Your Name
Your Name. is a 2016 Japanese animated romantic/fantasy/drama film written and directed by Makoto Shinkai and produced by CoMix Wave Films. The film was produced by Kōichirō Itō and Katsuhiro Takei, with animation direction by Masashi Ando, character designs by Masayoshi Tanaka, and music composed by Radwimps. Your Name tells the story of a high school boy in Tokyo and a high school girl in a rural town, who suddenly and inexplicably begin to swap bodies. The film stars the voices of Ryunosuke Kamiki, Mone Kamishiraishi, Masami Nagasawa and Etsuko Ichihara. Shinkai's eponymous novel was published a month before the film's premiere.
Your Name was distributed by Toho. It premiered at the Anime Expo 2016 convention in Los Angeles, California, on July 3, 2016, and in Japan on August 26, 2016. It was critically acclaimed for its animation, complex narrative, musical score, and emotional weight. The film was also a major commercial success, with a total gross of, becoming the highest-grossing anime film and Japanese film of all time, the fourth-highest-grossing film of all time in Japan, the ninth-highest-grossing traditionally animated film, and the 16th-highest-grossing non-English film worldwide. The film won the Best Animated Feature Film award at 49th Sitges Film Festival, the 2016 Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards, and the 71st Mainichi Film Awards, as well as receiving a nomination for the 40th Japan Academy Prize for the Best Animation of the Year. An American live-action remake set in the United States is currently in development.
Plot
Mitsuha Miyamizu is a high school girl living in the town of Itomori near Hida region. She is bored with small town life and wishes to be a handsome Tokyo boy in her next life. She begins to switch bodies intermittently with Taki Tachibana, a high school boy in Tokyo, when they wake up. They communicate by writing messages on paper, phones and sometimes on each other's skin. Mitsuha causes Taki to develop a relationship with his coworker Miki, while Taki causes Mitsuha to become popular in school.One day, Taki, as Mitsuha, accompanies her grandmother and sister to leave the ritual alcohol kuchikamizake, made by Mitsuha, as an offering at the family shrine on a mountaintop outside the town. The shrine is believed to represent the body of the village guardian god ruling human experiences and connections. Mitsuha's latest note tells Taki about the comet Tiamat expected to pass Earth on the day of her town festival.
The next day, Taki wakes up in his body. After an unsuccessful date with Miki, he tries to call Mitsuha, but cannot reach her and the body-switching ends. He decides to meet her directly, but not knowing the town's name he has to rely on his memories of the scenery. A restaurant owner in Hida recognizes Itomori from Taki's sketch and tells him when the comet unexpectedly split into two; the larger piece kept moving, but the smaller one crashed onto Earth and destroyed the town. Looking at the site of the crater and while in disbelief that Mitsuha died this whole time, her messages on his phone disappear and his memories start fading away. Taki finds Mitsuha's name in the records of fatalities and discovers from the date of the disaster that their timelines were separated by three years.
Taki goes to the shrine to drink Mitsuha's sake from the bottle, hoping to reconnect with her body and warn her about the comet strike. Through a vision, Taki discovers that a girl he met on the train was Mitsuha, not knowing they were separated for three years. She had instead met his past self while trying to meet with him personally. He wakes up in her body on the morning of the town festival. Mitsuha's grandmother deduces what happened, and tells him the body-switching is part of the family history and caretakers for the shrine. Taki convinces Tessie and Sayaka to help everyone evacuate the town, by disabling the electrical substation and broadcasting a false emergency alert, while Taki assumes Mitsuha's role as the mayor's daughter to persuade him to evacuate the town. Realizing that Mitsuha is in his body at the shrine, Taki goes back to find her.
Mitsuha wakes up in Taki's body at the shrine. When Taki reaches there just as the sun is setting, the two sense each other's presence, but are separated by three years. However, when twilight falls, they return to their own bodies and meet. They attempt to write their names on each hands so they will remember each other, but twilight passes and Mitsuha disappears before she can write hers. The evacuation plan fails, and Mitsuha decides to convince her father once again. Before convincing her father to evacuate the town, Mitsuha notices that her memories for Taki start to fade, and discovers that he wrote "I love you" on her hand instead of his name. Despite the evacuation, the comet piece crashes to Earth and destroys the town. Taki wakes up in his own time, only to remember nothing.
Five years after his visit to Itomori, Taki has graduated from university and searches for a job. He senses he lost something important, but feels drawn to the disaster, learning that the inhabitants of the town survived by following the mayor's order. One day, Taki and Mitsuha see each other when their trains draw parallel, and are compelled to disembark and search for one another, finally meeting on the stairs of. They initially walk past each other as they are both shocked, but Taki turns around and inquires if they had known each other before. Mitsuha replies that she had the same feeling, and with their connection re-established, they shed tears of happiness and simultaneously ask for their names.
Characters
;Taki Tachibana;Mitsuha Miyamizu
;Katsuhiko "Tessie" Teshigawara
;Sayaka Natori
;Tsukasa Fujii
;Shinta Takagi
;Miki Okudera
;Hitoha Miyamizu
;Yotsuha Miyamizu
;Toshiki Miyamizu
;Futaba Miyamizu
;Yukari Yukino
Production
The idea for this story came to Shinkai after he visited Yuriage, Natori City, Miyagi Prefecture, in July 2011, after the Great East Japan Earthquake occurred. He said, "This could have been my town." He said that he wanted to make a movie in which the positions of the people in Yuriage would be swapped with the viewers. The sketches that Shinkai drew during this visit have been shown in exhibitions.In Makoto Shinkai's proposal sent to Toho in September 14, 2014, the film was originally titled Yume to Shiriseba, derived from a passage in a waka, or "Japanese poem", attributed to Ono no Komachi. Its title was later changed to Kimi no Musubime and Kimi wa Kono Sekai no Hanbun before becoming Kimi no Na Wa. On December 31, 2014, Shinkai announced that he had been spending his days writing storyboard for this film.
Inspiration for the story came from works including Shūzō Oshimi's Inside Mari, Ranma ½, the Heian period novel Torikaebaya Monogatari, and Greg Egan's short story The Safe-Deposit Box. Shinkai also cited Interstellar by Christopher Nolan as an influence.
While the town of Itomori, one of the film's settings, is fictional, the film drew inspirations from real-life locations that provided a backdrop for the town. Such locations include the city of Hida in Gifu Prefecture and its library, Hida City Library.
Music
, the lead vocalist of the Japanese rock band Radwimps, composed the theme music of Your Name. Director Makoto Shinkai requested him to compose its music "in a way that the music will the dialogue or monologue of the characters". Your Name features the following songs performed by Radwimps:- "Yumetōrō"
- "Zenzenzense"
- "Sparkle"
- "Nandemonaiya"
Release
The film premiered at the 2016 Anime Expo convention in Los Angeles, California on July 3, 2016, and later was released theatrically in Japan on August 26, 2016. The film was released in 92 countries. In order to qualify for the Academy Awards, the film was released for one week in Los Angeles.In South East asian countries, this movie was screened as well. Purple Plan streamed an English- and Chinese-subtitled trailer for the film and premiered the film in Singapore on November 3 and in Malaysia on November 8, with daily screenings onwards. M Pictures released it on November 10 in Thailand, and earned 22,996,714 baht in four days. Indonesian film distributor Encore Films announced that it will premiere the film in Indonesia on December 7. Cinema chain CGV Blitz also revealed that it will screen the film. Pioneer Films announced that it will screen the film in Phillipines in December 14. In Hong Kong, the film opened on November 11, and earned HK$6,149,917 in three days. The film premiered in Taiwan on October 21 and earned NT$64 million in its first week while staying in the first position in the box office earnings ranking. As of October 31, it has earned NT$52,909,581 in Taipei alone. It was released in Chinese theatres by Huaxia Film Distribution on December 2, 2016.
The film was released in Australian cinemas on limited release on November 24, 2016, by Madman Entertainment in both its original Japanese and an English dub. Madman also released the film in New Zealand on December 1, 2016.
The film was screened in France on December 28. The film was also released in the United Kingdom on November 18, 2016, distributed by Anime Limited.
The film was released in North American theaters on April 7, 2017, distributed by Funimation.
Home media
Your Name was released in 4K UHD Blu-ray, Blu-ray, and DVD on July 26, 2017, in Japan by Toho Pictures. The release was offered in Regular, Special, and Collector's editions. FUNimation announced on July 1 at Anime Expo 2017 that the film would be released on Blu-ray and DVD by the end of 2017 but did not specify a date. At Otakon 2017, they announced they are releasing the movie in both Standard and Limited Edition Blu-Ray and DVD Combo Packs on November 7, 2017.In its first week, the Blu-ray standard edition sold 202,370 units, the collector's edition sold 125,982 units and the special edition sold 94,079 units. The DVD Standard Edition placed first, selling 215,963. Your Name is the first anime to place three Blu-ray Disc releases in the top 10 of Oricon's overall Blu-ray Disc chart for 2 straight weeks. In 2017, the film generated in media revenue from physical home video, soundtrack and book sales in Japan.
Reception
Box office
Your Name became a huge commercial success, especially in Japan, where it grossed ¥23 billion. The film achieved the second-largest gross for a domestic film in Japan, behind Spirited Away, and the fourth-largest ever, behind Titanic and Frozen. It is the first anime not directed by Hayao Miyazaki to earn more than $100 million at the Japanese box office. It topped the box office in Japan for a record-breaking 12 non-consecutive weekends. It held the number-one position for nine consecutive weekends before being toppled by in the last weekend of October. It returned to the top for another three weeks before finally being dethroned by Hollywood blockbuster Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.The success of the film also extended beyond Japan. In China, it became the highest-grossing Japanese film in the world's second-largest movie market on December 17, 2016. It has grossed in China and is the highest-grossing 2D animated film in the country. Its opening screened in over 7,000 theaters. It made an estimated $10.9 million on its opening day from 66,000 screenings and attracting over 2.77 million admissions, the biggest 2D animated opening in the country. It also held the record for the highest-grossing non-Hollywood foreign film in China, up until it was surpassed by two Indian films Dangal and Secret Superstar in May 2017 and February 2018 respectively.
It is the highest-grossing Japanese film in Thailand, with ฿44.1 million. As of December 26, the film has grossed US$771,945 in Australia. and US$95,278 in New Zealand. On a December 20 blog post, the Australian distributor Madman stated that the film had made over $1,000,000 AUD in the Australian box office alone before closing its limited release run. The film was number-one on its opening five days in South Korea, with 1.18 million admissions and a gross of, becoming the first Japanese film since Howl's Moving Castle to reach number one in the country.
Critical response
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported that 98% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 112 reviews, with an average rating of 8.22/10. The site's critics consensus reads, "As beautifully animated as it is emotionally satisfying, Your Name adds another outstanding chapter to writer-director Makoto Shinkai's filmography." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 79 out of 100 based on 26 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".Mark Schilling of The Japan Times gave the film a rating of 4 out of 5 and praised the film's animation for its "blend of gorgeous, realistic detail and emotionally grounded fantasy". However, he criticized the film's "over-deliver" of "the comedy of adolescent embarrassment and awkwardness" and its ending for being "To the surprise of no one who has ever seen a Japanese seishun eiga ".
Reception outside of Japan was also very positive. Mark Kermode called the film his ninth favourite film to be released in the United Kingdom in 2016. US reviews were mostly positive. The New York Times described it as "a wistfully lovely Japanese tale", while The Atlantic said it was "a dazzling new work of anime". Conversely, The Boston Globe had a mixed opinion of the film, saying that it was "pretty but too complicated". Mike Toole from Anime News Network listed it as the third-best anime film of all time. John Musker and Ron Clements, directors of the Disney animated films The Great Mouse Detective, The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Hercules, Treasure Planet, The Princess and the Frog, and Moana, praised the film for its beauty and uniqueness.
Despite the praise he received, Shinkai insisted that the film is not as good as it could have been: "There are things we could not do, Masashi Ando wanted to keep working but had to stop us for lack of money... For me it's incomplete, unbalanced. The plot is fine but the film is not at all perfect. Two years was not enough."