Okay so, I will immediately admit, this is going to be a low-effort review. Maybe it could even be considered less a review and more of me rambling more-or-less aimlessly about how and why this movie hit so hard for me.

I am very biased towards liking this anime, I will admit. Apart from Death Note and a few random episodes of various anime that I glimpsed as I grew up, Kimi No Na Wa had been the first anime I've ever watched. I just randomly happened upon a screenshot or clip of the movie not long after it released. I borrowed a friend's streaming account to watch it in Japanese with English subs, which I had never done before, but I think a dub wasn't even available back then. Watched it once, loved it, then proceeded to watch it again the same day.

Honestly, I have rarely been as entranced into a work of fiction as I had been when I watched Your Name. The animation style, needless to say, is absolutely gorgeous. They hit the perfect spot between the anime art style we are used to and realism. Especially, all the nature and landscape shots were phenomenal. The character and facial animations were also extremely fluid and absolutely convincing.

Story-Wise, I think Shinkai hit it out of the park. He himself (and a few critics who actually go in-depth, unlike me) said that he wasn't completely happy with it and that the story needed a bit more time and refining before it was up to par. Honestly, I don't even notice. The story is very simple, but it has a mystery backdrop that some people (me included) might not have understood on the first viewing. The simple body-swapping dynamic was used expertly and with almost every swap you could see the characters changing bit by bit, as well as starting to love each other. When it all stopped, it was very shocking to me, and I got really invested into the mystery element of the story.

The movie is almost infinitely rewatchable for me, as I seem to pick up on something new on every subsequent viewing of Kimi No Na Wa. For example, the second time I watched it, I noticed that the ritual dance Mitsuha and Yotsuha perform with the Kagura Suzu bells was a reference to the comet splitting. While the shrine burnt down hundreds of years ago with all the knowledge in it, the tradition still continued on until the current day, where it prophesized the destruction of the town. Honestly, I really appreciate that kind of attention to detail.

For me, a great work only becomes perfect if it has equally great music. It is a preference thing, for sure, but I am a very music-oriented person and love listening to different soundtracks from anime, TV shows and movies I watch. RADWIMPS did an amazing job here. I loved everything from the happy tunes that play in everyday-settings, to the dramatic orchestral swells of scenes like the autumn festival to, of course, the catchy J-Pop/Rock performances. My personal favourite tracks are Sparkle, Kataware Doki and Mitsuha's Theme, but to be honest, every song in the movie is a banger.

Okay, that was enough talking around the bush. What should I rate this movie? Ah, who am I kidding, it has to be a 10/10 for me. I realize that there might be one or the other valid criticism, but honestly, I don't even care. If a minor flaw doesn't affect my enjoyment of a work, I will not deduct points, as a rule. I love this movie too much and have rewatched it recently. When just today I got the urge to rewatch it again, I had to force myself to stop. Instead, I wrote this review, which might not encompass all of my feelings for the work, but sums them up relatively nicely. This was not really a review per se, but more of a love letter to one of my favourite works of fiction. Thank you, Kimi No Na Wa, for being what you are!