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LTTP: 君の名は Kimi no Na Wa (Your Name) on Netflix (SPOILERS)

GreyHorace

Member
So, I've had the pleasure of watching an animated film that I've long been curious about but never got the chance to view until now. Thanks to Netflix, I've finally seen Makoto Shinkai's Kimi no Na Wa (Your Name), which tells the story of two high schoolers, one a girl (Mitsuha) who lives in the rural town of Ittomori, and the other, a boy (Taki), who lives in Tokyo. For some inexplacable reason the two of them swap bodies and get to spend a day in one another's shoes.

What starts out as a romantic comedy with supernatural hijinks slowly becomes a deeper mystery as the unknown connection that binds Mitsuha and Taki is revealed to be the key to preventing an impending disaster. It's an enthralling and heartfelt love story that I'm not surprised it became one of Japan's highest grossing films, and the second highest grossing animated film behind Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away.

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Makoto Shinkai is a name I've long been familiar with in anime circles, but I've resisted the urge to watch any of his work. I thought he'd be another Hideaki Anno, focusing on characters emotions at the expense of plot and resolution. Not that I can judge any of his others films because Your Name is the only one I've watched, but from what I seen in this film I'm happy to say Shinkai does much better on that front than Anno. While Shinkai does go in heavy on the focus of his character's emotions, he does manage to resolve his story barring some possible plot holes (and they aren't dealbreakers as far as I'm concerned).

Let's get the obvious positive out of the way, the visuals in You Name are gorgeous and quite possibly the best I've seen in 2d a animated film. I used to think Studio Ghibli's films were the benchmark for visuals for Japanese animated features but Shinkai has the great Hayao Miyazaki beaten on that front.

The premise, while not exactly original, is handled in a fresh manner with some really funny scenes of Mitsuha and Taki having to get used to each other's lives, all the while leaving messages for each other. But for me the movie really becomes interesting once the plot takes an sudden twist midway into the film, when Taki finds out that Mitsuha has actually been dead for 3 years after a fragment of the Tiamat comet struck her hometown after it passed close to Earth.

All this works for me because of the two leads and their growing relationship, despite the fact that they don't really meet in person until the film's climax. That scene was heartwarming and handled so well by Shinkai, as are the scenes of heartbreak when the two leads realize to their horror that they're slowly losing the memory of each other. Though the disaster has been averted and Mitsuha saves everyone in the town, she and Taki listlessly wander the next few years searching for something they've lost until a chance encounter on opposite trains in Tokyo. This builds up to a truly satisfying happy ending that feels EARNED by the two characters after everything they've endured to meet each other again.

I thoroughly enjoyed this film from start to finish. But what say you GAFFERS?
 
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Heimdall_Xtreme

Jim Ryan Fanclub's #1 Member
Beautiful movie.

I really appreciated the japanese animation and people because they give us a lot positives messages.
 

zellend

Neo Member
I thought I'll was pretty good but I prefer A Silent Voice. Another good anime movie is The Boy and The Beast.
 
I watched it in the cinema and thought it was really dumb and felt the same with Promare.

A Silent Voice I'll watch on Netflix, heard its better than the manga.
 

kiiltz

Member
I thought I'll was pretty good but I prefer A Silent Voice.
There's always one.

OT: Netflix version is shit IIRC bcus you miss out on most of the text conversions but the movie is good enough that it doesn't matter. You should definitely check out Shinkai's other movies if you liked it. Also recommend In This Corner of the World.
 

Neolombax

Member
I still dont understand had the characters could miss the big twist. Like did no-one look at their phone and go "huh..."

Yea, I didn't think of this as well. Maybe they had just assumed it was the same year under the normal assumption that time travel is impossible. That said, they did experience body swapping....so there's that too.
 
wonderful movie. the artwork is just beautiful. and yes, there's some big plot holes, but the art is good enough that I overlook it. always love Shinkai's work ever since Voices of a Distant Star (especially impressive when you consider he basically made that one all by himself). the ever present heart string tugging is also an interesting "feature" that he seem to mastered rather well.

Loved the film when I saw it in the cinema that I imported the 4K blu-ray from Japan.

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a little OT, but Japan's physical media price is just ridiculous. $120+, even if it's for a special first release edition, is just nuts. and yes I'm being jealous too :messenger_grinning_squinting:
 

HE1NZ

Banned
It's pretty cool until it gets super weird. Seems like the issue with every non-Myazaki film I've seen.
 

Spaceman292

Banned
I went in expecting a slpw, thoughtful, boring movie about anime kids staring out of windows and talking about how much they suck. But it ended up being 100x better than that. Loved it. And the sequel.
 

decisions

Member
I find all of this guy’s films to be massively overrated. Perfect examples of telling rather than showing, and using visuals as a way to distract from poor storytelling.
 

Kayoba

Member
Sort of. It's called Weathering With You. Same film makers, same world, different characters. And it's just as good.

The characters from Kimi no Na Wa actually do appear in Tenki no Ko.

I think Kimi no Na Wa is better in terms of story and more memorable in general, but I prefer the art in Tenki no Ko; the cinematography is simply superb.
 
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