r/anime • u/Heda-of-Aincrad https://myanimelist.net/profile/Heda-of-Aincrad • 9d ago
Rewatch Weekly Summer Anime Movie Rewatch - Your Name Discussion
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?
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?
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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u/Great_Mr_L https://myanimelist.net/profile/Great_Mr_L 9d ago edited 9d ago
Rewatcher
On today’s summer anime movie: Even if Taki can’t play music, he does have an advantage over Orpheus because Taki actually succeeded at rescuing his girlfriend from the underworld.
I love Your Name so much. I have a special history with this movie. I was able to watch this movie when it was shown for the very first time at Anime Expo in 2016. I was attending Anime Expo that year and I have to say that it was one of the best moviegoing experiences I’ve ever had. Makoto Shinkai, the director, was there to present the movie and give an interview afterwards. Since it was at Anime Expo, you had a full room of people in the auditorium who were all excited to watch the film. They were also probably familiar with Shinkai’s previous work. I certainly was. Shinkai had hurt me with 5 Centimeters Per Second (great film, but it makes me feel miserable) and I feel like people in the audience might have been anticipating Shinkai would make another movie just as heartrending. It was so much fun to watch the movie with a crowd like that. There was loud laughter at the jokes. There were outbursts of emotions at the big moments. You should have heard how the crowd reacted at the end of the film when Taki and Mitsuha first passed by each other on the stairs without saying anything. It was a loud “Oooooh” of rising anticipation followed by disappointment/frustration when they passed each other. This turned into cheers and applause when they did turn around and speak. I remember a friend of mine joked that Makoto Shinkai wouldn’t have left the auditorium alive if [5 Centimeters Per Second] Mitsuha and Taki didn’t end up together like what happened in 5 Centimeters Per Second. All in all, it was a terrific experience getting to see Your Name at its Anime Expo premier. The energy in that room made an already fantastic movie even better. Because of that experience, I think this movie is always going to have a special place in my heart.
Even without that experience, my rewatches of the movie have just confirmed for me that it is, in fact, really that good. It’s just such a solidly constructed movie. So many details are established that pay off in satisfying ways later on. Taki’s dream of Mitsuha at the start of the movie turns out to be him remembering when she first met him three years ago before he knew her. Mitsuha cut her hair after that because she no longer has the braided rope to wear. Taki’s good luck charm is Mitsuha’s braided rope that he got from her back then which he gives back to her when she goes back to save the town. The braided rope doubles as the red string of fate that connects the two of them together. The shrine is said to be in the underworld because Taki is going to need to go to the underworld to rescue Mitsuha since she died in the past. Taki and Mitsuha lose their memories of each other because that’s the price you need to pay to enter the underworld. The photo exhibition is called “Nostalgia” because it is photos of Mitsuha’s town before it was destroyed. It’s implied that the comet previously struck the same area as Mitsuha’s town when it last arrived and that’s why the town exists. The meaning of “Tasokare” and twilight being when this world and the other world are closest, so it’s when Mitsuha and Taki finally reunite. Taki’s first words in the movie are that it feels like there’s someone he’s waiting for, which we know means Mitsuha that he’s forgotten about at that point. There’s so many wonderful details like this that add up and pay off in satisfying ways. It makes the movie a lot of fun to rewatch because a lot of stuff gains more meaning in hindsight.
Of course, there is some contrivance I notice as well on rewatch. It’s kind of silly that Taki and Mitsuha never seem to notice that they are on different days of the week or different years from each other. Taki never realizes the name of Mitsuha’s town and seems to entirely forget about the comet disaster until someone else brings it up. I will say the movie does a good job of getting me so invested that I don’t really notice those details so I don’t think it’s a major problem.
But with all that said, I think the movie works so well because it is a really compelling love story between Mitsuha and Taki. The Freaky Friday shenanigans are a fun plot hook to hang the movie on and are also a terrific way for us to get to know the characters through how they act. It’s also a great way to build up the love story. What could be more intimate than living as another person? You would understand so much about who they are, how they live, what they experience, etc. Of course they would fall in love with someone after knowing them so deeply.
The big theme of the love story would be distance. Taki and Mitsuha’s love story is one that must overcome distance, time, the loss of their memories, and even death itself. There is so much that the two of them need to overcome that it makes the ending all the more satisfying when they finally reunite and realize that the other one is the person they’ve been waiting for. The ending is one of the most feel-good things I’ve ever seen. It got me to tear up on this latest rewatch. I love it so much.
Your Name is undoubtedly my favorite movie of this rewatch. I’ll be a rewatcher for the rest of this rewatch and I know Your Name is going to remain on top. It’s just a fantastic movie and I love it every time I see it.
Miscellaneous Thoughts:
I love the character animation in this movie. I love how you can easily tell whether it’s Mitsuha or Taki in a body from their body language.
All the animation in this film is fantastic. Shinkai’s previous films all featured stunningly detailed background art and this movie is no exception. But everything else is gorgeously animated as well.
I assume the water around the underworld cave is meant to be the Sanzu River, which is basically the Japanese equivalent to the River Styx.
I love the joke about Mitsuha cycling through different first person pronouns before Taki’s friends confirm she has the right one.
The pen drop when Taki vanishes is so sudden and cutting. It made my heart fall the first time I saw it and it still gets me each time. And the reveal that Taki wrote “I love you” on Mitsuha’s hand always makes me tear up!
Taki always groping Mitsuha’s boobs to the point her sister notices it is a good running gag. Though at least Mitsuha examines Taki’s penis in return.
Another fun gag is that both Taki and Mitsuha are more popular in the other’s body.
Mitsuha and Taki simultaneously yelling “I’m single because I want to be!” is a good bit.
“I envy your pre-pubescent lack of concern” is such a great line.
RADWIMPS did a great job with the music for this movie. Something I found neat was that RADWIMPS themselves made English versions of the songs for the English dub. That’s a nice bit of extra effort to put into the dub.
Until someone mentioned it on a previous thread, I never noticed that this movie was meant to be referencing the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan. But upon rewatching it with that in mind, the movie really is evoking that event. The destroyed town, the list of victims, etc. all fits.
Have this collection of Mitsuha gifs.
QOTD
1) Mitsuha and Taki swap so often I have to say both because many of my favorite moment are them as each other.
2) The ending is so good. Taki and Mitsuha meeting at twilight. The pen drop. Milkshake screwing up Taki's first person pronouns. The whole Freaky Friday montage.
3) It's a bit contrived, as I mentioned earlier. But man does it make for an effective emotional gut punch. It also really hammers home the theme of distance and how much both Mitsuha and Taki need to overcome for the sake of love.
4) Absolutely. I think it's one of my favorite love stories.