Your Name Film Difficulty Ranking: 2
Do you want to travel to Tokyo? Well here’s your ticket to Japan’s highest grossing anime since Spirited Away. You’ll see the tradition and ritual of life in the country as well as the fast paced life in Japan’s capital city. All this packaged in a romantic body-swapping high school flick. But don’t let the genre put you off, allow yourself to be awed by the magical skies, fascinated by the culture, and intrigued by the plot.
Why Watch Your Name?
- You’ve watched all the Studio Ghibli films and don’t know where to find more anime
- If you can’t afford a trip to Japan and want to experience Japanese culture
- To see some beautifully animated skies!
- It’s the 4th highest grossing film in Japan of all time! Only Spirited Away, Titanic, and Frozen have generated more money!
The Breakdown
Your Name starts with a meteor blazing through a twilight sky. The camera rotates as our protagonists say:
“The day the star fell. It was almost like seeing something out of a dream, nothing more, nothing less.
And then some Japanese pop-rock starts, reminiscent of the introductions of the anime TV shows.
Right from the start you can see the beautiful skies, particularly the beautiful twilight and magic-hour lighting that Shinkai is known for. The comet is always shown during the twilight hours to conjure a magical set of colours much like the Disney Intro. This aids the body-swapping fantasy of Mitsuha to Taki, our two protagonists, as it sets up the film as something magical (much like the Disney intro does for Disney films).
Shinkai also contrasts Tokyo city life with life in rural Japan. Whilst Mitsuha lives in a town on the bay of a lake high in the Japanese Alps, Taki lives in Tokyo. In the country, Mitsuha’s life is dominated by tradition and ritual (learn how to make spit-fermented sake). Also, the only cafe in the country is a vending machine that sells canned coffee! As said by the director;
“Mitsuha is pretty much me. Her character is based on my own upbringing. I loved Nagano but I was dying to go to Tokyo. However, the Tokyo you see in this movie is a stereotype, the image that Mitsuha dreams of and that I dreamt of when I was younger. [they both fell in love with the dream]
Conclusion
Your Name is a beautiful looking animated high-school movie that is perfect for fans of anime and John Hughes. Whilst is doesn’t have the fantastical creations of Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli it does have entertainment and fun. For a dive into authentic Japanese life, I highly recommend watching this.
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