Your Name

Directed by Makoto Shinkai
Written by Makoto Shinkai
Produced by Koichiro Ito Katsuhiro Takei
Starring Ryunosuke Kamiki Mone Kamishiraishi
Cinematography Makoto Shinkai
Edited by Makoto Shinkai
Music by Radwimps
Production company CoMix Wave Films
Distributed by Toho
Release date July 3, 2016 (Anime Expo) August 26, 2016 (Japan)

Plot: In 2013, Mitsuha Miyamizu is a high school girl living in the rural town of Itomori, Japan. Bored of the town, she wishes to be a Tokyo boy in her next life. One day, she inexplicably begins to switch bodies intermittently with Taki Tachibana, a high school boy in Tokyo. Thus, when they wake up as each other on some mornings, they must live through the other's respective activities and social interactions for the day. They learn they can communicate with each other by leaving messages on paper, phones, and sometimes on each other's skin. Mitsuha (in Taki's body) sets Taki up on a date with coworker Miki Okudera, while Taki (in Mitsuha's body) causes Mitsuha to become popular at school. One day, Taki (in Mitsuha's body) accompanies Mitsuha's grandmother Hitoha and younger sister Yotsuha to leave the ritual alcohol kuchikamizake, made by the sisters, as an offering at the Shinto shrine located on a mountaintop outside the town. It is believed to represent the body of the village guardian god ruling over human connections and time. Taki reads a note from Mitsuha about the comet Tiamat, expected to pass nearest to Earth on the day of the autumn festival. The next day, Taki wakes up in his body and goes on a date with Miki, who tells him she enjoyed the date but also that she can tell he is preoccupied with thoughts of someone else. Taki attempts to call Mitsuha on the phone but cannot reach her as the body-switching ends.

Taki, Miki, and their friend Tsukasa travel to Gifu by train on a trip to Hida in search of Mitsuha. However, Taki does not know the name of Itomori, relying on his sketches of the surrounding landscape from memory. A restaurant owner in Takayama is from Itomori and recognizes the town in the sketch. He takes Taki and his friends to the ruins of Itomori, which has been destroyed and where 500 residents were killed when Tiamat unexpectedly fragmented as it passed by Earth three years earlier. Taki observes Mitsuha's messages disappear from his phone, and his memories of her begin to gradually fade, realizing the two were also separated by time, as he is in 2016. Taki finds Mitsuha's name in the record of fatalities. While Miki and Tsukasa return to Tokyo, Taki journeys to the shrine, hoping to reconnect with Mitsuha and warn her about Tiamat. There, Taki drinks Mitsuha's kuchikamizake and then lapses into a vision, where he glimpses Mitsuha's past. He also recalls that he encountered Mitsuha on a train when she came to Tokyo the day before the event to find him, though Taki did not recognize her as the body-switching was yet to occur in his timeframe. Before leaving the train in embarrassment, Mitsuha had handed him her hair ribbon, which he has since worn on his wrist as a good-luck charm.

Taki wakes up in Mitsuha's body at her house on the morning of the festival. Hitoha deduces what has happened and tells him the body-switching ability has been passed down in her family as caretakers of the shrine. Taki convinces Tessie and Sayaka, two of Mitsuha's friends, to get the townspeople to evacuate Itomori by disabling the electrical substation and broadcasting a false emergency alert. Taki heads to the shrine, realizing that Mitsuha must be in his body there, while Mitsuha wakes up in Taki's body. At sunset, the two sense each other's presence on the mountaintop but are separated due to contrasting timeframes and cannot see each other. When twilight falls,[note 1] they return to their own bodies and see each other in person. After Taki returns Mitsuha's ribbon, they attempt to write their names on each other's palms so that they will remember each other. However, before Mitsuha can write hers, twilight passes, and they revert to their respective timeframes. When the evacuation plan fails, Mitsuha has to convince her father, Toshiki, the mayor of Itomori, to evacuate everyone. Before doing so, Mitsuha notices her memories of Taki are fading away and discovers he wrote "I love you" on her hand instead of his own name. After Tiamat crashes, Taki returns to his own timeframe and remembers nothing.

Review: Your Name is a curious romantic time travelling adventure anime. The plot focuses on two characters. Mitsuha Miyamizu is a highschool girl in a small rural towen. Bored with her life she wishes she was reborn as a boy in Tokyo. Where she believes she will have a better life. Taki Tachibana is a highschool boy who is living in Tokyo at the same time. In a twist of magical fate the two swap bodies. Having to deal with the conflicting lives that the other lives and only being able to communicate by either leaving notes or writing messages on the body they inhabit for a short time.

A turning point in the story centres on a comet that is meant to pass by the earth. There is a poigniant moment when Takiand his friends search for Mitsuha. Being given directions to a desolate area destroyed by a fragmengt of the meteor that passed by the earth. Taki believes now that the two lived in different times as well as different places. He seek to find Mitsuha and warn her of the pending disaster.The rest of the story is well worth watching. So no spoilers here.

M J Flack