Review: Japanese animated film ‘Your Name’ will pull on your heartstrings

The Japanese animated movie “Kimi no Na Wa,” or “Your Name“ in English, is truly a wonderfully produced movie. Everything about the movie strikes a chord in the viewer’s heart. “Your Name” tells the story of how fate brings two high schoolers Taki and Mitsuha together, no matter where they are.

There will be some minor spoilers up ahead! If you have not watched “Your Name,” I suggest you watch it and come back. Or you can stay and read this. Given how confusing the movie is, I’m sure these spoilers wouldn’t do you much harm.

When the movie begins, Taki, a teenage boy, wakes up in an unfamiliar room and is shocked to see that he has female features. He is feeling his chest, surprised that he has breasts and a little girl, Yotsuha, walks in and comments on how her older sister, Mitsuha, was touching her own chest. It’s a funny scene and the movie starts off lightheartedly.

Later on, Mitsuha wakes up in a bed that she knows certainly is not her own. She feels something between her legs and realizes that she has male body parts. Looking at herself in the mirror, she sees a strange boy looking back at her and she decides that she is still dreaming, and figures that she’ll be back in her body when she wakes up.

Right off the bat, it is revealed that the two main characters, Taki and Mitsuha, have indeed switched bodies.

Things get even more complicated when they try to meet with each other in person.

Watching “Your Name” keeps you on the edge of your seat all the time because they always get so close to finally meeting each other, but something goes wrong. This movie is literally the definition of “so close, yet so far.”

When I first watched “Your Name,” I cried at the end, even though I didn’t even understand half of the movie. I had to search up a YouTube video that explained the whole plot. But the point is, I cried. How can you cry watching something you can’t even fully comprehend? That’s how moving “Your Name” is.

Their many failed attempts to meet is probably why I cried at the end even though I barely understood what happened. When they finally met each other, it made me feel as if I had just conquered an obstacle I’ve been trying to overcome for half of my life.

The ending of the movie is really impactful because it shows that they meet again, years later, as adults. Even though both of them look older and relatively different, they feel a connection to each other. They just know that the latter is the one they have been subconsciously searching for all their life.

I also really like the ending because as soon viewers see they have finally met, the credits start rolling. Director and writer Makoto Shinkai left the ending up to the viewers’ interpretation. The viewers get to decide how Taki and Mitsuha’s lives continue after they finally meet.

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this Japanese anime movie. I’m actually more of a fan of Korean dramas in general; I don’t usually watch anime, and I don’t really like anime either. But a lot of my friends told me that it was a really good movie, so I decided to give it a watch, and I’m so glad I did.

Overall, “Your Name” is such a breathtaking movie, and I could rewatch it so many times without getting bored of it. Coming from someone who doesn’t usually enjoy anime, this says something about how much “Your Name” is worth watching.