I'm not a massive fan of drama and romance anime, but I can easily say that Kimi no Na wa is a wonderful example of both genres.
For the first half of the movie, I couldn't fault it much at all. I was sitting in a relatively crowded theatre and all our eyes were glued to the screen.
Right from the start it's amazingly entertaining to follow both Taki and Mitsuha as they work out their 'Freaky Friday' connection, and watch them discover more and more about each others' lives. The little 'life improvements' they try to make whilst in each others bodies also made me laugh out loud. The emotional attachment the two mains feel towards each other during this process does end up being a little rushed though.
When Taki finally decides he has to meet Mitsuha in person after their connection has seemingly been broken, so begins the second half of the story to explain it all.
For me, the last third of the movie did fall into the familiar category, but, the story as whole is still outstanding. 8/10
Geez, the art. Beautiful sweeping shots, vibrant colours, stunning landscapes, brilliant animation. Any of the scenes with the comet (supporting cast member #1) were visually spectacular. Best animation anywhere right now and I would watch it again purely for this reason alone. 10/10
I'm gonna skip straight to how much I enjoyed this. Like I mentioned before, I'm not really one for watching romance anime, so for me to write a review about one... It was that awesome.
I prefer to think of this movie as one of magic instead of being supernatural.
The journey both Taki and Mitsuha have to go on to finally discover each other is rather amazing to watch and (apart from the body-swapping thing) the characters are quite relatable. Everyone at one time or another wants to be somewhere else, living a different life, but you also hope to connect to that someone who just gets who you are. 9/10
Great characters, both main and supporting. The art, oh the art... well, do yourself an anime favour and see this for that reason alone.
And apart from it needing to be fleshed out a little near the beginning and a predictable ending, the story is still fantastic, full of magic and wonderfully written. It's going to be a while until we see something of this calibre again. 9/10
