Your Name. [Blu-ray]

It’s not hard to see why Makoto Shinkai’s Your Name has managed to captivate audiences around the world. The hype and buzz surrounding the film is well deserved and further solidifies Shinkai’s place in the future of Japanese animation and filmmaking.On the surface, Your Name checks all the boxes for anyone familiar with Japanese anime and even Asian romantic dramas. It is an easy story to follow, despite having several intricacies, not the least of which being the supernatural and fantastical element that is present. But the universality of youth, love, family and friendship allow the film to be accessible and relatable. There is a sense of nostalgia and sentimentality that successfully couples with the ethereal visuals and writing.All these qualities are very familiar to me and anyone else who may have seen some of Makoto Shinkai’s previous work. For me (so far), it is the films 5 Centimeters per Second and The Place Promised in Our Early Days. 5 Centimeters Per Second was especially excellent as it featured a “wonderfully moving and realistic” slice of life story. Though more fantastical than 5 Centimeters, Your Name carried the same amount of poignancy and sincerity that allows its multi-faceted story to be both quiet and adventurous at the same time.Makoto Shinkai has showed he has a knack for such stories and he does them well. Your Name may contain familiar themes and even story beats, but it isn’t any less affecting or satisfying for anyone who’s hopped on for the ride.The overall appeal of Your Name might be its romantic charm. Both Taki and Mitsuha believe they are dreaming at first. Your Name itself feels like such a dream. Greatly aided by the beautiful animation, the story naturally, but quickly builds around Taki and Mitsuha. Not just their relationship with each other, but the relationships they have with other people and the relationships around them. The film also touches on the relationships both have with their city or town. The contrast is another common theme in similar Japanese anime.Ultimately, Makoto Shinkai is able to take another step forward in announcing his presence to the world. And that’s no easy task when Japan has been home to some of the best and most original storytellers, especially in animation. Your Name‘s poignant, emotional, romantic and just pure fun story easily show why the film has become a worldwide critical and commercial success.

///Spoilers I Guess\\\I'm not going to make this review about the product because I've already seen plenty of analyse dissecting this movie and all why its good and bad; rather, this review will be on this specific product and how it stands against the Japanese version so many of us saw in theatres, planes, or even on the internetFirst off Funimation did not disappoint me, when getting this product it really was a win win for me because I already like the base product which is the movie with subs and and english version was only icing on an already fantastic cake I was however, interested in hearing if they managed to catch the same feeling I had when watching this the first time and I would say that they did.The packaging is what you'd expect, a sleeve with just the movie, yes the cover is holographic and I can acknowledge the artwork used to make the product but its really just par for the course in my mind.The Blu ray doesn't have to many extras but I will say that the trailers they decided to put on this disk really fit the overall idea of the movie and actually interested me in shows that I had previously disregarded, that isn't very easy for me because I usually just don't care about any of the trailers put on the disk.On to the Dub, I've heard plenty of shows where the script and chosen voice actors jive really well and shows where I want to just go back to subs; I went into this show with very high expectations not really about the voices but the script. To put it simply, I would say that it kept the story flowing through its 1 Hour and 52 Mins and captured the basics I still remembered from the the sub version. There are a couple of parts that I felt diverged from what the sub conveyed but even those parts still made me feel the same way as I did before. Michael Sinterniklaas did a wonderful job adapting this product for an english audience. Speaking of adaptingI said before that the dub managed to capture the feelings of the source material well in my mind, one example of this comes from the beginning; Taki's and Mitsuha's speech patterns in the original play a vital part in the story letting both the viewer and the characters come to the conclusion that they have swapped bodies. In the Japanese, for non-Japanese speakers, this is somewhat difficult to convey as we see all this as text on a screen. We have no experience hearing the differences in dialect so we take what is happening for face value but in this english adaptation, It was easy and very noticeable that while it may have been the voices saying the words the delivery and intent behind them were from very different people. When Mitsuha wakes up in Taki's body his mannerism and speech change, not only did the characters in the show notice it overtly, I felt it when I uttered the words "This voice isn't quite adding up to what I expect," but when they switched back everything made more sense and worked. After stewing on that for 20 mins I realized that, that is what the director wanted us to feel, that something is wrong or off. This show is filled with moments like that which is one of the biggest reasons I would highly recommend this movie. Also, it was nice hearing definitive answers where as some of the sub was more open ended; Miki Okudera's relationship in the Japanese version, was in my mind, one where she liked the Mitsuha side but not the Taki side. In the English version she states that she liked the change that he displayed and not the person in the body. One seems a lot nicer than the other and is one of those changes that managed to keep the flow of the show even though its a bit different; it was easy for me to digest, well easier than it was in subs.This movie and dub is perfect for people dipping their toes into Anime, it is creative and whimsical enough, a bit corny at times, there are some plot holes but, its easier to understand than an Ghibli movie and the story can be just as deep; Its a modern Anime Movie. While I consider Ghibli movies in their own category this is definitely a movie that I would pull out for friends on movie night at my house just like Summer Wars.BTW this show had a very Summer Wars feel to it, I spent some of the movie wondering why I was thinking of that movie then it dawned on me; Michael played the lead in Summer Wars.

I saw the trailer for this movie and had heard how amazing it had done in Japan. I had almost bought the version of this which is only spoken in Japanese with English subtitles, and switched when I found this was the correct version I was looking for (English language makes these movies easier to enjoy!).I had never heard of the director before, and honestly I still can't remember his name (I could look it up, but chances are most of you are as familiar with the name as I am. I've heard his movies are great, but this is the first I have gotten.The movie itself is incredibly fun! There are a couple gags included that you would honestly expect to happen when a teenage boy and girl switch bodies, which makes for some hilarious moments! But it also had several surprises in store that you will never see coming!I am a little torn up about the ending emotionally. I think they could have extended it just a little bit longer and had it pull the emotional strings even more (but in a good way!). Nonetheless, the ending was good, and the movie is highly enjoyable!The music and the backgrounds are incredibly fun and detailed, respectively. I'm going to end up buying the soundtrack for this movie, which I will only do for movies whose music I really enjoy. The backgrounds, according to one of the special features, are based on real-life locations in Japan (at least, the Tokyo locations are). It definitely feels like modern Japan, or at least how I think of it.Overall, you are definitely missing out if you don't watch this movie, especially if you are a fan of animated movies! This movie's story, animation quality, music production and actors/actresses rivals any similar movie you can see in the United States, if not absolutely blowing them away!