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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.
