Anime Movie Review: Kimi no na wa, one of the best Anime Movies — Otaku Orbit
Your Name (Kimi no Na wa) is a romantic drama, released in 2016. It became the highest grossing film in Japan that year ($190 million) and the second highest grossing anime film of all time ($361 million). The film has received critical acclaim, earning 97% on Rotten Tomatoes and 79 out of 100 on Metacritic. is from the director Makoto Shinkai, who created Distant Star and 5 Centimeters Per Second. It’s based on the novel of the same name, it premiered during the Anime Expo 2016 convention on July 3, 2016. Your Name was animated by CoMix Wave Films and distributed by Toho.
The story centers on a high school girl named Mitsuha Miyamizu who wishes to be a handsome Tokyo boy in another life. A boy named Taki Tachibana, wakes up and realizes that he is now Mitsuha. Taki and Mitsuha switch bodies, they communicate through leaving paper notes and memos in their phones. They begin to interfere in each others lives, Mitsuha helps Taki being a relationship with a coworker, Miki Okudera. Taki increases Mitsuha’s popularity in high school. Suddenly, Taki and Mitsuha return to their previous bodies. Taki begins searching for Mitsuha, without having the name of her village, he uses sketches that he created by memory.
He is finally told by a restaurant server that he’s looking for Itomori. However, he is informed that a fragment of comet fell to earth three years ago, killing a third of Itomori population. Taki searches through the names of fatalities and sees Mitsuha name listed. He realizes that Mitsuha existed on the completely different timeline. Taki drinks an offering that Mitsuha leaves behind and returns to her body. He attempts to save the town, managing to convince her friends to help her evacuate the town. Eventually, they finally meet, Taki tells Mitsuha to convince her father to evacuate the town. Their memories begin to fade and Mitsuha begins to give up on Taki.
However, after inspiration from Taki’s “I love you,” she begs her father to evacuate the town a second time. The comet crashes into Itomori, destroying the town. It is revealed eight years later that Mitsuha succeeded in convincing her father to evacuate the town. Both Taki and Mitsuha forget each other. Taki moves on, living his life, he graduates from university. However, he does have a fondness for items from Itomori. Finally, while riding on parallel trains they see each other and finally ask each other their names.
I generally don’t gravitate towards anime outside of the typical Shonen genre, however, the critically acclaim of this movie made me curious. I’ll admit that I really liked this movie. I cared about Taki and Mitsuha, their relationship and was sad when I found out she had initially died. Even with it’s heartbreak, Kimi no Na wa does have some humor. The tendency of Taki to fondle Mitsuha’s breast when inhabiting her body, while juvenile, was still funny. Finally, the animation is some of the best you will ever see. Even if your not a fan of romance (like me), any anime fan will enjoy this movie.
Read my review of Steamboy.
Originally published at https://otakuorbit.com on January 16, 2020.
