Director: Makoto Shinkai

Original Name (Japanese): Kimi no Na Wa.

Length: 107 minutes

Your Name, or Kimi no Na Wa., is a Japanese animated film that was first released in public theaters in Japan on the 26th of August, 2016. The premier in US theaters was the 2nd of December, 2016. As of now, it isn’t planned to premier in Scandinavia.

Since it’s release, Kimi no Na Wa. has gathered lots of attention, and is still rapidly climbing up the film ranking with an 8.9 score on IMDb. By November 27th, the movie’s box office exceeded 19.49 billion Yen which is about 171 million USD. The movie is even expected to grow further to surpass Howl’s Moving Castle – by Hayao Miyazaki – to make it the 5th all-time grossing films in Japan. The movie is even pursuing Oscar awards for the Best Animated Feature. The graphics are truly beautiful that I have more than 10 screenshots saved to use as my wallpaper.

The Plot:

It’s very rare to find a story this hard to describe. Kimi no Na Wa has two main “story arcs.” In the first arc, the two main characters are introduced. They are Mitsuha, who lives in the countryside and is bored of the tiny town, and Taki, who lives in the middle of Tokyo. As the story goes on, the two begin to switch bodies randomly. The comedy and the corny yet emotional scenes are frequently introduced. The two main characters never actually meet in person, but they slowly start falling in love.

The second arc, however, completely flips the cheerful mood. It’s very hard to describe this, without spoiling any of the scenes in it, but in summary, a natural disaster occurs. As it progresses towards the climax, you start realising things that you didn’t notice when you were watching the first arc. You begin to experience an epiphany as the emotional romance and the beautiful ending makes this movie’s plot very memorable.

The music ties all the arcs together. All the 23 tracks, including background music, are composed by a band named RADWIMPS. The music catches your emotions and sends them in a huge roller coaster.

Should you watch Kimi no Na Wa?

Definitely, but prepare a handkerchief or a box of tissues. Even if you don’t like anime, taking an hour and a half to watch a movie is a great way to kill time. You will, 100% guaranteed, not regret it.

Fun Facts:

The art director for Kimi no Na Wa is the same art director as in Hayao Miyazaki’s works Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke.

The movie is the fifth highest grossing movies in all-time Japan (including foreign movies like Titanic), and the second highest in Japanese movies (Spirited Away being first place with 30 billion yen). It is expected to rise even more.

The anime licensors for the US are aiming for the Oscar Awards with this film.

This film has won the 2016 Best Animated Film award of the L.A. Film Critic Association.