Your Name: If Love Is The Answer You're Home

Your Name has been anointed, for better or for worse, Makoto Shinkai’s best film. Even if he himself is slightly dissatisfied with the final results. I feel this is important to note as I believe it would be a disservice to the creator and his team to ignore how they themselves feel about this work. And while it undoubtedly has more noticeable flaws than Shinkai’s other works to this point, it makes up for it in droves with its numerous qualities in style, emotional resonance, and overall tonal management. 

To quote the director himself: "There are things we could not do, Masashi Ando (Director of Animation) wanted to keep working on but had to stop us for lack of money... For me, it's incomplete, unbalanced. The plot is fine but the film is not at all perfect. Two years was not enough.” I can absolutely respect Shinkai's very high standards for himself and his team. They know what they are capable of and didn't feel this particular work matched their expectations for it going into it's development. It is now what people associate Shinkai and his team at CoMix Wave with, catapulting him from being a director and team of niche anime gems into bonafide international stardom. The days of lesser known, shorter experimental works giving way to larger scale blockbusters. The popularity of Your Name cannot be overstated. It broke several records in several different countries on its way to become one of the most beloved anime films of the decade. It is touching, ethereal, and at times incoherent to a fault. And through all of it’s ups, downs, and inside-outs, it is more than worth the journey it takes us on.

Two Japanese teenagers from different walks of life, one in the sprawling city of Tokyo, the other in a rural village, discover that they share a magical and transcendental connection after discovering that they are swapping bodies. After they decide to attempt to meet in person they discover that not all is as it initially seemed and that there is far more keeping them together than just a vested interest in getting to know each other.

It is the first Shinkai film to not feature the minimalist and emotionally wrenching ballads of piano brilliance from Tenmon. Instead the musical direction has given way to Japanese pop-rock band Radwimps, incorporating a far more upbeat and driving sound with great effect to the moments of whimsy and teenage quirkiness. However it is in the gentler moments that this change in musical direction falters. Radwimps try their best to emulate the weary and wistful piano direction of Tenmon, but to a lesser effect. The drama and desperation does not hit as effectively leaving me wishing they could have collaborated where their strengths lie. Radwimps would become the main composers going forward for Shinkai’s feature films, and while they have done an excellent job creating a new, yet familiar sound and style for his works, I can’t help but miss the small-scale nostalgia laden gut-punches that were Tenmon’s compositions.

Its real world locational inspiration is as meticulously illustrated, detailed, you’ll wish that the real world had the same sheen and gleam that the team at CoMix Wave is able to give it. It’s a place you want to be and when you get there you might be disappointed to see that the real thing doesn’t look like their interpretation, or at the very least as breathtakingly shiny. And that extends far beneath its pretty face. This might be one of the best examples of Shinkai’s ability to make a place feel like a lived in ecosystem connected by strands of the human experience. The gentle breeze, the rustle of the trees, and the small but audible chatter of the local populace is propped up by the history of the space in which many have inhabited before. We know these places, we can feel them in our soul, even if we have not been there ourselves, they tell a story of generations of life, family, pain and peace.

Through our teenagers connection we become more tethered to them, but unfortunately alone there is something missing in their characterization that makes them, on their own feel bland and flat. I didn’t learn enough about them in their own spaces to communicate their traits when searching for one another. As a collective unit they are able to shine together along with the visuals but alone they left me personally a bit wanting. Dimension of character whilst by themselves not attached to the other is possibly something else that was lost to the crunch of a deadline.

There’s a desperation and an importance conveyed through the struggle of these teens that allows it to feel important beyond mere self satisfaction for both characters. The way in which the narrative balances its drama out with its moments of levity is excellently paced without inducing any form of tonal whiplash. It feels important because it is allowed to be given the time and space to feel important. Not just for the main characters, but for the extended network of friends they have. Even if they aren’t fully aware of the consequences should they not succeed in their mission.

My interpretation of this work is that love is not bound to space and time. It’s not logical, sometimes you can’t even explain it, but it is something you feel within you and between yourself and others who share that bond. The connection doesn’t go away simply due to distance or time. It is ever-present and powerful, no matter the things that keep us away from the physical presence of those we love. Its ability to spring from the most unlikely of circumstances and its uncanny nature of bringing humans together is one of the marvels of human life and how many uncharted dimensions it still has to discover. It has meaning far beyond the reality we live, it’s utilitarian purpose, and why we stay connected to those we love no matter how far or close they may be, passed on or still living, and what that might mean to each of us.

One of the true beauties of this film (and this is true for any kind of medium with a work ripe for analysis) is the many ways that it can be read in many different ways, analyzed by multiple different kinds of people that will ultimately find their own unique way of interpretation if they so desire. Even if there will always be a certain degree of mutual intelligibility to them, these conversations and imaginations should always be had, enriching the discussion and giving consistent life to art.

Your Name is a good film, one that is worth being talked about for generations upon generations to come. And one that you shouldn't love any less than you already do. I hope that, if you have not already seen it, I have convinced you that it is worth your time, to draw your own conclusions from it and to give it the chance and time it deserves. It’s reminders of the beauty of connection and the gentleness of life, value that comes in holding on expertly conceived through it’s set and sound design bring to such a staggering degree of life you will want to only see the real world in such beautiful terms. It endures, and so do we, with more strength than we can ever conceive.