<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Madara" data-cid="207030" data-time="1491950244">
Check out my film blog for a writeup on the anime hit KIMI NO NA WA (released in the U.S. as YOUR NAME), one of the best new anime features in years.
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<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Ap2000" data-cid="207033" data-time="1491979146">
Sometimes I'm not sure if Madara is just a PR guy for his blog and reacts like a bot to certain words or actually reads what the others wrote. lol
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That post right after our conversation certainly did tingle my spam sense.
I went to see Your Name in a theatre again earlier this week. I haven't done that since the first Matrix movie (and I pity the young ones who were not there to experience how paradigm changing The Matrix was, regardless of how much of meme it became later or how bad the sequels were). In a way, it's even better on a second viewing. Which may not be my last either, since it's playing until at least next Thursday around here.
A few remarks about your review Madara. I'm pretty sure "Your Name" is the official English title chosen by the creators rather than Funi. It appears in most of the Japanese promo materials anyway.
I'm surprised you don't remember Voices of a Distant Star. It was Shinkai's breakthrough work, created almost entirely by himself, and is thematically and emotionally very similar to Your Name. And just about as heart-wrenching. At least to me it was and is an unforgettable work.
Finally, this is more of a personal taste, but I thought the songs fit the movie and the mood perfectly. And it's not the first time that songs were a prominent part of Shinkai's works - see Voices again.
And since I'm nitpicking, personally I didn't care for the laundry list of the 50 or so old movies with somewhat similar premises or themes to Your Name.
And I would care even less if was actually familiar with any of them and thus got an idea of Your Name's plot from it. I went into the cinema without knowing a single thing about it other than that it was Shinkai's latest work, which to me is a sufficient recommendation - though I suppose it may not be to an average viewer not familiar with his previous works.
A few things I picked up on the second viewing. Some were purely visual, some were tied to the plot, but all made me love the movie even more.
SPOILERS AHEAD!
Taki and Mitsuha using "iPhones" that are 2 or 3 generations apart - it wasn't just a coincidence, but the fact that Taki's model didn't exist in Mitsuha's timeline yet.
The days of the week on their phones being different for the same dates - placing them respectively in 2013 and 2016.
The (pretty obvious) red string of fate theme, also appearing in the flashback montage in many forms, including that of umbilical cord.
More subtle details of how their lives changed or were affected - Mitsuha starting to sleep with her bra on, or having her hair only tied rather than carefully braided on "Taki days" since Taki presumably didn't know how to braid.
The female names in the Miyamizu family following the 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 theme - Hitoha (一葉, grandmother), Futaba (二葉, mother), Mitsuha (三葉), Yotsuha (四葉).
The meteor in the flashback becoming the source of life.
Finally, in the culmination, them leaving behind the "most valuable thing" to be able to leave "the Underworld" - their memory of each other.
I may add more later because I feel I forgot some already. Maybe after the third viewing!
Also, <a class="bbc_url" href="
https://imgur.com/a/2Wqr7" title="External link">some (spoilerific) translations of a few of Taki and Mitsuha's notes to each other</a>.
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