Current IMDB score: 8.6
Director: Makoto Shinkai
Main Actors you care about: none
Why I liked it: This is an anime movie meaning it's a Japanese animation movie. That means it's going to be weird to people that don't understand Japanese culture or movies. Even if you do it's still weird usually. I think that's the defining characteristic to anime in my opinion. It's weird. I used to like the Spirit Away but when I re-watched it I can't stop cringing at how weird it is.
Your Name. (with the period) is a decent story. It might even be a good story but the what stands out is the music. The music really adds a layer to the movie like music should. I found myself wanting to have the movie on just to hear the music in the background. Then I found a lot of the songs have been redone in English and started listening to those. Even the music without English lyrics are very catchy. They seem like pop songs but really meaningful pop songs. You can kind of tell it from the Japanese version that it's meaningful without even hearing or seeing the English lyrics. Violin + soft piano + meaningful lyrics = magic in my book.
If you can get past the weirdness though this movie is quite a gem for science fiction, romantic comedy, violin-piano music lover like myself. Time traveling or multi-verse is a really popular idea right now. I think it's a very easily coping way of looking at the your life. If you believe that there is another version of your life out there where another you is doing the things you wish you were doing it kind of makes not being able to do those things ok. Like I might not be an astronaut in this life but there is a version of me out there in another universe doing that. It kind of lets you imagine that some version of you can do anything so you can do anything. This movie doesn't get too much into multi-verse thoughts but the same thing for time traveling. The thought is a little different but same thing kind of holds. If I could go back in time I could teach myself how to be at the right place at the right time with the right skills to be an astronaut.
What stands out: Music as stated earlier. This is a science-fiction romantic comedy amine movie. Probably all those genre's in one movie is what makes it stand out as well.
Thing(s) I would change: Pretty easy. Don't be so freaking weird in the beginning. I know a lot people will turn this off before it gets interesting because the movie does some weird stuff in the beginning. This girl is rubbing her boobs? which turns into a montage of random city-life and country life shots while really fast electric Japanese music plays? Just watch the first ten minutes and tell me what the heck is happening. That's normally good but with the backdrop of anime it makes for people that don't get the culture to give up on it. I don't like a lot of anime because of things like that.
Favorite Line(s)/Scene: "I Love You" "I can't remember your name with this!"
Similar Movies/TV Shows: The Secret, any body switching movie, Back to the Future, probably any other good anime but only if you can handle weirdness. This is probably the least weird anime I've seen.
"Side" note: Mitsuha's name means "three leaves" and follows a family trait. Her grandmother's name, Hitoha, means "one leaf," her mother's name Futaba, means "two leaves," and her little sister's name Yotsuha, means "four leaves.
