Reviews

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?