I’ve changed the premise of this video so
many times while writing it, because this movie is so jarring, i’ll spend ages talking
about the movie’s obvious flaws then think back to a certain scene and for a second,
the movie seems to excuse itself of it’s own shortcomings. I’ve seen Your Name a handful of times now
and I can’t deny the movie has captured me. Now, whether that’s because of my fascination
with the movie’s critical reception or if Your Name is really doing something special. To me, it’s not a movie that is clearly
good or bad. I have definite griped with certain parts
of the film, but there are also scenes that I really like. And in writing this video i’ve kind of become
fascinated with the spectacle of Your Name. So I want to spend this video looking into
the movie, I want to find out not only why I was captured by it but also why the larger
community has so universally praised it. How has this Mokoto Shinkai movie captured
the anime community. I’m going to look firstly at the opening
of the film to see how it initially grabs our attention. The first scene opens with our main character
waking up in the morning before school. What the movie does here is almost starts
the movie slightly after the story starts. The movie references events from a previous
day that we havn’t seen. This is to put us in the same situation as
our main character Mitsuha, but also to create that initial spark of mystery in the story. We’re also told about an approaching commit. The movie gives the commit supernatural connotations
but does it in a very subtle way. This and Mitsuha’s reaction to her memory
loss of yesterday is normalising the fantasy elements of the film. Rather than mitsuha reacting with traditional
shock or awe, she reacts confused and brushes these moments off as normal. This is important for later in the film. This is continued in the next scene where
Mitsuha goes to school. Literally, the first thing we see here, the
teacher’s board, is packed with information. As the mystery of the day before continues,
we get a shot of three phrases written on the board. The first is “Dusk”, then “The witching
hour” and finally “Tasokare”. These are massive clues to the story, and
if you catch them, work as brilliant foreshadowing. The movie revolves around the idea of dreaming
and magical happenings during the night. The phrase “Dusk” here sets the time,
then “The witching hour” is another phrase for the time Midnight, usually used in supernatural
stories where the sun going down triggers supernatural changes, like werewolves. And finally Tasokare, which the teacher defines
as “Who’s that in the gloom?”. It’s an old japanese phrase that was used
long ago at dusk, it was used to ask who someone was when it was too dark to see them. We then get a full shot of the board where
an old Japanese poem is written out: Please don’t ask me, “who’s that in
the gloom?” I’m waiting here for my love, in the september
dew” That’s the english translation by the way,
but it’s a lovely poem and you can imagine how it would sound in it’s native language. You can see how this all beautifully foreshadows
that upcoming narrative, it’s actually a shame it wasn’t given more of a focus. This isn’t delivered as a voice over by
a old wise man or anything, it’s just background noise from a lesson in school, once again
normalising fantasy. There’s a final nice bit of foreshadowing
as the teacher calls on Mitsuha for not listening, Mitsuha stands up and the teacher says “Oh,
so do you remember your name today?”. This is a reminder of what happened yesterday
and a hint towards the importance of remembering names in Your Name. It’s a nice little moment. We then have a conversation with the 3 friends
outside, Tessie jokingly suggests that Mitsuha is apart of a multiverse from the comic he’s
reading, a complicated theory about endless dimension that could be relevent to the story
but it’s a bit far fetched for this video. So far in the movie we’ve been subtly introduced
to various mechanics of Your Name. We know this is a supernatural show, there’s
a strong level of mystery already established in the story before it even gets started. The next few scenes of the movie finish the
first segment of the story, but they’re one’s im not too fond of. They forget the subtle story telling of previous
scenes and opt for a voice over explanation, spelling out plot points to us about Mitsuha’s
father and their family tradition. Plot points that become throw-away subplots
later on in the film. It’s a shame because the film really wasted
valuable time here. Take a note of the pacing too, this is 17
minutes into the movie, which is only roughly 100 minutes long, not including the credits,
so this is almost a 5th of the movie’s runtime spent achieving very little progression. It’s given us hints and set the tone, but
it’s taken a long time to do so. It’s up to you whether this slow pacing
helps the effectiveness of faster paced sections or wastes valuable time that was sorely needed
towards the end of the film. So this next part of the film, for the next
10 minutes or so is where Your Name really establishes its premise. We begin with our main character Mitsuha seemingly
waking up in a boy’s body, just after boldly wishing she could leave her village. This is all brushed off as a dream and Mitsuha
doesn’t take it seriously at all, once again normalising fantasy. She then lives out a day as this boy in Tokyo. What I like about this section is how huge
and busy Tokyo feels, I can assure you it wouldn’t have worked as well if we hadn’t
spent so much time in the country first. Mitsuha’s entrance to the bustling streets
of Tokyo feel like, once again, a really nice contrast. This section is essential for fueling that
initial sense of mystery, we now have something to connect the dots with these supernatural
undertones. And then, almost 30 minutes into the movie,
the premise is revealed. Mitsuha is swapping bodies with a boy in Tokyo,
Taki. I think it could've come quicker, I don’t
think 30 minutes of build-up to a twist that is pretty obvious was necessary, but time
isn’t something very wisely used in Your Name. Regardless, the story is flowing nicely now
and there’s a lot of pay-off. The slow start makes this section of the movie
feel fast and vibrant. This is the end of the first act, and the
movie, once again feels the need to have a voice over explanation of what’s happened. I think these hurt the flow of the movie and
don’t really respect the viewers ability to follow a story. We then have a huge tone shift for the next
segment, a part of the movie that’s probably one of my favourites. While in Mitsuha’s body, Taki is taken to
a shire to make an offering by Mitsuha’s grandmother. This is one of the first scenes were the movie’s
supernatural side is put in the forefront. There’s a lot of talk about intertwined
timelines and different worlds. Mystery shrouds the supernatural part of the
movie, nothing is properly explained but we’re given a rough idea. I’ll leave it up to you to decide whether
thats a good or bad thing. There’s no logical mechanics behind anything
in your name, it all seems to be powered by spirits and gods so leaving it vague might
be the best idea. And would explaining some complex system even
benefit the movie? I’m not too sure. Shinkai and his team change up the movies
visual style completely for this location. What was before, lots of highly detailed,
tight compositions is now one massive, open location with very few fine details. This is echoed into the change in composition
design, before each shot was very square with lines creating most of the structure, now
everything is round, we have a great round crater with a circular stream in the middle,
even the lakes in the background are circular I think this nicely reflects the movie’s
switch into a higher plane. We’re considering gods and multiple worlds
here, the idea of time be endless and complex, I think the change of visual style is jaunting
but effective in forcing us into a new mindset. The scene following this is one of my favourite
moments in the film. As they’re returning to the village, Mitsuha’s
little sister mentions the phrase “Half Light”, which immediately sends us back
to the classroom poem scene from the beginning. With these few shots, the movie brings to
life the poem from earlier. Both characters are waiting for their love,
in the september dew, and it’s one of the movie’s most subtle but brilliant moments. Followed by an equally effective one. The scene is cut drastically as Taki switches
back to his own body, with tears streaming down his face. I love this scene because, just as the movie
builds itself up, we’re abruptly snatched back to reality and we suddenly realise how
far away they are from each other. It creates such a great contrast in emotion,
a brutally sharp but powerful moment. This is where the movie starts to introduce
conflict and steers away from the trajectory of its happy ending. The story is now out of the characters hands
and Mitsuha and Taki are now helplessly moving away from each other. A number of really great shots echo this split. And as the first plot twist still ripples
through the world of Your Name, we’re hit with the 2nd plot twist. An even more devastating one that completely
turns the story on its head. A complete change in tone takes place because
of this. From light-hearted romantic sub stories to
a now seemingly impossible situation. This fast paced right hook is what I think
creates so much of the movies emotion. If this was stretched out and delivered equally
throughout the story, I don’t think it would of been as effective. After this, Taki’s memories of Mitsuha then
start to fade uncontrollably and he forgets what he was looking for in the first place. I don’t know why the idea of forgetting
each other was so moving, in a way, them forgetting each other is worse than them being in different
timelines. I think this echo’s the fleeting nature
of time in life, that important things can quickly fade away from you. This aspect of the story really captured me
and is definitely one of the main reasons i found it so powerful. So now I want to look at the final 3rd of
the film, where Taki needs to go back in time and save Itomori to save Mitsuha. Obviously he needs to try and save the whole
town aswell, for dramatic effect. This scene is kind of odd, the pacing and
narrative style feel different to the rest of the film. It kind of rushes through a quick scheme the
kids make up to evacuate the town, with very little reasoning behind anything. It just seems to happen and before we’re
even shown everyone evacuating, the commit just hits and the scene ends. The whole scene clocking in at just 10 minutes. After this scene, Your Name decides to skip
8 years into the future were Taki is working in Tokyo. Again, the film opts to explain things to
us with a dialogue voice over. We’re told that the town evacuated with
most people surviving unharmed. And that’s it. A movie’s worth of supernatural buildup
concluded with a mere few minutes. Narratives like Mitsuha’s father were completely
forgotten and left unresolved. It’s like the commit destroyed half of the
plot too. Both Taki and Mitsuha forget the body swapping
ever happened and continue their lives with only a vague sense that they’ve forgotten
something. Which gives this final section of the movie
a melancholic undertone. And finally, the massive pay-off point, the
scene that every second of the movie is building towards, Taki and Mitsuha finally meeting
in real life. Just, kind of happens. The interaction is about 10 seconds long and
the movie just ends. Mokoto Shinkai has talked about the film since
its release and has admitted that it was incomplete. He blames bugdet and scheduling issues, saying
that 2 years wasn’t enough time to fully realise Your Name. And I agree, the final 3rd of the movie feels…
missing. But would I say the lackluster ending completely
ruined the movie? No. It didnt make the rest of the movie void,
it just felt like I hadn’t watched an ending, a feeling of emptiness towards the movie’s
finale but the rest of my Your Name experience felt somewhat intact. And the ending didn’t seem to faze everyone,
I think Shinkai managed to scrape together enough of a conclusion to please most fans. So if not a theatrical ending, what was it
about Your Name that captured the community? I think it boils down to the sheer scale of
the movie. Even the smallest details of the world were
brought to life with such elegance. Shinkai refined every inch of this movie to
make it feel huge. The breathtaking landscape shots of Tokyo
for example gave an extra layer of importance and weight to the story. It’s hard to think what this film would
be without the barrage of sublime imagery. This idea of such a colossal production for
what is at its core a simple love story is a tremendous mixture. It makes every moment of the story that little
bit more important. I think it’s important to remember as well
that Your Name has been mainly a theatrical release. It wasn’t available to stream online or
to buy on Blu Ray for months, going to the theater was the only way to see it. Adding to the spectacle. And over here in the west, we’ve only really
been having theatrical releases of anime films outside of the giants like Ghibli for about
a decade. A decade or two ago, a movie like Your Name
would get 1 or 2 showings at an indie cinema but only if you were lucky. Your Name’s release is one of the first
of its kind in the west, and I think fans want to be a part of that. You haven't just watched Your Name online,
you’ve been apart of the release, you’ve contributed to the record books, you’re
part of history. I feel like on top of the movie’s story,
Your Name is one of the first anime theatrical releases that western audiences can truly
connect with. And I think that is how Your Name captured
the anime community.
