Should you watch “Kimi No Na wa”?

YES.

Kimi no Na wa or Your Name is the latest smash hit Disney mov-. Ha it’s Japan so it’s a Ghi- Wait, what?

Shooting to the top My Anime List in under a month, and obliterating previous records to become the 7^th highest grossing film in Japan (110 million USD), Shinkai Makoto’s  Kimi no Na wa should be great, right!?

The Story (courtesy of My Anime List)

The story is set one month after a comet has fallen in Japan for the first time in a thousand years. Mitsuha, a high school girl living in the countryside, wants to live in the city because she is tired of life in the country. Then there’s Taki; he’s a high school student living in Tokyo with his friends while working as a part-timer at an Italian restaurant. He also has a strong interest in fine arts involving architecture. One day, Mitsuha dreams of herself as a young man. On the other hand, Taki also has a dream where he is a female student attending high school in the countryside. What’s the secret behind their dreams?

Art and Sound

The art is fantastic, almost godlike. To say it clocks in at 2 desktop backgrounds per minute would actually be an understatement. The attention to detail, character actions, smoothness, shading, lighting, even the physics that are shown with liquids are simply stunning and, when combined with the crisp and clean voice acting and music, makes watching the movie more enjoyable than writing snarky articles about Trump. Hell, the visuals are so go it could have SAO’s plot and still be enjoyable to watch just on the art and sound.

Plot

The plot is lighthearted, fun, and cheerful, yet deeply compelling at times; it’s the kind of film that will have you in hysterics and tears. The story tends to draw from folklore in Japan and uses terms which may be unfamiliar to most viewers. This is OK since, while we may be “missing out” on the background of the metaphors, we do not miss the significance or the impact of them. The story progresses as smoothly as any high budget anime would.  Plot-wise the movie shamelessly (and to their credit actually gets away with) pulling Deus Ex Machina’s like a nice-yet-controlling DM. Unfortunately, I felt the ending was subpar and failed to conclude things properly.

Characters

During body switches, the posture, movements, and voices of the characters match wondrously, giving a great level of realism and charm to the characters. Taki would stand straighter and conduct Mitsuha’s body more loosely, and talk in a seemingly more mature voice; and Mitsuha would appear more timid and shy than Taki, and would talk in a gentle soothing voice. Throughout the story, emotions are on display in a variety of forms and the animation reflects each named character’s personality well.

Kimi no Na wa is rated PG-13 and comes out in theaters in the US in July. FUNimation streaming is expected to be available this year.