Kimi no Na Wa (New Makoto Shinkai Film)

[Julio C]

So I just came back from watching the movie, and I was blown away on how incredible it was. I did not expect the movie to be like that at all. The plot was a lot more complex than just two people switching bodies, yet well written and executed with attention to detail. Some people did cried during those moments. That ending was beautiful, and I'm glad Makoto did not pull another 5cm. I can honestly say that it was his best work yet that I ever seen and the best animated one yet.

So apparently this movie was licensed by Funimation and subbed by them in case anybody was wondering for the USA release. Funimation did screwed up with the subs though. Some of the scenes were not subbed at all, and all the background people was also not subbed at all even though you can clearly hear the dialogue. Nice job Funi.

[Verso Sciolto]

Originally Posted by Julio C

... Some of the scenes were not subbed at all, and all the background people was also not subbed at all even though you can clearly hear the dialogue. Nice job Funi.

That really is noteworthy because the conversations Taki in particular overhears are fairly significant in quite a few cases.

[DragoonKain3]

Just here to rant, but apparently Your Name was shown in the Toronto International Film Festival on Feb 18. Like holy shit Funi, I knew MONTHS in advance about Anthem of the Heart and Miss Hokusai because they put it on their frigging site about their screenings, and you can't be bothered to put one for Your Name? I'm so frustrated....

[Last Sinner]

Originally Posted by DragoonKain3

Just here to rant, but apparently Your Name was shown in the Toronto International Film Festival on Feb 18. Like holy shit Funi, I knew MONTHS in advance about Anthem of the Heart and Miss Hokusai because they put it on their frigging site about their screenings, and you can't be bothered to put one for Your Name? I'm so frustrated....

It's almost like they're trying to bury the film in America. Then again, I lost respect for Funimation when they teamed up with Crunchyroll and started their monopoly to start brutalising viewing/licensing rights. It's done more harm than good. They probably only care about Titan S2 this year.

[Infinite Zenith]

Originally Posted by Last Sinner

It's almost like they're trying to bury the film in America.

The publishers''ve been tight-lipped about BDs even in Japan (to say nothing of the purported October 2017 release of the BDs in English), so somehow, I'm not surprised about the hush-hush surrounding this film's release patterns.

[Julio C]

Originally Posted by Infinite Zenith

The publishers''ve been tight-lipped about BDs even in Japan (to say nothing of the purported October 2017 release of the BDs in English), so somehow, I'm not surprised about the hush-hush surrounding this film's release patterns.

So no BD anytime soon in Japan?

[Infinite Zenith]

Originally Posted by Julio C

So no BD anytime soon in Japan?

I've heard squat, even though I've been combing news sites and the like extensively. The most I learned is that there's a dedicated anti-piracy channel on Twitter (@kiminona_rights) asking folks to not consume pirated forms of the media, and that some folks were arrested for uploading illegal copies of the film.

[konart]

Originally Posted by Julio C

So no BD anytime soon in Japan?

October 30

[Infinite Zenith]

Originally Posted by konart

October 30

That was a placeholder for the UK Amazon release.

[nicky.]

Hey, all. This is my take on Kimi no Na wa.

Spoiler for Review:

I definitely enjoyed this film for the most part, but it is kinda overrated/overhyped especially on MyAnimeList. When you get down to the nitty-gritty of the story, it's pretty average, considering body swapping is nothing new, but that is NOT a strike against them, just not a benefit.

The first hour or so of the film had me hooked, which was a fond experience, but then it soon became apparent that the plot hole(s) were not going to be addressed. I was quite disappointed since I was waiting to find out the whole deal with these characters. This may be due in part to the length of the film, but the romance felt sort of forced in order to deliver emotions that it couldn't really produce on it's own. The love was rushed, and combined with the lack of relationship development between the main characters (for the majority of the film), it made it awkward and hard to feel anything for them. I mean, they never even met each other until the end! Didn't seem like Shinkai gave us many reasons to care about these characters, again just my opinion.
Though, what did make me feel amazing were the beautiful shots in almost every frame. The voice actors also did great and the first half of the film had me completely mesmerized. The songs + artwork in every scene were phenomenal; it went above and beyond in that respect. 

I wish the story hadn't taken a slight dive with their abandonment of cohesion and logic, otherwise this would have been the best anime I've seen in my life. I can't help but think that this would have been a much better film had it been around 15-30 minutes longer, to create a way to answer the viewers' questions, as well as allow for better development. A strong 7.5/10

Would love to hear what you guys rated.

[TinyRedLeaf]

^ You're definitely not alone in thinking that way.

I felt more or less the same, but I didn't bother to argue the point extensively, as it's clear the majority who watched the movie were swept away by it, and don't have much patience for contrarian opinions.

I still feel it's a gorgeous movie, and I greatly enjoyed the artistic aspects of it. But, like you said, the narrative felt contrived, and I can't help but also feel that the couple didn't quite "earn" their romantic outcome.

There was also a clumsy attempt to tie sentiments about the aftermath of Fukushima into the film, but because it was inadequately developed, the theme didn't go anywhere. It was just there and, again, it felt unnecessary and very tacked on.

And the fundamental plot devices that tied everything together — body-swops and inexplicable time-travel — did not make the slightest sense.

This is a common problem with a number of anime movies, I notice. Take Wolf Children, for example. Fundamentally, the story is about a single mother struggling to raise two special kids on her own. That's dramatic enough on its own, but director Mamoru Hosoda believed — not incorrectly — that it needed something more to make the project worthwhile for animation.

Animation thrives on fantasy, and without the fantastic, there's nothing really to distinguish an anime movie from a live-action film.

That said, there's a fine line between the appropriate use of fantasy as a metaphor for real-world issues — a craft that Hayao Miyazaki mastered over decades of thoughtful movie-making and writing — and introducing the fantastic just for the sake of it.

Makoto Shinkai weaved in a flimsy sci-fi device to drive the plot, when a focus on the drama alone would have sufficed, and that cheapened the story for me overall.

And that's why I still strongly feel that 5 Centimetres remains Shinkai's best movie to date. It was honest, and it didn't pull any punches, and it delivered a universal story that anyone who has ever loved can easily relate to.

Your Name. in contrast, is more of a blockbuster effort. A crowd-pleaser that was designed to be so from the ground-up. There's nothing inherently wrong with that, especially not with a project done so well. But that's also why I don't believe it deserves all the hype it's getting. It's great, but not really all that great, especially in a year where we also had arthouse animated movies like Red Turtle, Miss Hokusai and In This Corner of the World.

[nicky.]

@TinyRedLeaf, I agree with you on basically everything you said. It felt very "blockbuster", like it was designed to get people obsessed with it for a cash-grab (don't mean to offend anyone with that statement). I mean, that is the ultimate goal of the film/anime industry: make profit.

Regarding the ending, I don't really care if a film is happy or sad at the end; as long as the ending is well-done, I'll feel good.

I have not seen older Shinkai films or the other aforementioned films. This was my first time with a Shinkai film, as I am a newer anime fan. I'll definitely be trying some of those out though.

[Liddo-kun]

Hi. Just sharing the Mitsuha cosplay of my friend Rojanee. We did the shoot last Feb 5 at Otaku Expo.



We have more pics, and also photos of other players at the cosplay thread.

https://forums.animesuki.com/showpos...postcount=2662

[nicky.]

@Liddio kun, great photo.
It funny how that cosplay could be mistaken as just a regular outfit someone could wear. I wouldn't even be able to tell. Lol!

[Liddo-kun]

Thanks for the commnt. Well, the school uniform in Kimi no Nawa is a simple one because she is from the province - which is why it probable looks like normal clothes.

Anyway, I'll show her what you said.

[nicky.]

Yes, the Mitsuha outfit is very plain. She's an average country girl. lol :P
Doesn't mean it's not a good cosplay though. Choosing what you love is always best.

[Klashikari]

It took ages to have KNNW in belgium, but finally could watch it today.

As someone who just couldn't enjoy 5cm at all (mostly being completely unable to have any emotional attachment to any characters and so forth), KNNW was the complete antithesis of the former and I enjoyed quite a lot. I found the characters pretty likeable and I definitely liked the characterization.

That being said

Spoiler:

I must admit I can't call it a masterpiece and the hype train gave me weird expectations even though I tried to have an unbiased opinion (in fact I didn't even watch any trailer, so I only knew about the genderswap because someone spoiled me by accident).

I really liked the first half more than the latter half. In fact, I think the first half could have been better with more scenes involving Mitsuha and Taki when they have to deal with each other's life. Their characterization truly shined that way, but it wasn't enough to make me think "they are fated to be together", especially Taki who had a crush on his senpai at his part time job. The latter commenting how he has a crush on someone else made me raise an eyebrow: it isn't like he interacted with Mitsuha that much, and even if he knows a bit more about her by interactings with her grandma, Yotsuha and her friends, it was somewhat difficult to imagine some romance blooming between the two.
Same goes for Mitsuha: she was originally quite hyped to see Tokyo by her own eyes, so her feelings towards Taki came a bit out of nowhere.

If they added something like 20-30 min with both interacting with each other through diaries and all over several body swaps, I think it would have worked way better than just having Mitsuha trying to play cupid between Taki and his senpai.

Also, as other people mentioned, I'm a bit skeptical that both failed to notice the difference of year, even if we often have a proper time orientation with merely the day and month, but then again it is odd that Taki didn't notice that after going out as Mitsuha with her uniform even though it was a day off.

On the other hand, the symbolism of Mitsuha's braided cord, the twilight and the kuchikamizake hit home with me. Particularly the cord which literally tied their fate.
That being said, I honestly thought there would be a little more exposition regarding that and the ritual to explore completely everything that happened, be it the body swap incidents or the loss of memories etc.

Overall, it is a very nice movie and it is definitely my favorite Shinkai movie, ahead of Kotonoha no Niwa. There are a few plotholes and some convenient plot devices, but the atmosphere, characters, visuals and sound directions make up for that by a long shot.

[nicky.]

Originally Posted by Klashikari

It took ages to have KNNW in belgium, but finally could watch it today.

As someone who just couldn't enjoy 5cm at all (mostly being completely unable to have any emotional attachment to any characters and so forth), KNNW was the complete antithesis of the former and I enjoyed quite a lot. I found the characters pretty likeable and I definitely liked the characterization.

That being said

Spoiler:

I must admit I can't call it a masterpiece and the hype train gave me weird expectations even though I tried to have an unbiased opinion (in fact I didn't even watch any trailer, so I only knew about the genderswap because someone spoiled me by accident).

I really liked the first half more than the latter half. In fact, I think the first half could have been better with more scenes involving Mitsuha and Taki when they have to deal with each other's life. Their characterization truly shined that way, but it wasn't enough to make me think "they are fated to be together", especially Taki who had a crush on his senpai at his part time job. The latter commenting how he has a crush on someone else made me raise an eyebrow: it isn't like he interacted with Mitsuha that much, and even if he knows a bit more about her by interactings with her grandma, Yotsuha and her friends, it was somewhat difficult to imagine some romance blooming between the two.
Same goes for Mitsuha: she was originally quite hyped to see Tokyo by her own eyes, so her feelings towards Taki came a bit out of nowhere.

If they added something like 20-30 min with both interacting with each other through diaries and all over several body swaps, I think it would have worked way better than just having Mitsuha trying to play cupid between Taki and his senpai.

Also, as other people mentioned, I'm a bit skeptical that both failed to notice the difference of year, even if we often have a proper time orientation with merely the day and month, but then again it is odd that Taki didn't notice that after going out as Mitsuha with her uniform even though it was a day off.

On the other hand, the symbolism of Mitsuha's braided cord, the twilight and the kuchikamizake hit home with me. Particularly the cord which literally tied their fate.
That being said, I honestly thought there would be a little more exposition regarding that and the ritual to explore completely everything that happened, be it the body swap incidents or the loss of memories etc.

Overall, it is a very nice movie and it is definitely my favorite Shinkai movie, ahead of Kotonoha no Niwa. There are a few plotholes and some convenient plot devices, but the atmosphere, characters, visuals and sound directions make up for that by a long shot.

Cool report
Did you watch it sub or dub in your theater?

Your assessment is quite agreeable with (for me at least). The first half got the viewer into the story well, but the holes are just too big. I'm one to value plot the most in my anime, so we have differing opinions in that regard.
I felt like the characters were one of the weaker links of the film. I found it difficult to care about them at all, considering..

Spoiler for rest of sentence(s). (Your Name):

..literally all we learn about them is where they lived and that they swapped bodies. I don't know whether I am too logic-based of a thinker and less emotional-based, but I felt almost nothing from their romance. Regardless, I'm happy to see you agree that their "fated love" was kinda BS.

As for the spoils: I went in blind as a bat; I actually knew even less than you did. All I knew was he was a city boy, she was a country girl, and it takes place in Japan LOL. Well.. I did that on purpose by exiting myself from conversations until I saw it for myself, so I was glad. I love going into things not knowing much!

[Tactics]

Originally Posted by nicky.

Cool report
Did you watch it sub or dub in your theater?

Your assessment is quite agreeable with (for me at least). The first half got the viewer into the story well, but the holes are just too big. I'm one to value plot the most in my anime, so we have differing opinions in that regard.
I felt like the characters were one of the weaker links of the film. I found it difficult to care about them at all, considering..

Spoiler for rest of sentence(s). (Your Name):

..literally all we learn about them is where they lived and that they swapped bodies. I don't know whether I am too logic-based of a thinker and less emotional-based, but I felt almost nothing from their romance. Regardless, I'm happy to see you agree that their "fated love" was kinda BS.

As for the spoils: I went in blind as a bat; I actually knew even less than you did. All I knew was he was a city boy, she was a country girl, and it takes place in Japan LOL. Well.. I did that on purpose by exiting myself from conversations until I saw it for myself, so I was glad. I love going into things not knowing much!

Spoiler for The romance is simple that I'm surprised if one can not understand it:

The romance still makes sense if you see the order of who is the one fallen first; the hint is subtle enough

The one who into romance first is Mitsuha.

> Mitsuha choice to reincarnate as handsome Tokyo boy;
> Mitsuha understand Taki is someone kind by reading his diary, moreover fact that he's living only with his father and working part-time;
> Senpai and both his friends do implied that Taki is good and serious person by nature, something that she agreed after exchanging diaries started;

Which is why the reason Mitsuha goes to Tokyo is because, "I want to see him" and "I wonder what is his thought about me".
Such thought is normal as, if you see their diaries close enough, the swap happened for at least a month, which is enough time to learn someone especially if you've been living each other life. She saw Taki learning English in train while also trying to figure out who she is only nailed that her thought was correct, he is exactly like what she thought after all (although thought of being forgotten leave enough impact as well).

Taki gradually into romance after his connection with Mitsuha is missing.
What happened to him is similar to Mitsuha, he is into romance after driven to learn more about her following their missing connection.
Its no surprises if he is set into romance after it especially learning about her family condition which he can associated to some extent as he's living with his father instead of a complete family.

Senpai statement about he like someone else do fit his state that time.
That is the time his connection with Mitsuha gone; Senpai do aware that she's Taki love interest, which why she wonder if he like someone else because Taki mind obviously goes somewhere else as the date goes despite the date invitation come from Taki himself, unwillingly.

I watched it with my friend that is a logical-thinker, and he gave the film applause for being Shinkai film with proper romance and strong impression.

[nicky.]

Originally Posted by Tactics

Spoiler for The romance is simple that I'm surprised if one can not understand it:

The romance still makes sense if you see the order of who is the one fallen first; the hint is subtle enough

The one who into romance first is Mitsuha.

> Mitsuha choice to reincarnate as handsome Tokyo boy;
> Mitsuha understand Taki is someone kind by reading his diary, moreover fact that he's living only with his father and working part-time;
> Senpai and both his friends do implied that Taki is good and serious person by nature, something that she agreed after exchanging diaries started;

Which is why the reason Mitsuha goes to Tokyo is because, "I want to see him" and "I wonder what is his thought about me".
Such thought is normal as, if you see their diaries close enough, the swap happened for at least a month, which is enough time to learn someone especially if you've been living each other life. She saw Taki learning English in train while also trying to figure out who she is only nailed that her thought was correct, he is exactly like what she thought after all (although thought of being forgotten leave enough impact as well).

Taki gradually into romance after his connection with Mitsuha is missing.
What happened to him is similar to Mitsuha, he is into romance after driven to learn more about her following their missing connection.
Its no surprises if he is set into romance after it especially learning about her family condition which he can associated to some extent as he's living with his father instead of a complete family.

Senpai statement about he like someone else do fit his state that time.
That is the time his connection with Mitsuha gone; Senpai do aware that she's Taki love interest, which why she wonder if he like someone else because Taki mind obviously goes somewhere else as the date goes despite the date invitation come from Taki himself, unwillingly.

I watched it with my friend that is a logical-thinker, and he gave the film applause for being Shinkai film with proper romance and strong impression.

I mean, you are free to think as you wish.

Spoiler for Your Name:

I just don't think that reading dairies and hearing good words about a person is going to make one love that person, unless it is "fated love" fantasy stuff; it's not believable.
Now, of course that would be perfectly fine if this was a fantasy film, but the film was shooting for a realistic atmosphere.