Makoto Shinkai (of 5 centimeters per second fame) is either a one trick pony or a specialist in his field depending on whether you like what he does. I think he’s a specialist - in evocative visions of longing, hope and small-scale joys.
Your Name is a story somewhat in the vein of body-swapping classics like Big and Freaky Friday. Taki is a schoolboy living in Tokyo getting on by in the way that kids from Tokyo do - mixing school, part-time work and hanging out with friends in an enjoyable cocktail. Mizuha is a schoolgirl from a rural town called Itomori[1]
getting on by in the way that kids from rural towns often do - splitting time between school, home and the journey between school and home. And, most importantly, longing to be somewhere more exciting - in this case Tokyo.
The film starts following Mizuha through her day and getting some strange reactions as a result of her odd behaviour on the previous day - which she cannot remember at all. She does, however remember a vivid dream of being a handsome schoolboy in Tokyo. And tracking back to Taki, he has a similar reaction where his friends remember him being a little different the previous day. Eventually, both Mizuha and Taki realise that this is no dream and that they are body swapping - this is really happening - and so start to draw up some rules about how to act within each other’s bodies. The interesting thing about this particular body-swap is that unlike the other films mentioned, there is also a gender swap which is dealt with quite well and with decent comic effect at times. As the film goes on, you can sense the acceptance of each other’s lives and they begin to have a little more fun with it all and these scenes are nice slices of lives as Mizuha shows her desire to leave the small town and Taki getting quite used to the smalltown joys of intimate friendships.
The start of the film, showing the joys of being wide eyed and bushy tailed in Tokyo, is supremely engaging. This may be partially to do with my enjoyment of the city, and my memories of feeling a little similar, but it captures that feeling really well in a way that is a little intoxicating. Shinkai has a staccato editing style which helps this a bit and it makes the film feel dense and full of fun. That excitement at the little details of being in a big city are things that I can definitely relate to and it is nice to see the details of living in a city shown positively rather than being the negatives that are outweighed by the big ticket cool stuff. The artwork is always, consistently exceptional with really warm and clean pictures throughout using a mixture of 3D animation and 2D animation that feels hand drawn and full of character for the duration of the film. Most of the locations are drawn from real life and I always get a little kick out of seeing these drawn depictions of places that I know or little features that I like. I have a real fondness for the way that the front doors of apartments are shown and the little details around sliding doors opening or the sound effects of rural and urban life as they add so much to the life of any given scene. It is these little details that light up the film and I cannot be certain that this will not be specific to me as it felt so natsukashii[2] (nostalgic), but the atmosphere throughout the film felt so alive with the sense of Japan. Or, at least, my sense of Japan. This opening felt so joyous and left me smiling contentedly through the exposition phase of the film that it carried me through to the end. The story itself takes quite a few turns and I would say a few were unexpected for me but there are a few bits which are a little confusing which could lose you. Letting the film wash over you is advised, it comes together at the end and there is a classic Fight Club style decompression "changeover"[3] at some point in the middle.
Shinkai’s stock in trade is long-distance relationships (whether romantic or platonic) and so the way that the relationship grows across the distance of two towns and leads to one looking for the other is the start of the plot. Without going into the plot too much, the science-fiction elements of the story are subtle and do not impinge on the narrative particularly as the body swapping is covered at the beginning. Depictions of school life are two-a-penny in Japan so the fact that it is represented in a fresh way in Your Name is no small achievement although this is less important if you do not watch many Japanese films, of course. These elements, mixed together with the astonishing visuals create a wonderful world for the characters to inhabit which they do with fun and curiosity. I would really recommend this film to almost anybody for so many reasons. It is an easy watch as it is not particularly heavy yet it feels relatively smart and is very accessible as Japanese animation goes as it mixes light comedy in to the story with likeable characters that act quite normally. This is slice-of-life anime with a bit of plot thrown in which feels like a more mature version of Shinkai’s earlier, more textural films.
The trailer is below, and will probably give you all you need to know in terms of the visual style. Do try and watch it.
1. Itomori is actually a fictional town in Gifu prefecture but appears to be based on the features of a number of different towns around Japan. It is not quite the “everytown” as first depicted as it has some quite exceptional scenery.↩
2. Forgive me for the use of Japanese, but this is one of those few situations when the foreign word seems to convey that sense better than the translation. ↩
3. It's called a changeover. The movie goes on, and nobody in the audience has any idea. ↩
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