Anime: Kimi no Na wa.

While I was watching this movie, I kept wondering what in the world I was watching. t was so complex and fast that I couldn't follow it. I just couldn't understand what was going on in this movie. A girl and a boy is constantly switching bodies and I couldn't tell if the girl was herself or if she was the boy in her body.

Now, I do not like complex, intense coming-of-age stories like this so I was worried I wouldn't like it but I decided to try it since a lot of people thought it was excellent but I didn't know it would be a coming-of-age story. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be but I was still pretty disappointed. It was pretty iffy. It had a fairly interesting story because I like stories that focus on two characters with two different plots and I like the whole switching bodies thing but I just couldn't find myself relating to any of the characters. The characters can be rude and Mitsuha was also cloying. Taki was okay, but not great. I guess he was the only relatively interesting character out of this bunch.

The movie had too much crying in it. The only solid thing about this movie was the animation and the voice acting, they were pretty lovely. Most of the music sounded good. But the writing and the directing just wasn't my cup of tea.

I found this movie to be highly overrated and do not get why people praise this movie so highly.

Review
Kimi no na wa (Your Name) took the japanese industry by storm. It blasted away in local box office, giving a kiss in the butt of many classic record-holders from famed Studio Ghibli. The momentum was tremendous and the financial success is unquestionable. We, however, are talking about an industry moved by insane local hyping and overseas fans with questionable inclination to worship the popular. The question that lingers is how good Your Name truly is. Does it live up to all the boom? Let's talk about it.

Your Name is a tale from Shinkai Makoto, one of the modern gurus attempting to take the legacy of Hayao Miyazaki. Makoto's movies and animations are always centered upon the concept of distance, both physical and temporal. Most of his works are quite heavy when questioning relationships with difficult or impassable bridges and this movie here is no different. This is the story of Mitsuha and Taki, two teenagers living in rural and urban Japan respectively. Their dreams, or so they think, puts them in the body of one another from time to time, and in swapping their routines they start to forge an invisible bond, one that is shrouded by a mysterious reason and a lot of weird conveniences.

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1. It's Shinkai Makoto
   It's all here. The distance in space and time, a bond where the two lovers cannot easily get to one another, the atmosphere of melancholy overflowing in this invisible relationship. There is also the classical syndromes of the melancholic country-girl who wants to go to a big city and a city boy overwhelmed by a busy life, with little time to think and truly live.
   
   Yet it's also ordinary
   Your Name, however, suffers from its setting though. This is perhaps Shinkai Makoto's most teenage-oriented work to date, starting from the classical gender-swapping comedy, going through default schoolmate talk, and even dipping into a thriller sequence that forgets all the melancholy of the tale for a while. This ordinary feeling, as if mimicking TV series of school boys and girls, gets even more powerful when the character design offers the most default protagonists you can imagine. Yeah. Taki is that guy you see in every mahou shounen around and Mitsuha is your typical shounen-setting girl.
   
   It has a balance though
   Although taking your everyday cliches and tropes seems like a terrible fault, here it manages to bring some balance to the overly thoughtful tales common to Shinkai Makoto. There is a bit of romance, some funny scenes, a thrilling sequence, and a nice twist of events that bumps the experience. This is a full package for a shounen audience, and it delivers everything with a top-notch animation and amazingly beautiful scenery.
   
   As a result...
   Yeah. You know the drill, a balanced experience often means it gets nothing to truly shine. Whereas most of Shinkai Makoto's works can get quite sad and make you ponder at its concepts, Your Name really never gets that deep. There is simply no sad events to cry for, only a few serene sequences to make you question about the distance of the duo's relationship, and it never gets truly surprising considering you know at least a bit about the author's past works.
   
   It's also quite convenient
   Although time and distance may separate the lovers, many weirdly inserted conveniences are the fuel for this plot. It makes you simply accept some nonsensical amnesia hovering this body-swapping power, which seems inserted in a vain attempt to give the show more drama. It also takes a catastrophic event as a core to the plot and yet makes certain none of the two protagonists have a clue about the world they live in, such as the year they are, the map of Japan, the names of cities, or a fuc*n meteor falling a few years ago just a few miles away from where you live. Yeah. Unlike TV series abusing of these plot-convenient elements, there is no cliffhangers to make use of these, so it all ends up being just that: nonsensical annoying plot devices.
   

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Comments
Your Name could be said as the most easily suggested title from Shinkai Makoto. It's solid, it's fuc*n beautiful, and it gets away with a bit of everything that a somewhat new audience to his kind of tales may enjoy. Sadly though, this happens at the expense of depth and plot sense, making a debate about distance and a drama about impossible relationships feel minor, if not just a detail, and moving everything forward with questionable events.

Yeah, the hype got the best of it. Although Your Name is a great piece of work, it is easily not the best work of its author and certainly far from truly grasping the power of movies such as Hotaru no Haka, Omoide no Marnie, Chihiro, and other famous pieces from almighty Studio Ghibli and the legendary Hayao Miyazaki.

Anyway, you should watch it because it's beautiful and fun.

I watched this movie 2 times after, I check that currently Your Name is ranked 1 on MAL record. What happened for some people hated/dislike this movies? Lazy plot convenient, amnesia of fix, or zero explanations that without sensitive emotional plot because who tell this movie is really terrible, dark plot, conspiracy theory or painful with negative reviews? That was BAKA and big wrong for Your Name haters. Your Name is legendary best anime movie which should watch for Your Name liker or fans. Your name is fucking beautiful and amazing movie with high complex story, sensitive emotional of switched body and journey and happy ending. I can stand that why some people think this movie is overrated just like Erased, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood or Steins;Gate, but never mind. Oh my god, Your Name is really only 1 episode which is too short with 1 hour 46 minutes and bad but I think this movie is the most successful anime movies by Shinkai Makoto director.



STORY SECTION: 10/10 Score "Masterpiece"
Analysis: Premise 2/2, Pacing 2/2, Complexity 2/2, Plausibility 2/2, Conclusion 2/2
The story is about that 2 protagonists switched their body of their surprised dream while they are calling mobile phone in Japan (mean Taki's age 14 and Mitsuha's age 17 in 2013). Their protagonists are Taki Tachibana and Mitsuha Miyamizu. After that, Taki tried to call Mitsuha's name many a time seriously but she forget her name. Then, they respective to trip other Japan place whose are forgets their names. They try to together their name and they avoid faces the comet explosion occurs who be killed (mean Taki's age 17 and Mitsuha's age 20 in 2016). This is good for time and space problem. Fortunately, they feel surprised and amazing whose meet and see in trains parallel who called your name and waiting after 5 years times. Ugh! My first watched movie after, I could image that the story has supernatural phenomenon while 2 protagonists switched their body may be lost romance feel. But the finally ending is good and miracle.

Edit: The story is make me never forgettable, very very amazing and touching with 1 hour 46 minutes movies. Also, this movie has sensitive emotional, originality school life and beautiful supernatural with switched body plot. This can clearly explained to switched body may be impact the future slice of life with human and how to clearly to solved and filled their life problem which is good philosophical and nothing to kill yourself plot in order to drive these idea.

ART/ANIMATION SECTION: 10/10 Score "Masterpiece"
Art Analysis: General Artwork 2/2, Character Figures 2/2, Backgrounds 2/2, Animation 2/2, Visual Effects 2/2
The art is masterpiece which can make me enjoyable, interest and unique. The characters are high quality who are so far so excellent. I must remember that Mizuha was going and watching the Tokyo shrine comet but weird that the comet is explosion occurs which may be make 500 town people unfortunately killed. The image could be clearly to the comet is explosion occurs which looks like smooth and explosive force. Also, the animation can full highlight that the characters appearance are used "3D camera rotation" looks like smooth, something blur and colorful to provide a realistic characters experience. Taki Tachiba appearance is really handsome and skimpy. He also switches bodies with Mitsuha is really great. This is so excellent CGI that has used HD on movie. The animation is pretty beautiful and amazing to make the characters faces beyond show emotion.

SOUND SECTIONS: 10/10 Score "Masterpiece"
Sound Analysis: Voice Acting 3/3, Music Themes 4/4, Sound Effects 3/3
The sound is very enjoyable while it can give me warm and glorious feel. I most like listen "Zenzenzense" and "Nandemonaiya" because two songs are sang by RADWIPS which make me happiness and glorious feel. Also, these song can soothing to the topic which are epic moments. The other songs and OST are great, funny and make me cry.

Also, I am surprised that this movie is decides to choice the main characters voice actor. Firstly, Taki Tachibana voice Seiyuu is Ryunosuke Kamiki, as the main characters looks like Yoshisugu Matsuoka, who is handsome, friendly and motivated. He is also majority of helpful and busy young man in this movie who plays the main characters like Summer Wars's Kenji Koiso, The Secret World of Arrietty's Shou and The Princess and the Pilot's Charlies Karino. Secondly, Mitsuha Miyamizu voice seiyuu is Mone Kamishiraishi who is friendly, frank and determined girls looks like Saori Hayami (Note: Saori Hayami is voiced by Shouko Nishimiya from A Silent Voice movie). The 2 protagonists voice are pretty awesome, beautiful and pleasant switched body sounds.

CHARACTER SECTION: 10/10 Score "Masterpiece"
Analysis: Presence 2/2, Personality 2/2, Backdrop 2/2, Development 2/2, Catharsis 2/2
The characters is pretty excellent and two protagonists could make me happiness feel with secondary characters. All I can say is the characters development is really interesting and fresh with originality which can provide majority unforgettable and unique moment with their personality and attitude. Taki and Mitsuha especially!

VALUE & ENJOYMENT SECTION: 10/10 Score "Masterpiece"
Analysis: Historical Value 3/3, Rewatchability 3/3, Memorability 4/4
Analysis: Art 1/1, Sound 2/2, Story 3/3, Characters 4/4
I re-watched 1 time after, I am crying 3 times. I was image that Taki and Mitsuha are great characters whose are switched their bodies to lost their romance in Japan. Also, this movie produce studio is CoMix Wave Films which director is Makoto Shinkai. Great work for Makoto Shinkai. If you liked Kimi no Na wa, Steins;Gate and Your Lie in April, I think both of these anime are wonderful and amazing anime which are quite sad and make their cry.

Edit: If you watched Your Name after, some people don't like or hate this movie because they (mean negative reviewers) misunderstand this movie contract. But I think it could give me enjoyable that 2 protagonists switched their body and called their name while make me cry above 3-4 times is enough.

OVERALL: 10/10 Score "Masterpiece"
Overall, I really like Your Name while I want to rated 11 out of 10 Score (Super Masterpiece mean Mugen Lover) but actually my final rated this movie is 10 out of 10 scores (Phenomenal). The movie is unique, good taste and enjoyable animation since it can make me amazing or throb which prove that it's kind great the story. Some people think this movie is overrated or don't know how to beat Spirited Away. This movie is focus to supernatural with romance genre which can impact that a boy and a girls switched their body with their time travel after lost romance like Steins;Gate. If you enjoyed this movie, you will understand that it had good hide meaning. Also, this movie is make me heartwarming story of romance and supernatural theme.

My final rating: A+ to S+
Critic Score (Estimate): 7.5/10
My Final Score: 10/10

Final conclusion: Should try to watch it! This is masterpiece of amazing and unique.

Disclaimer: I work 80 hours a week, and I used my one day off to drive 2 hours to see this movie. It was worth the drive.

Your name is an excellent film. The pacing, the animation, the characters, and the plot are all top notch.

What I loved:
The gorgeous backgrounds are a treat to see. The hyper-realism of the cityscape contrasts quite well with the mellow tranquility of the countryside.
The characters are developed just right. Not a line of dialogue felt wasted.
The way the film transitioned into the third act. The jump from "Freaky Friday" to "Disaster film" was handled with delicate care and craft.
The film is very emotional and yet has just the right amount of humor sprinkled throughout.
Radwimps' OST is perfect.

Shinkai has learned what ticks and what doesn't from his previous works and crafted a masterpiece. Your Name combines the best of 5cm/sec, Garden of Words, and Beyond the Clouds. Don't mind the other two contrarian reviewers. This is a film that will stand the test of time.

Fair warning: this review contains MAJOR spoilers of basically the entire movie. First off, it's a movie that It's a movie that has taken people by storm, so I'm sure that if you want to watch it, you already have by now. If that's not the case, I recommend you exit off of this review immediately. You've been warned.

With that out of the way, assuming that since you're still reading, I assume you've already seen the movie or don't mind being spoiled. Either way, I just wanted to let you know the reason why I'm writing a review filled with spoilers. Basically, Kimi no Na wa isn't a movie where the quality remains consistent from start to finish. It starts off pretty good but ends bad. To completely justify why I rate it the way I do, I need to analyze the entire movie. So, with that out of the way, I'll now begin.

There comes a point where anime becomes so highly praised among the anime community to the point where it becomes unavoidable, though this isn't ALWAYS in a good way. Sometimes, things are popular just because they fit a specific audience that enjoys the things present within the series, despite potentially bad writing (SAO is a good example for that). That's really how it is with just about any "shut your brain off and watch the fights" action series... people care more about what's seen and less about the substance, thus poor writing is excused because everything looks cool.

I've always thought of the company behind a lot of well-known visual novels, Key, is similar to what I've stated above, though with more dramatic works as opposed to action-filled ones. They write very tear-jerking stories that border on the line of being melodramatic, and bundle them together with a lot of pretentious plotlines and themes and fantastic art+a great soundtrack, all things that allow people to completely avoid the fact that the writing isn't all that great and just enjoy the way it's all presented. And to me, Makoto Shinkai, the writer and creator of various other anime films including the one I'm reviewing right now, is like the Key of the anime world.

Kimi no Na wa isn't QUITE the same in the regard that I listed above, but I do think it's on the same boat in its own way. As opposed to being very popular, whether for good or bad reasons, what this film has done is jump almost instantly to the top of the MAL ratings, which makes it nearly unavoidable in its own way because you begin to think, "what is it that makes it so good? Why are people so in love with it?" That's what caused me to watch it, and I was left severely disappointed. Here's my reasons why.

The movie starts off as a typical school comedy with very typical characters that seem like they're not meant to have any definition or substance to them, which is okay as long as the writing remains consistent and doesn't try to take itself too far (unfortunately that isn't the case). The movie reminds me a lot of Kokoro Connect, with a boy and a girl occasionally switching bodies at unknown times and trying to adjust to their new lifestyles. The cause of this new phenomenon is never given.

This was one of my very first problems with the movie. The setting is within a fictional world, but that doesn't excuse plot convenience. Stories CAN include fictional things that don't exist in the real world, things like giant robots, or monsters, inhabiting another planet. Things like that are okay, because they're meant to be fictional, and their worth as a story is presented in the very beginning. But, with Kimi no Na wa? The film tries to set itself up in a realistic world, where everything is normal like our own but... this strange thing happens between these two people. In situations like that, explanation needs to be done. Why it's happening, why it's only between these two people, things like that. Even horrible explanation, such as saying, "a loop in space and the fact that they met on this day at this time at this spot," or something like that, would be far better than no explanation at all. All it does is show why you shouldn't be too pretentious when writing fiction. Very poor writing right there.

However, the first half really isn't all that bad, simply because it's something you can stop thinking about completely and just enjoy it for what it is. A lot of stuff made no sense, but it was still fun to see how each person was affecting each other's life and how they dealt with it. It was still kind of hard to not catch some of the problems, such as how they adapted to the entire situation so easily and even went along with how the other was affecting their life without a whole lot of trying to stop them. Regardless, it was still fun for the most part, something I'd view in similar light as a typical school comedy/slice of life with a small twist... rating it around 7/10 and considering it a very safe watch if you're looking for a way to comfortably pass the time.

The second half comes along and it's where all of the problems of the film begin to show. More mishaps occur that make you realize that the film trying to take place in a realistic world similar to ours is complete bullshit. They don't just switch bodies, they also travel in time. They never realized this because it seems people don't talk about current events in each timeline. It seems calendars or phones/computers with dates on them don't exist either. Many things that make you think it SHOULD take place in a fantasy world, but it doesn't because that would require a completely different style of writing. The entire second half just stops making sense.

One character actually tries to take the initiative to meet the other person in real life, which is something that is supposed to seem out of the ordinary simply because, for whatever reason, they never attempt to talk to each other in real life besides through notes they leave during the times that they switch bodies. I've heard some people around the anime community try to dismiss this with "they thought it was all a dream," but there's absolutely no way that that's possible because their lives were affected by it and they understand that fully. So go ahead and completely dismiss that idea of yours if you were one of the people who have it because it's completely impossible.

Regardless, the girl does finally take the initiave to meet the guy, but the fact that they're in different timelines is almost instantly seen as a problem, thus the guy has no idea who the girl is. And for WHATEVER reason, the girl doesn't question this at ALL! She pretty much just accepts it, with hardly any struggle. Not asking the guy if he's had any strange dreams recently, nothing. She doesn't even think for a second to wonder, "why doesn't he know who I am?" Even though, if she DID think that way, she'd realize that something's wrong and might even be able to figure out what's going on.

However, all of that is thrown away when actual time travel happens. After they managed to meet physically on a train, which was the situation I described above, they eventually meet again in spirit form thanks to the power of plot convenience. Neither meeting affected the plot at all, all it did was gave the audience a potential pairing to ship together even though they had no face-to-face contact that they didn't end up forgetting about shortly after. Gotta love amnesia being used as a plot device.

Yeah, this film doesn't shy from using amnesia as well. Whenever the two speak to each other, or share messages, or anything, it's almost instantly afterwards that they forget about it. They're left with a lingering feeling of "I feel like I'm missing something" but they still fail to remember anything in the end. This is all because of plot convenience, because it allows the plot to continue on for far longer than it really needs to.

Eventually, the characters are trying to affect history, which is to prevent the deaths of people caused by a natural disaster. As if enough amnesia hadn't been used between the character interactions alone, the boy forgets completely about this natural disaster, like it wasn't important enough for him to remember or how he's somehow never heard of it despite it being one of the most tragic natural disasters in recorded history. They attempt to pass this over as "he's been traveling through time and doesn't remember everything that hasn't happened yet in the current timeline" but that's complete bullshit as well. That has NEVER been a theme in any sort of story related to time travel; that's just not how it works. It's time travel because you visit times you haven't been to, or were once in in the past, while keeping all of your current knowledge. Otherwise, you're just visiting another spot on the timeline; that's not actual time travel, that's time jumping. And even with all of that said, it's still bullshit simply because the guy DOES retain some knowledge throughout the various timelines, the most notable one being that he remembers that he's there to save someone. It's all just selective memory, all for the sake of plot convenience.

Everything is saved because the girl manages to convince her own father to evacuate the people in time. This is another form of plot convenience, similar to the one pointed out above. She remembers perfectly that a disaster is coming and even has an extensive plan to prevent it from killing all of the people that it did in a different timeline, but doesn't at ALL remember how she knows that the disaster is incoming? How does that make any sense whatsoever? And the girl convincing her father to evacuate all of those people? It all happens OFF SCREEN. Why? Because there's no way it could be shown in a way that makes ANY sense, because it's such an absurd thing from the viewpoints of the entire village. The girl's original plan to cut off all of the electricity with a bomb and make everyone believe that a terrorist attack is incoming, despite it also being stupid, actually made a lot more sense and if that would've been used as the method to evacuate everyone and save all the lives they did, then okay. Stupid, but it would've worked a lot better. But, that's too simple, and would've ended the film too quickly, so we just have to stretch everything super far until it doesn't make any sense. Doing things the Makoto Shinkai way.

The tragedy is prevented and somehow, no time paradox is caused even though literally hundreds of people who should be dead in the current timeline are still alive. Life continues on as it normally would for the guy and nothing changes for him into the future. After an unspecified number of years later, the two of them meet again by pure accident and it's implied that they end up remembering everything, since the movie is ended with, "do I know you?" All thanks to the power of nonsense and plot convenience. And bullshit.

The movie is a perfect example of exploiting every single type of lazy plot convenience that exists out there as opposed to actual good writing, but that's all forgotten about because it's animated well in order to maximize the amount of feels you get without having even a small hint of good writing or logic. You're expected to forget what's going on and instead view everything like you would a show with a laugh track. Enjoy the amazing art, laugh, cry, and not give a single shit about the actual quality of writing. Kimi no Na wa is yet another example of how bad a majority of modern anime are. Tons of plot conveniences; time resets, amnesia, all without any explaining.

Imagine a gift box, wrapped up very nicely with tons of bows and ribbons with a tag that says it's to you from the most important person in your life, or the biggest crush you have, or whoever you'd most want a present from. But you open it up, and it's completely empty. That's basically what Kimi no Na wa is. Something that looks nice but has no substance.

In short, what Kimi no Na wa is is a series that looks amazing, sounds even better, but fails in so many other regards. The story isn't that bad at the beginning because it plays off like a comfortable time killer with only a few issues outside of the actual series composition. However, during the second half, everything turns to an absolute shitfest of plot convenience and nonsense. The characters throughout the entire movie are one-dimensional and horribly characterized AND developed, which during the first half really doesn't matter but it's definitely a problem in the second half. Overall, just a failed movie, only saved by great presentation and how comfortable and safe of a watch it was during the first half, and the first half ALONE.

If you're interested in my critical scoring, feel free to continue on to the bottom. Otherwise, that's all for me.

Scoring:

Seeing how this movie quickly jumped to the top of MAL ratings, I just had to check it out. Last time that happened, it was with Erased and we all saw how overrated that one was. So, here I am watching the movie, wondering what could possibly be the reason it was rated so high, and why everybody calls it the best anime of all times, only to realize it’s because it is exactly like Erased.

The first half is a typical school comedy in the likes of Kokoro Connect. A boy and a girl occasionally switch bodies and try to adjust to their new lifestyle. What caused this weird phenomenon? We are never told; it’s the power of plot convenience. How did they accept this sudden change that would normally drive them insane, and instead managed to adjust to each other’s timetable and occupations in a single day?

Stop thinking about it, just enjoy the occasional naughty touches, such as the boy groping the breasts while in the female body, or the girl making a woman to fall in love with her while in the male body. It made no sense in how easily they went along with it, but it was fun seeing them affecting the lives of each other. Up until the midpoint, it was a nicely animated and safe pass timer I would easily score a bit above average.

And then the second half begins and everything stops making sense. They are not simply switching bodies, they are also traveling in time. Something they didn’t realize for many weeks because they never attempted to communicate with each other via phones or the internet. Also, apparently nobody ever mentions the year or talks about recent events in this setting.

Although they exist in different timelines, they still manage to meet with each other. First physically by complete accident inside a train, where the boy completely forgets about her, although he was constantly in her body for weeks. And then they meet again in spirit form, thanks to the power of plot convenience. Both meetings had zero purpose to the plot, other than hinting the two of them are in love, although they never exchanged a single word face to face without forgetting it a few seconds later. Because we apparently didn’t have enough bullshit yet, we need to add amnesia to the mix.

As it happens in all stories about time travel, the characters are eventually trying to change history. More specifically, to prevent the deaths of hundreds of people by a passing comet, an event that devastated the country and became the most tragic comet disaster in recorded history. But apparently that wasn’t important enough for the boy to remember, since he somehow never heard about it.

And none of that matter since the girl manages to convince her own father to evacuate the people in time, all of which happens out of screen since there is no way they could show it in a way that makes sense. Thus the tragedy is prevented and it somehow doesn’t cause a time paradox for the boy, because plot convenience. Some years later, the two of them accidently meet each other once again, and magically remember everything thanks to the power of bullshit. Then the movie ends and you are free to kill yourself.

That was terrible. The movie is abusing every lazy plot convenience there is without ever trying to explain or excuse anything. Everything is beautifully animated in order to maximize the feels without having a speck of logic in whatever is going on. You are supposed to shut your brain because of the pretty colors, laugh while they are groping breasts, cry when the girl is running in the woods, and don’t give a fuck about the plot.

Yet another example of why modern anime are nothing more than pretty boxes with nothing inside. Time resets, amnesia, and zero explanations, because who the hell is watching anime for quality? It’s all trash entertainment for people who want to escape reality.