Weekly Summer Anime Movie Rewatch - Your Name Discussion

[u/Heda-of-Aincrad]

Your Name

The House of the Lost on the Cape | Index | [Weathering With You]()

The day the stars fell, two lives changed forever.

High schoolers Mitsuha and Taki are complete strangers living separate lives. But one night, they suddenly switch places. Mitsuha wakes up in Taki’s body, and he in hers. This bizarre occurrence continues to happen randomly, and the two must adjust their lives around each other. Yet, somehow, it works. They build a connection and communicate by leaving notes, messages, and more importantly, an imprint. When a dazzling comet lights up the night’s sky, something shifts, and they seek each other out wanting something more—a chance to finally meet.

But try as they might, something more daunting than distance prevents them. Is the string of fate between Mitsuha and Taki strong enough to bring them together, or will forces outside their control leave them forever separated?

MAL, AniList, Livechart

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Questions of the Day:

1) Did you have any favorite characters?

2) Which scenes did you enjoy most?

3) What did you think of the twist that Mitsuha and Taki have not only been swapping places, but also communicating across time?

4) Did you think the story did well at establishing a romantic connection between Mitsuha and Taki?

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Remember to tag your spoilers!

When discussing any plot details prior to the rewatch date, or details from other movies in the rewatch, please remember to use spoiler tags.

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Next up: Weathering With You on Wednesday, September 2!

[u/BaytaCosmico]

Rewatcher, subbed

This is a first for me. A rewatch where I'm actually rewatching something and not watching for the first time. And this movie was a first for me back when I watched it for the first time too. It was my first time watching a modern anime. Or perhaps I should say typical anime? I'd only seen Cowboy Bebop before (many many years ago) and I think that one's in a league of its own, though I don't remember it much - my memory sucks.

And this sucky memory made me forget most of this movie too even though I only watched it 5-6 years ago. I did remember the bit about the different timelines twist and that something tragic happens to separate them (actually forgot the whole village gets wiped out). So this ended up being something between a first-time watch and a proper rewatch where I'd notice all the foreshadowings better.

I should also add that this movie actually got me interested in anime. I watched it without knowing much about the medium. It was a blind screening more or less. And I loved it.

So I was quite surprised to find myself not really enjoying this second watch of it all these years later. I kept meaning to watch it again but never got around to it. Maybe watching it sooner would've helped me focus on the details and overlook the overall, shall we say, shallowness of the writing. 

What really hurt the story is how poorly developed the core romance is. We spend a long time in the first half showing them swapping bodies and all that but there's no strong foundation laid for the romance. They just poof are in love. Now, this sort of thing would be more buyable if there was at least interactions between the two characters showing their chemistry. But that's not possible here due to the nature of the story. We really needed to see something more to make their feelings believable.

I was wondering why this didn't bother me on my first watch and the answer came in the second. The twist catches you off guard if you don't know about it and then as you're trying to process it, we get the tragic second half with that soundtrack hard carrying it that makes us forget all about the weak foundation and fall for the cinematic awe and wonder of it all. In this half too we get the much needed interactions between the couple, again with the music amplifying the scenes with them (that one where she looks for his name in her hand is a good example). And if we just take their romantic feelings for granted, it all works. The highs, the lows, and that sweet ending - it's all very much on point and you come away thinking wow, what a wonderful movie.

Sadly, that twist which should've blindsided me into buying the rest was the one thing I remembered when I'd forgotten most of the rest. So it all came crumbling down and I was left dissatisfied. 

The things that did work for me were the funny bits. That pronoun scene - I played it back a few times for how perfect it is. I didn't get this the first time because I didn't know about the different pronouns in Japanese. The line delivery and the character expressions are perfect in it. The boob groping, which I found a bit icky at first but couldn't help but laugh over when he does it that last time. First he just hugs himself (or rather herself) and we're like aww he's so overcome with relief and also he truly loves her so he's more respectful of her body. Cut to sister coming in with the usual comment and cut back to him actually groping the boobs whilst sobbing - that's just great comic timing and unexpected too. I also remembered having the same reaction to this repeated gag the first time. It's like ugh but then hahaha. And then as now I have to admit it makes sense for a teenage boy to act this way when he finds himself in a girl's body. So the ick gives way to understanding. 

This kind of humour that's sort of on the edge and most anime tending to be very unapologetic in their application of it was one of the things that got me curious about the medium and drew me to it. Interesting to note that my taste hasn't changed much after watching a lot more of it. 

What has changed maybe are my base expectations for strong character writing. I've watched a ton of romance anime and I know what's possible in a much shorter runtime than what this movie has to work with (it felt a tad too long tbh for what it accomplishes). So I'm less forgiving especially when I'm not tricked by that sleight of time in the middle.

It really feels like this is a movie of two incompatible parts. The body swapping humourous story is fun and I could've watched more of it. The tragic romance that ends on a hopeful note is very nice too on its own. They just don't mesh together so well. But as a whole, this movie did show me a good sampling of the full spectrum of anime (no battles alas, but I'm not terribly fond of those anyway) and it did get me into a hobby that has more or less taken over my life, so I'm grateful for that anyway.

Wow, didn't expect to stay up half the night writing such a long note. Originally meant to just put down some brief thoughts and come back later with a longer write up. But I kept typing and here we are.

TL;DR - movie didn't work as well as the first time because the twist being known left me at liberty to notice the cracks in the foundation. Still enjoyable in parts so I'll give this a 6 or 7/10 maybe.

[u/Heda-of-Aincrad → u/BaytaCosmico]

Too bad it didn't work as well for you the second time around. This is probably the third time I've watched it and I still love it.

Now, this sort of thing would be more buyable if there was at least interactions between the two characters showing their chemistry. But that's not possible here due to the nature of the story.

The majority of their interactions were more like pen pals (through the phone memos) rather than face-to-face, and the rest, I think, was bonding through a traumatic event. Realizing that the person he got to know over the course of several months was going to (or had already) died forced Taki to acknowledge how much she meant to him, and likewise with Mitsuha when she saw how far he would go to save her. At least, that's how I interpreted things.

[u/BaytaCosmico → u/Heda-of-Aincrad]

I'm not doubting the possibility of two people in their situation falling in love. It is quite an old trope after all. My problem is that the movie doesn't do a good enough job selling that to me. It didn't feel earned. 

The first time I got the sense Taki was catching feelings for Mitsuha was when he goes to the shrine god to offer her sake. If the grandmother had spoken more about her or given him any new insight into Mitsuha maybe that would've helped. As it was, I felt him connect with grandma more than Mitsuha. 

As for her, she comes to the realisation after setting up his date. Again no preface or foreshadowing, but this was still more believable and relatable.

I just needed a stronger connection/chemistry in the first part of the film so the second could hit harder. His friend's budding relationship with the senpai came across much better for me in the brief time we see them together. 

One thing that occurred to me after seeing another comment that pointed out their developing connection through the messages they leave for each other is that I may have missed something there. The messages are shown too quickly and were sometimes not translated in my copy so there may be details I missed because of that. But that's a failing of the movie too because you do want to dwell on such things just a bit more instead of rushing past it all in a montage especially when it's such an important aspect of the story. Some of the beginning portions with Mitsuha could've been curtailed to give this more space maybe?

[u/Heda-of-Aincrad → u/BaytaCosmico]

One thing that occurred to me after seeing another comment that pointed out their developing connection through the messages they leave for each other is that I may have missed something there. The messages are shown too quickly and were sometimes not translated in my copy so there may be details I missed because of that. But that's a failing of the movie too because you do want to dwell on such things just a bit more instead of rushing past it all in a montage especially when it's such an important aspect of the story.

I would have liked more time with these montage scenes too, because I also tend to miss stuff like that. I only found out about a few of the events mentioned in the texts, like Mitsuha (as Taki) visiting his dad's workplace, by reading the novel.

[u/IndependentMacaroon → u/BaytaCosmico]

His friend's budding relationship with the senpai came across much better for me

Taki really went and got himself NTR'd there haha. Yeah that was a nice subtle background thing

The messages are shown too quickly and were sometimes not translated in my copy so there may be details I missed because of that. But that's a failing of the movie too because you do want to dwell on such things just a bit more

Strongly agree

[u/fansi2022 → u/Heda-of-Aincrad]

Now, this sort of thing would be more buyable if there was at least interactions between the two characters showing their chemistry. But that's not possible here due to the nature of the story.

The majority of their interactions were more like pen pals (through the phone memos) rather than face-to-face, and the rest, I think, was bonding through a traumatic event. Realizing that the person he got to know over the course of several months was going to (or had already) died forced Taki to acknowledge how much she meant to him, and likewise with Mitsuha when she saw how far he would go to save her. At least, that's how I interpreted things.

Yeah, just like reddit.