Anime Review - Kimi no Na wa Movie - The Importance of Your Name

I have been putting off Kimi no Na wa (English: Your Name) for a long time, probably because I like to finish movies in one go, and I didn't really have any time to watch it all in one go. Movies  should always be watched in one sitting to keep the plot fresh in your mind. What are my thoughts? I thought the movie was extremely good, but not as "crazy good" as I thought from the popularity behind this movie. To summarise, it involves the body swapping of two characters - a boy Taki who lives in Tokyo and a girl Mitsuha who lives in the countryside, both living in environments that have a stark contrast. Through mysterious phenomenons, the two attempts to find each other and try to fathom what is happening.

Story (9/10):

I personally felt that the story was convoluted and there was still a lot of the phenomenon that were not explained by the end of the movie. However, I think that the main focus of the story wasn't based on "how the mysterious phenomenon of body swapping occurred", but rather the progress and experiences that the two face when they swap bodies. That in essence was most likely why viewers liked this movie. 

Another underlying message of the movie is the importance of "our names" as the movie states. The movie goes about this in an interesting but confusing way, where the two are apparently in different timelines. That part of the story was what confused me the most. From what I can conclude from the end of the movie was that their timelines merged because the meteor disaster didn't have heavy casualties. That could explain why they have vague/no memories of each other's name, but this part of the story was what troubled me the most. 

Another perspective I also thought of how the movie worked, was that "what if Mitsuha was just dreaming in the normal timeline, and was somehow influenced by a dreaming Taki in another timeline and none of the actual physical actions actually carried by their counterparts in their counterpart's bodies, which eventually led to a connection between the two timelines?". That could explain the lack of memory between the two characters and also the scene where they see each other on the mountains for a brief duration. However the ending is a bit vague on this aspect and I am assuming that their timelines has converged and connected. If so, it is a very interesting proposition and similar to what was explored in Steins Gate.

So to sum up my understanding of the story was that Taki "went back in the past to change history so that in the normal timeline, both MC's are still alive". As for any other movies, it is normal to not have the story fully fledged and explained, and that's why I gave a relatively generous rating.

Characters (8/10):

The characters were generally interesting and the realism behind their lives is quite scary. I was feeling a bit depressed at my current state after the time skip in the movie. The side characters were pretty interesting too, especially the grandma. From the movie, she has "clairvoyant sight" about whether Mitsuha is in Mitsuha's body, and she explicitly explains that she too had experienced being in another boy's dream, just like Mitsuha' mother. This could have possibly been developed further, since the mysterious phenomenon is quite interesting (kinda like reminds me of Steins Gate).

Sound (10/10):

Do I really need to say anything? ALL THE SOUNDTRACKS ARE ABSOLUTELY AMAZING. The studio chose the perfect band and songs for this movie, and the band RADWIMPS has done a good job on their part. The soundtracks/OSTs fit into the movie very well, and is extremely heartwarming throughout the movie. The soundtracks was probably what kept me engaged during the boring or confusing parts of the movie.

Art (10/10):

The art qualities of most movies from Japan are superb, and there is a lot of attention to detail in the art all throughout the movie. The art and animation of this movie was definitely a highlight of this movie, and I was in awe of how fluid and natural the animation was. There were a few parts where the animation seem a bit unnatural, but that was probably me being picky.

Enjoyment (8/10):

It depends on what you define as enjoyment. The concept behind the character's actions and experiences in Your Name was very enjoyable to watch and understand. What I didn't particularly enjoy was the "timeline and changing of fate", and this was probably because the movie didn't explain thoroughly about how it happens. Is it a movie I would recommend though? HELL YEAH. It is definitely still worth watching, but it's most likely not suitable for younger kids (Spirited Away is a good movie for kids, it brings back memories when I watched it as a kid).

Overall (9/10):

The Ending Scene

Kimi no Na wa (Your Name) was an enjoyable venture, and though it didn't fully live up the "crazy hype" that the public gave it, it was still worth watching. Despite a few flaws/vague explanations of the mysterious phenomenon in the movie, the main focus wasn't on the weird phenomenon, but rather the actions and how these actions further developed the two characters, and how they went about the body-swapping. For people who are somewhat cynical and not like to jump on the bandwagon, I can assure you that this movie is definitely not overrated, but I can understand one's disappointment when it doesn't live up to their expectations. So in the future, one will question the importance of one's name.