Your Name is a beautiful film

I can’t recommend Your Name enough. Not how I start most reviews, but I’m cutting right to the chase…watch this movie! It is beautiful, in storytelling, visuals and audio design. Makoto Shinkai delivered a masterpiece. It deals with love, loss, memory and identity without falling into any typical anime genre tropes. If you hate anime, Your Name deserves a viewing.

Mitsuha, a 17 year old girl from the small town of Itomori, swaps bodies with a 17 year old boy from Tokyo named Taki. They wake up in each other’s bodies, and then hardly remember the experience when they swap back the next day. Each swap feels like a lingering dream, distorted but lingers in the heart. Eventually they realize what’s happening and begin leaving notes for each other. They grow to know each other, impacting on the other’s life in unexpected ways.

Then the swaps end as suddenly as they began. The film follows Taki as he searches for Mitsuha, driven only by images and names he half remembers. The film’s only half finished when his search ends. I won’t spoil the rest of the narrative. Spoilers won’t ruin the film, but there’s an emotional punch to how it unfolds that a summary will not capture the spirit of. It’s something to experience yourself.

I don’t fully understand how the films events occur. Your Name tells a clear story, you always know what is happening, but the reason behind why things are occurring isn’t clear. Why the body swap happens in the first place is never clearly laid out. Instead the film plays out as dreamlike as the main characters memories of their body swaps. It’s surreal without any of the standard trappings of surrealism. This isn’t David Lynch or Donnie Darko, but it also sort of is. Emotions and actions are far more important to Your Name than explanations.

Your Name’s visuals are help reinforce the emotional narrative at play. Linger shots of Tokyo and rural Japan are rendered in stunning detail. The way Shinkai captures light could be mistaken for photography rather than animation. His character work is less realistic, but is far more subtle than many anime films. Taki and Mitsuha feel real from the moment they wake up to the story. There’s nothing flashy here and Your Name is all the better for it.

I watched the English dub released by Funimation for the western theatrical release. I’ve never been an original vocal track purist. I like experience a film in English, just my preference. There’s nothing to complain about with Your Name. From the voice cast to the English arrangements of the films many songs, Your Name is a perfect translation. The songs are especially impressive. Funimation wisely brought in Yojiro Noda, the original Japanese composer and vocalist, to complete the English versions. His work is beautiful, heartwarming and extremely catchy. He creates melodies that will linger with you.

Your Name is currently the 4^th highest grossing film of all time in Japan, and second highest grossing anime of all time. It’s between Spirited Away and Howl’s Moving Castle, both Hayao Miyzaki films. That’s amazing company to keep. Your Name is a must watch for anybody looking for a strong emotional arc to a film.