If you’ve never believed in star-crossed lovers before, you will after soaring through time in the Japanese animated film Your Name (Kimi no Na Wa) that is out now in select theaters across the U.S. and Canada. Having won the Los Angeles Critics Association’s award for Best Animated Feature for 2016, it’s a wonder why something so visually and emotionally stimulating isn’t an Oscar nominee for best animated feature yet. Regardless, it’s an irresistible film that will capture the hearts and tears of all who view its dazzling performance.
The movie introduces two high schoolers by the names of Mitsuha and Taki who are complete strangers living in two completely different worlds. One is a girl longing to leave her country life and wishes she were a handsome Tokyo boy, the other a said Tokyo boy who works as a bustling waiter in the heart of the country’s busiest city. One morning, Mitsuha and Taki wake up in each other’s body’s just as a comet meant to pass over Japan is announced. This strange experience continues to occur as the days go by.
The two realize these happenings aren’t just dreams, but reality, and begin to leave each other messages, detailing rules and events from their day. As the two learn more about the other they’re living as for brief moments in time, they begin to build a longing connection.
Their destinies continue to wind and bind together until finally, when a vibrant comet lights up the night sky, they realize they want to meet each other as themselves. Through heart-stopping realizations, tear-jerking moments, and some kuchikamikaze sake, two different worlds collide in the most beautifully crafted and stellar way imaginable.
Of course, it wouldn’t be a film by Director Makoto Shinkai if there weren’t deeper messages ingrained in the film. The importance of a memory was emphasized throughout the entirety of the movie. It acted as a reminder to uphold family traditions, remember the old ways we come from, and of the frailty of our memories. If we forget the important moments we experience as well as the encounters we have, a lingering sense of desperate longing like Taki and Mitsuha experience may be had. This is why the comet’s unexpected landing point was such a symbolic scene. It acted as an echoing reminder of Japan’s most recent tragedy and its results thereafter. The trauma of Japan’s 2011 tsunami and earthquake shook the world with its immense power and desolation. It’s clear Shinkai made sure fans everywhere would experience the most intricate range of emotions possible in this film.
This isn’t to say Shinkai has never chopped potent onions randomly during his movies before Your Name. Even during his first debut film, Voices of a Distant Star (2002), many fans were left in deep thought as tears would blurred their vision. His continuously growing list of works only shows his dedication to his craft and to the expression of the heart. In fact, he is now considered to be the “new Miyazaki” of our time. Although he continues to imbue viewers with feelings of wonder and appreciation, he remains firm in his belief that his movie is being viewed too highly. Despite his words, it’s obvious fans will continue to rave about his newest work for years to come.
And rave we will. It came as a delightful surprise how well the concept of sexuality was played in snicker-worthy sequences throughout the film. What’s not to love about the initial gags during the first couple gender-swap sequences between Mitsuha and Taki? 
Mitsuha is bashfully embarrassed about going to the bathroom, but takes a little peek in the boxers anyway, while Taki can’t help his uncontrollable urge to feel his new set of breasts every time he wakes up. Everyone’s curious about the opposite gender, and what better time to find out about them than when you’ve swapped bodies with someone from the other side? (Teenage years are the best experimental years, after all.) Even the change in personalities to tomboy and sensitive guy stereotypes were a dazzling site to see. This concept may have only played a small role in the film, but it helped keep viewers elevating between the feeling of humor and the desperate need to know what would happen next. The snippets with Ms. Okudera and Katsuhiko were just the last tidbits needed to excel this concept to the stars.
Similar to the art of kumihimo, this film is a series of events put together as interwoven strands that cross each other many times before coming together at the end. Every strand was filled with an emotion worth feeling, and the end result was breathtaking.
Do you want to see fate binding two people together in the most emotional adventure ever? Go see Your Name at your nearest screening now and experience this thread of your destiny today!
©2016 TOHO CO., LTD. / CoMix Wave Films Inc. / KADOKAWA CORPORATION / East Japan Marketing & Communications, Inc. / AMUSE INC. / voque ting co.,ltd. / Lawson HMV Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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