Pros:
For context, I was already familiar with the movie's story and its premise because I read the manga adaptation before watching the movie. I did that because I thought it version was the original and I read a good amount of genderswap manga anyway and happened to stumble across it. I read the manga a couple years ago, so I had forgotten the finer details and some of the plot points, but I still remembered the
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big plot twist.
The biggest change I noticed from the manga was the animation quality and the music. The animation is really fluid and it is used well through some creative shots. Shots like when a sliding door is opened you see it slide open from the floor. It makes such a simple action seem grander and more important than it would otherwise be. The scene where
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Taki drinks Mitsuha's kuchikumizake to have connection with her looks surreal, almost like a drug trip. My favourite visual in the movie is definitely the scene where
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you first see the comet about to hit Itomori from Mitsuha's perspective. Before that point you had only seen the comet from afar, a mere speck in the sky. The fragment that broke seemed further miniscule. You don't realize its weight and scale until you see the full thing plummeting from the sky. Once you realize it, you get a sense of dread due to its magnitude, that's going to do a lot of damage.The music is also great, with the standouts being the 4 lyrical tracks, Dream Lantern, Zenzenzense, Sparkle and Nandemonaiya. They all play during a shift in the movie. Dream Lantern plays after the movie's first scene and kicks off the gender-swap elements afterwards. Zenzenzense is one the movie's main themes and it plays after
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Taki and Mitsuha figure out that they're body-swapping with each other. Then it goes into a montage of them dealing with the everyday struggles of the bodyswap. Sparkle represents
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Mitsuha's and Taki's willingness to put up a final stand to save the residents of Itomori from the comet. It plays after Taki and Mitsuha meet each other for the first time on the mountaintop with the shrine. From that encounter, they get the courage to keep on fighting till the end. Lastly the final lyrical theme, Nandemonaiya (which translates to It's Nothing) plays slightly before and during the movie's credits. It represents
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Taki and Mitsuha going against the will of time itself and searching for each other no matter how long it takes, even if they don't realize it.With those segments out of the way, let's move on to what makes Your Name truly magical, its story. One of the aspects that keeps you interested in the story is that there is always some mystery to be wondering about. In the beginning
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you're trying to understand what is happening to Mitsuha and Taki and how they're connected. The way the movie accomplishes this is by not giving you the full picture. You only see
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the start of Taki's first day as Mitsuha and then it skips to Mitsuha the next day being confused. From there you get Mitsuha's first day as Taki and Taki's reaction to that the next day. Only then do the pieces start falling into place. Then you get the mystery of
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why Mitsuha won't answer any of Taki's calls, which culminates in the big plot twist that Itomori was wiped out by the comet and that Mitsuha and Taki are not only separated by distance but also by time. The last mystery is
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why Mitsuha and Taki were body-swapping in the first place, which is revealed to be a hereditary phenomenon within the Miyamizu family. The key difference between Mitsuha and her grandmother and mother is that she realized it wasn't a dream but actually real life. Because of this, Mitsuha reaches out to Taki and gives him the red thread she keeps in her hair. This moment is actually the conclusion to multiple pieces of foreshadowing seen throughout the movie, which is the next aspect I want to highlight.
Your Name has a lot of foreshadowing, some of which isn't even in the movie. The poster for the movie showcases
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Taki's and Mitsuha's physical distance, because they're standing in different locations. The bright light between them is the twilight that bridges the time gap between them and allows them to meet each other on top of the mountain with the shrine. Lastly the poster also shows
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the comet fragment splitting off towards Mitsuha, hinting at the fate of Itomori. There are pieces of foreshadowing you won't notice until a rewatch such as
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the movie starting with Taki and Mitsuha talking about a feeling that they're searching for something but not knowing why. The comet fragment hitting Itomori is foreshadowed by the fact that the lake Itomori sits on and the mountaintop with the shrine are both crater holes. The foreshadowing for
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Mitsuha's first meeting with Taki includes Mitsuha having cut her hair on the day of the festival and Taki having a red wristband that he's not sure where he got it from. On top of this, the scene is also portrayed within the cutscene you see when Dream Lantern plays. In the scene, it is revealed that Taki got his wristband from Mitsuha and that she cut her hair because she was grieving from the fact that Taki didn't recognize her. At the very end of the movie,
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the thing that Mitsuha and Taki we're searching for is revealed to have been each other. This is the same type of foreshadowing as
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used in the first chapter of Higurashi, where you are initially shown something you have no way of understanding, but which true meaning is revealed near the end. The ending of the body swap phenomenon or the transition to the newly created timeline, made Taki and Mitsuha forget each other's names. However, they still subconsciously remember each other from when they met on the day the comet came down. Despite the relevant memories being reset, they finally manage to find each other after 5 long years. Taki especially pays attention to Mitsuha's red thread, I like to think that's because of the wristband he got from Mitsuha which he carried with him for 3 years in the original timeline. The reason why I think this, is because of the symbolism that a red thread holds.Spoiler, click to view
A red thread symbolizes fated love. (The only way I know this is because it was in a Ranma 1/2 episode lol.) Two people who are connected by a red thread are fated to fall in love. And you know what happens during Mitsuha's and Taki's first meeting? Exactly. When Mitsuha gives Taki her thread, they are both connected by it for merely a moment, but that is enough for it to work. This aspect of the scene is especially highlighted in the visuals of the Dream Lantern cutscene as it shows a lot of red threads around Mitsuha and Taki.Wanted to give some more miscellaneous thoughts on Your Name before I wrap up the review. Despite
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the stair case in the final scene only appearing for a very short amount of time, it is no wonder that it is referred to as the 'your name' staircase. After all it's the final scene of the movie where Taki & Mitsuha finally reunite. Bonus points from me for the final line of the movie being a name drop of the title.I don't usually get very emotional from media, I've never cried to a piece of media. The closest I've gotten is a bit teary eyed. That still hasn't changed as I didn't cry to Your Name either, but I did feel a heavy devastating sadness in my chest during the sadder scenes, which is something that also only happens extremely rarely. If a piece of media can affect me emotionally, that means its truly something special and even after all this analysis, I have to agree with my gut instinct.
Your Name is one of THE gender-swap anime alongside Ranma 1/2 that I would argue got even more mainstream popularity than Ranma did. You've seen how much I've been gushing about this movie, it's clear as day why it was also a hit with more general audiences and I'll always media that brings one of my favourite themes into the spotlight. Gender-swap media is able to tell interesting and unique stories that you can't find elsewhere. I especially enjoy stories that explore the more mundane problems that arise from a gender-swap and Your Name delivered on that aspect as well during
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the cutscene montage when Zenzenzense plays. Ranma 1/2 will forever remain the first gender-swap anime I watched, but I have to admit that Your Name has a more consistent level of quality than Ranma ever did. If you're reading this and haven't dipped your toes into gender-swap media yet, I would highly recommend this movie alongside the Ranma 1/2 remake to see the greatest that gender-swap stories have to offer.
