The New Age of anime films has begun with Makoto Shinkai's work: Your Name.
Synopsis
This red string of fate romance story shows the different lives that one can live depending on where they're born, but more importantly, how connections can be life changing.
Mitsuha Miyamizu and Taki Tachibana have been experiencing weird dreams that have left them with a feeling of longing. These dreams seem to contain more than initially expected, because they are actually switching bodies. How will their different personalities help or hinder their relationships as they live life in each other's bodies? And will the bond that they form be a lasting connection or a temporary escape?
Review
Your Name has remained my favorite movie since I watched it.
I'm a sucker for good romance, amazing artwork, a heart wrenching story, and Japanese culture. When these are all combined, you get, not only my favorite anime movie, but my favorite movie of all time.
Coming into Your Name, I knew nothing about the movie except what drove its popularity; it was on its way to surpassing Spirited Away as the highest grossing anime film in Japan. The standards were high coming into this film. Will the music be as good? Will the animation and art draw the same emotions? Will the story be as memoizable? The answer, for me, was that it would be even better.
It should be noted that the fact that Your Name is a romance story compared to Spirited Away's coming-of-age theme, and while I love coming-of-age's relatability, I cannot get enough of beautiful romance stories.
To start with, the visuals in Your Name are already so gorgeous, every scene felt like it could be a wallpaper background to show off. When combined with the instrumental soundtrack, the emotions that Your Name brings out is as natural as breathing. Finally, the storyline draws the viewer so well and that it's arguable whether the climax of the movie or the finale of the movie is the better part.
I score Your Name a 9.5/10. Giving a perfect score on anything to me means that I would have to find no faults even with a deep examination. While there are some plot holes that I, as someone with a biased view for this movie, could easily fill, I recognize the problems the plot holes bring out.
Reception
In order to take the crown of Spirited Away, even for a short while, the movie has to be nothing short of a masterpiece, and Your Name was just that. In 2016, Your Name accounted for 10% of Japan's box office revenue, twice that of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Considering Star Wars has had the following of millions of fans worldwide, this is quite a feat. It did not win any Oscars, but it did win other notable films across the world, such as the 2016 Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Animated Film, as well as the Best Animated Film for Crunchyroll, a popular anime streaming site.
As previously mentioned, Your Name surpassed Spirited Away for a short time, before Spirited Away rereleased in theatres worldwide to keep its record of highest-grossing anime film. Currently, Your Name sits at the number three spot with $380 million in worldwide gross.
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