Your Name is a animated film by Makoto Shinkai, probably my favourite director for anime or just movies in general. Other pieces Makoto Shinkai is well known for include Distant Star and, of course, Five Centimeters per Second. Your Name, or Kimi No Na Wa as it’s known in Japan, is about two high school students, Mitsuha and Taki, switch bodies. Each of them live in very different areas of Japan. Taki being from Tokyo and Mitsuha being from a rural area in Japan. The mysterious events of their body swapping, which happens a few times every week, all begins on the day when a mysterious shooting star falls across the sky.
The Animation:
It is clear when watching this film that the animators must have poured their hearts and souls into these visuals. The truly spectacular scenes where this is particularly apparent is when we see the shooting star near the start of the film and the final scene of the movie. The amount of time and effort which must have been put into these moments and the entire film must have been huge. The animators hard work has clearly been well worth it. The level of detail in the light and the shading is astonishing. Another part of the animation which I really appreciate, is the fact that all the places shown in the film are real places which you can go and visit. This even goes as far as the billboards in some scenes being the same as the ones in the real place, meaning someone had to gain the rights to show the real adverts in this movie. So that just goes to show how much effort the animators when through to make this film feel immersive and real.
Overall, I give the animation of this film a 9/10.
Story:
The story of Your Name is arguable simple. Two people having their bodies swapped and living in each others shoes has been done many times before, like in Freaky Friday. But, I believe that even with this somewhat simple plot Shinkai has really used the characters in the story to really make the audience feel for these people. When we see Mitsuha in her home with her family, we really do feel like they are a family and that they feel real like they actually exist. In addition, with Taki, we see and can sympathise with his struggles with balancing his social, school, and work lives. Although Your Name does have comedic moments and serious dramatic moments, it doesn’t feel like the film is “switching genres” halfway through or like one moment it’s all fun and gags and the next it’s overly dramatic. It all feels consistent and the humour of the film does not clash with the more heart wrenching parts. One of my favourite parts of the entire film, is the ending. I feel that Makoto Shinkai has given the audience an ending which is satisfying but still leaves enough unanswered to let the audience think.
Overall, the story gets a 7/10.
The soundtrack:
The soundtrack of Your Name is, in my opinion, a big part of the film. WIthout the songs from Radwimps I don’t think the film would be as good as it is. Simply just because their songs are used perfectly to fit the scenes to evoke emotions like sadness, relief, and happiness in the audience. Whenever I hear a song from Your Name, I get goosebumps, because the soundtrack really does have a big part in the emotional scenes in the film, so when you listen to them it brings all back.
Overall, the soundtrack gets an 8/10.
Conclusion and final thoughts:
After watching Your Name twice now I really do believe this film could be thought of as a modern classic in anime. So far, I would say that this is probably the best of Makoto Shinkai’s works. And I think a lot of people would agree. Your Name actually gained a total gross of 358 million us dollars, making it the highest grossing Japanese animated film; even beating Spirited Away.
Overall, I give Your Name a 9/10.
Jamie's Anime Review Blog 