical body-switch humor ensues where both have to come to terms with what's happening and deal with being in someone else's body.
Kimi no Na wa then adds it's own twist for these star-crossed teenagers and starts to ramp up from a very casual and warming pace to a sprint as things completely change!
Shinkai works magic to drag you into a story so completely with the warming characters, haunting musical scores and incredible artwork that you truly feel pained for them as you go from wondering if they will fall in love and will they ever meet to wondering if they ever could meet.
The movie is a rollercoaster of emotions bundled so close together than once the story really begins there's no letting up.
It's undoubtedly Shinkai's greatest work and the best movie of the year, possibly the best animated movie i've seen.
