Kimi No Na Wa

[Kött]

Old news to the real nerds, but let's have a discussion thread anyway.
A new movie by Makoto Shinrai (whom some of you might already know for 5 Centimeters per Second and Garden of Words) has lately been rocking the box office in Japan and there already are watchable versions online (even though I must warn you upfront that these versions are yet crammed with watermarks and disclaimers which might reduce the enjoyment, so if you are picky about that, you might want to wait a bit longer).

On Myanimelist, the movie has rocketed straight to rank #1, but as of yet, I think that most of those who have seen the movie might be diehard fans of the director anyway, so embrace for a wave of haters calling it overrated...

The movie is about a girl and a boy who randomly wake up in one another's bodies over a certain period of time, and decide to search for each other when the reoccurring body-swaps suddenly stop. The film captures the spirit of the director's works quite well in my opinion and tells its story in an interesting and very emotional way.
The animation and the art are gorgeous as always and storytelling-wise people already compare it to some of the highly acclaimed works of studio Ghibli.

I personally enjoyed it a lot and think that it might become one of those few little gems in my collection of Chinese girl cartoons which is definitely worth watching.


But what really interests me is what you guys think about the film. Have you known about the release of this movie and if so, have you been looking forward to it? If so, what expectations did you have and what did you like and dislike about the movie?

[Yvonne]

Pre-review (I will be watching it tomorrow): the poster reminds me of 2012's Upside Down which I have watched. I have yet to watch Patema Inverted - which is on my bucket list too. Freaky Friday and a little bit of The Solitude of Prime Numbers from the summary. The Solitude of Prime Numbers, because I am assuming the boy and girl don't meet in the end. It's one of my most favourite - both the Italian film and translated book.

I've paused on watching Evangelion to the end - I have not known about the release of this film.

My premature contribution - I hope I am wrong and I cry watching this film.

Edit: I'm watching it right now. Spoilers/live abrupt posting starts now (follow along or don't - up to ya). I'll summarize or keep this once I finished it - haven't decided:

[spoiler]BRUH. BRUH. I LOVE IT. THE colours AND ANIMATION IS SUPER SMOOTH AND BRIGHT.

The intro is long - I watched a "what if Harry Potter was an anime" video (I paused the film on where they started the subs for music lyrics) where they had, I think - I'm not sure, Baccano intro music (which is very pretty and catchy) but suuuuuuuuuuuupper looooooong. I was thinking I was watching the end credits.

Yep. It's long. And fast. Like, it skips scenery scenes quickly.

AAEGFSDGSBXDGNSBZNGVA !! I FUCKING KNEW CALLED IT. THEY REFERENCED THE RED RIBBON PINKY. AHHASHSHHHHHYHGUHGH.

Panning. I love it.

Bewbs.

Have they already switched?

**robe drops**

https://youtu.be/rUC-FvYXj18

Waitwaitwaitwaiwaiwaiwait. Hmm. Comet is time travel? Comet is the gravity pull of the two souls which split into the other body? Would the incoming comet stop time as much as it has the effect on the characters? That didn't make sense. It's okay.

tfw you bicker - like "I'm gonna chop your house tonight if you don't get off my bike, lover"

tfw this pretty much sums up Pretty Little Liars in a nutshell - no one tells you shit because either you're interrupted by a loud mic or a cut scene or your friends/family are slow thinkers or talkers and you're slow - a bit too slow - to get a hint that you should really reconsider demanding them to tell them what actually happened to you great dialogue, by the way

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHH. I got to the note in the notebook part - ahhhh.

Yep. I kinda was partially right on the comet time stopping thing. But who/what could it be?

ERECTION! ^{k, bye! thx 4 stopping by!}

Great dad. /s

The panning scene - great light play. He's visibly breathing. It's pretty.

bozo customer/patron(?) looks like an animated reincarnation of gilderoy lockhart - he actually is

I want fried doughnuts now. The long ones you eat with congee (Yau ja gwai). K. I'm eating while watching.

I'm gonna finish the meatlovers' slice of pizza in less than five minutes.

Uh-huh. They're going to write.

**shifts up glasses** "He was kinda cute." **gasp** Bwahahahaha.

That's adorable. Freaky Friday ensues after the quick rock out music. :]

"The flow of time" - where's the smug emoji? Whereisit?

On a serious note, I am glad there is a term and story to something I've thought about too. It's a pretty analogy(?). I like it.

"Why do guys associate cutting hair with breakups?" - Yeah, why?

I called it.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

Have the sex, you bungaloos.

^{He should have printed it.}

Hmm. tfw my maternal grandmother's her maternal grandmother. Paranormal psychics - whaddup.

Tess blushing's ca-ute. Hahahahaha. Tess is Caleb.

icallediticallediticallediticallediticallediticallediticallediticallediticallediticallediticallediticallediticalledit.

Le sex is strong in this one. Hey.

I'm crying. Nonononononono.

Tears have collected. My heart. My poor heart.

Oh, hurry up! Cut it! :]
[/spoiler]

I decided. ^ Do not read unless you want spoilers.

Finished it.

Phew.

I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it.

My heart was played with and it was a fantastic ride. Guess I'm not a real nerd.

Liked: That I was right.

Disliked: That I wasn't right. Duh.

Review (avec heavy spoilers the above spoilers are too!):

[spoiler]The time swaps (the settings and scene cuts, specifically), to some, is jagged and non-linear. Towards the ending.

I was waiting for some bad confrontation from Tessie with Taki-in-Mitsuha.

Under a YouTube comment via the TokyoPop TV trailer, they said: "Another sign i missed the first time was that, after Taki's date with ms Okudera, he reads his notes on his phone and Mitsuha wrote there that 'by the time the date ends the comet will be fully visible in the sky'. Taki has no idea what that means. That's because in Taki's timeline it is 2016 and the comet fell in 2013. You can understand from this that the comet fell 3 years ago that evening in Taki's timeline, but in Mitsuha's timeline the comet will fall that evening so Mitsuha was actually dreaming from 2013 and she was dreaming into the future. This proves the 3 years difference of the dreams." --- I don't get it. There were a lot of jumps to and back.

The crying tears earlier on in the film, the simultaneous switch pans to both leads, were absolutely bomb. I truly appreciated it. Eh - yes, it was their foreshadowing. If the timelines were linear in the sense that it was leading up to the anniversary of the explosion, in both body switches and when the characters were back in their bodies - that would be great.

The direction of the film is effortless and beautiful (I am aware that there is a lot of films I need to watch if this astounds me).

Ooooooh boy - the red string phenomenon. I loved it. Do I need to explain it via Wiki or something? Does everyone know the mythology behind it? Or the story?

I called it - I was beaming when the connection snapped off abruptly. I knew it as soon as the direction panned to her eye with the split of the comet (actually, the direction shift was prompted with her haircut). Yep - in The Solitude of Prime Numbers, it was sorta like that. The characters always nearly missed each other. The explanation of the prime numbers is beautiful in terms of people and connections with others.

I dearly loved G-ma. Props to her.

I was bawling and anxious - ugh. I went "PLEASE! PLEASE HURRY UP! DON'T DIE. THERE'S SO MANY PEOPLE!" My heart was pulled avec her younger sister. That's my sibling to a tee and seeing that they were near death? UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGHH - not cool.

That's it for now.
[/spoiler]

Thank you, Kött. I truly enjoyed it.

[rtil]

MAL ratings are worthless and Makoto Shinkai makes boring films that amount to nothing more than eye candy. he also has the same "3rd act problem" that Mamoru Hosoda has developed - not knowing what to do with your story for 2/3rds of your movie, then rushing everything in the end. it was well received at AX and in Japan but the truth is i am just a cynic and have a feeling the movie is overrated.

that being said i'm not going to watch a 480p chinese bootleg with hardcoded subtitles. i'll wait for the 1080p bd rip if i can't see it in a theater

[Kött]

It probably is on MAL... like every new good thing that comes out and remains something that only a minority of supporters has the chance to witness, automatically making it more precious to those who have watched it.

Butye, the chinese hardsubs and disclaimers suck dick. I am just an impatient cunt who doesn't have the decency to wait, but I don't really recommend it. The rip of the third Madoka movie was worse, tho, so fuckitmayne. I'm used to the abuse.

It's kind of a shame that anime still hasn't reached the major theatre industry overseas... The market for it certainly does exist and as far as I'm concerned, they already showed this movie at some event with English subs, so the work has already been done. And the statistics of the Japanese box office sales prove its potential. Of course, you can hardly compare Japan to the rest of the world when it comes to animation and its fanbase, but I'm pretty sure it would still work out pretty damn well. What's the problem with marketing it?

As for the 3rd arc problem - I didn't really notice it in this one... then again, I didn't really notice it in 5cms either, so that might just be me...

[rtil]

i did not like 5cm , i don't get why people like it. i'd hardly even call it a movie.

the united states has decent anime movie distribution. but you usually have to be close to a big city to find a theater. anyway, "your name" has already been licensed by funimation and i expect it to be in 100-200 theaters at some point. they will probably dub it and subs will be hard to find in theaters unfortunately though. not that funi makes bad dubs but i'd rather watch the original language first.

[Bamyasi]

Bump

Saw it tonight.

Thoughts my American compadres?

[Bamyasi]

Pre-review (I will be watching it tomorrow): the poster reminds me of 2012's Upside Down which I have watched. I have yet to watch Patema Inverted - which is on my bucket list too. Freaky Friday and a little bit of The Solitude of Prime Numbers from the summary. The Solitude of Prime Numbers, because I am assuming the boy and girl don't meet in the end. It's one of my most favourite - both the Italian film and translated book.

I've paused on watching Evangelion to the end - I have not known about the release of this film.

My premature contribution - I hope I am wrong and I cry watching this film.

Edit: I'm watching it right now. Spoilers/live abrupt posting starts now (follow along or don't - up to ya). I'll summarize or keep this once I finished it - haven't decided:

[spoiler]BRUH. BRUH. I LOVE IT. THE colours AND ANIMATION IS SUPER SMOOTH AND BRIGHT.

The intro is long - I watched a "what if Harry Potter was an anime" video (I paused the film on where they started the subs for music lyrics) where they had, I think - I'm not sure, Baccano intro music (which is very pretty and catchy) but suuuuuuuuuuuupper looooooong. I was thinking I was watching the end credits.

Yep. It's long. And fast. Like, it skips scenery scenes quickly.

AAEGFSDGSBXDGNSBZNGVA !! I FUCKING KNEW CALLED IT. THEY REFERENCED THE RED RIBBON PINKY. AHHASHSHHHHHYHGUHGH.

Panning. I love it.

Bewbs.

Have they already switched?

**robe drops**

https://youtu.be/rUC-FvYXj18

Waitwaitwaitwaiwaiwaiwait. Hmm. Comet is time travel? Comet is the gravity pull of the two souls which split into the other body? Would the incoming comet stop time as much as it has the effect on the characters? That didn't make sense. It's okay.

tfw you bicker - like "I'm gonna chop your house tonight if you don't get off my bike, lover"

tfw this pretty much sums up Pretty Little Liars in a nutshell - no one tells you shit because either you're interrupted by a loud mic or a cut scene or your friends/family are slow thinkers or talkers and you're slow - a bit too slow - to get a hint that you should really reconsider demanding them to tell them what actually happened to you great dialogue, by the way

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHH. I got to the note in the notebook part - ahhhh.

Yep. I kinda was partially right on the comet time stopping thing. But who/what could it be?

ERECTION! ^{k, bye! thx 4 stopping by!}

Great dad. /s

The panning scene - great light play. He's visibly breathing. It's pretty.

bozo customer/patron(?) looks like an animated reincarnation of gilderoy lockhart - he actually is

I want fried doughnuts now. The long ones you eat with congee (Yau ja gwai). K. I'm eating while watching.

I'm gonna finish the meatlovers' slice of pizza in less than five minutes.

Uh-huh. They're going to write.

**shifts up glasses** "He was kinda cute." **gasp** Bwahahahaha.

That's adorable. Freaky Friday ensues after the quick rock out music. :]

"The flow of time" - where's the smug emoji? Whereisit?

On a serious note, I am glad there is a term and story to something I've thought about too. It's a pretty analogy(?). I like it.

"Why do guys associate cutting hair with breakups?" - Yeah, why?

I called it.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

Have the sex, you bungaloos.

^{He should have printed it.}

Hmm. tfw my maternal grandmother's her maternal grandmother. Paranormal psychics - whaddup.

Tess blushing's ca-ute. Hahahahaha. Tess is Caleb.

icallediticallediticallediticallediticallediticallediticallediticallediticallediticallediticallediticallediticalledit.

Le sex is strong in this one. Hey.

I'm crying. Nonononononono.

Tears have collected. My heart. My poor heart.

Oh, hurry up! Cut it! :]
[/spoiler]

I decided. ^ Do not read unless you want spoilers.

Finished it.

Phew.

I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it.

My heart was played with and it was a fantastic ride. Guess I'm not a real nerd.

Liked: That I was right.

Disliked: That I wasn't right. Duh.

Review (avec heavy spoilers the above spoilers are too!):

[spoiler]The time swaps (the settings and scene cuts, specifically), to some, is jagged and non-linear. Towards the ending.

I was waiting for some bad confrontation from Tessie with Taki-in-Mitsuha.

Under a YouTube comment via the TokyoPop TV trailer, they said: "Another sign i missed the first time was that, after Taki's date with ms Okudera, he reads his notes on his phone and Mitsuha wrote there that 'by the time the date ends the comet will be fully visible in the sky'. Taki has no idea what that means. That's because in Taki's timeline it is 2016 and the comet fell in 2013. You can understand from this that the comet fell 3 years ago that evening in Taki's timeline, but in Mitsuha's timeline the comet will fall that evening so Mitsuha was actually dreaming from 2013 and she was dreaming into the future. This proves the 3 years difference of the dreams." --- I don't get it. There were a lot of jumps to and back.

The crying tears earlier on in the film, the simultaneous switch pans to both leads, were absolutely bomb. I truly appreciated it. Eh - yes, it was their foreshadowing. If the timelines were linear in the sense that it was leading up to the anniversary of the explosion, in both body switches and when the characters were back in their bodies - that would be great.

The direction of the film is effortless and beautiful (I am aware that there is a lot of films I need to watch if this astounds me).

Ooooooh boy - the red string phenomenon. I loved it. Do I need to explain it via Wiki or something? Does everyone know the mythology behind it? Or the story?

I called it - I was beaming when the connection snapped off abruptly. I knew it as soon as the direction panned to her eye with the split of the comet (actually, the direction shift was prompted with her haircut). Yep - in The Solitude of Prime Numbers, it was sorta like that. The characters always nearly missed each other. The explanation of the prime numbers is beautiful in terms of people and connections with others.

I dearly loved G-ma. Props to her.

I was bawling and anxious - ugh. I went "PLEASE! PLEASE HURRY UP! DON'T DIE. THERE'S SO MANY PEOPLE!" My heart was pulled avec her younger sister. That's my sibling to a tee and seeing that they were near death? UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGHH - not cool.

That's it for now.
[/spoiler]

Thank you, Kött. I truly enjoyed it.

Quote before delet.

[Yvonne]

Ca-ute.

I have my own spokesperson or PR dude.

What did you like and what didn't you like?

[MealGin]

Admittedly I wasn't that into it until the second half of the movie when the ball dropped. Then it just pulled me by the heartstrings and I wanted those two saps to be happy together.

So yes, I loved it.

Also the AMC Theater I went to accidentally showed the dub instead of the sub, so I managed to get a voucher for a free movie ticket as compensation.

[rtil]

my thoughts on the whole movie:

first 5 minutes - an editing disaster. like a bad, fan-made youtube AMV with unfitting music. yes, the sequences played there are important for later, but it was really rough and out of place.

first act - cute, funny, charming, believable. we get to know our leads very well and how they would act in someone else's shoes, literally. any kind of plot hole here can also be conveniently explained away by the amnesia involved with dreaming (like how Mitsuha should have noticed at some point it was 3 years in the future, which would have spoiled the twist)

second act - i think we all knew what was coming after his date-o - no more freaky friday funtimes. but what i wasn't expecting was the reveal that Mitsuha had been dead for 3 years, her soul reaching out into the future for a 2nd chance at life. i liked this part of the movie and the tonal shift was done well

third act - lots of tugging at heartstrings and tense moments here. this part of the movie Shinkai is unsatisfied with, claiming there was more they wanted to include here but ran out of time and money. i can understand that as some things are rushed along, like Mitsuha somehow being able to convince her father and others to get to the high school to live. then Mitsuha and Taki walk by eachother 10,000 times in a city of 38 million until Shinkai finally caves and makes a movie with a happy ending.

i'm giving it an 8/10. docking 1 point for the 2 musical montages and another for not fleshing out Taki enough. we got a taste of Mitsuha's backstory and what makes her tick, but Taki was just kind of there. maybe that's part of the point - that he never asked kami-sama to be reborn as a basket-weaving, sake-spitting shrine maiden in a backwater town, but he was a little too self-inserty for my tastes. at least he didn't have a harem.

[Bamyasi]

Yeah that was pretty much beat for beat what I thought of it as well. I don't recall disliking the OP quite as much, but I did generally dislike the music/montage, particularly in the first half.

Keit愛 (Finds a Way) felt like a culmination of the supernatural realism genre the post-Ghibli schools have been experimenting with for the past decade or so. What separates this from the likes of Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo, Summer Wars, Colorful, Anohana, Kokoroco, Momo e no Tegami, Nerawareta Gakuen, Okami Kodomo no Ame to Yuki, Kokoro ga Sakebitagatterunda, Bakemono no ko, Boku dake ga Inai Machi, and Shinkai's other work was the structure and the general fact that this movie was actually good for its entire runtime. It's a very taut supernatural thriller with a decent if schmaltzy romance laid over it. Pretty remarkable that a movie could do absolutely nothing new and at the same time remain engaging throughout. Though I'd argue Shinkai's work generally accomplishes this, he has outdone himself several times over.

My only real problem was the zany montage with accompanying voiceover about a third of the way in, the expository dialogue delivered by Mitsuha's grandmother, and the last 10 or so minutes in general, which dragged on and on. I spent like a half hour trying to hate this movie and lost. It seduced me, but the final stretch was cinematic blue-balls. I'm not saying there wasn't tension or many dry eyes in the house, but it got to the point where I just didn't care anymore. We knew the happy ending was coming; if Shinkai wanted to make us sad he would've just killed them.

I won't say this movie is quite the masterpiece it's been touted as (it doesn't take enough advantage of its medium for that), but I think its safe to say a new standard for the millennium's stand-alone anime movie has been set. It's manipulative storytelling, but I'm always happy to be manipulated by expert hands.

Everyone I saw it with agreed it was a hard 8 to 9/10. Even an 8 would land it two grades higher than any of Shinkai's or Hosoda's other work. I also think it's better than anything Ghibli has released since Spirited Away by as many grades (except Kaguya-hime no Monogatari). Curious to see how it holds up or if anyone remembers it a year from now.

at least he didn't have a harem.

Also the AMC Theater I went to accidentally showed the dub instead of the sub, so I managed to get a voucher for a free movie ticket as compensation.

That kinda sucks. How was the dub? Our AMC was only showing it subbed opening day but I'll be fucked if I wasn't drunk enough for any of those trailers. Pretty good sized crowd though, the 10:40pm showing was almost sold out.

[Yvonne]

Bamyasi watches
The Japanese spoken film
In its English subtitles

[Bamyasi]

This is an English language board Yvonne.

[Bamyasi]

Something like that.

[MealGin]

Also the AMC Theater I went to accidentally showed the dub instead of the sub, so I managed to get a voucher for a free movie ticket as compensation.

That kinda sucks. How was the dub?

Kinda standard fare Funimation Dub stuff. I didn't really care that much since I just wanted to watch the movie anyway. That said tho, it was kinda awkward to hear lines like "When we meet, I'd know you were the one who was inside of me and me inside of you" delivered in English, and the VA for Taki didn't seem all that convincing during the scenes where he was anxious/surprised/nervous.

[rtil]

if Shinkai wanted to make us sad he would've just killed them.

or leave them as miserable, broken adults with nothing of consequence from the last hour of animation you just watched like he did in 5cm. but i knew judging by the success of this film that it actually had a proper ending as it would not have been such a box office smash if it left audiences depressed as fuck - although in my case 5cm just made me confused and angry.

I won't say this movie is quite the masterpiece it's been touted as (it doesn't take enough advantage of its medium for that), but I think its safe to say a new standard for the millennium's stand-alone anime movie has been set. It's manipulative storytelling, but I'm always happy to be manipulated by expert hands.

Everyone I saw it with agreed it was a hard 8 to 9/10. Even an 8 would land it two grades higher than any of Shinkai's or Hosoda's other work. I also think it's better than anything Ghibli has released since Spirited Away by as many grades (except Kaguya-hime no Monogatari). Curious to see how it holds up or if anyone remembers it a year from now.

i think it will be remembered and Shinkai has a pretty solid formula for success now, although i highly doubt any of his films will be as successful as Kimi no na wa. the striking visuals will get people in theater seats, but the way Kimi no na wa is structured that compelled people to go see it a 2nd or even a 3rd time you can't really do again as a filmmaker.

i doubt he cares, but i think he will strive to outdo himself either way as he was not satisfied with the finished product and even asked people to stop going to see it.

Shinkai is doing something Ghibli stubbornly refuses to do and that is tell a supernatural story in a modern frame. while i sincerely doubt there will ever be another director as prolific and organically attuned to animated film as Miyazaki, he has clearly failed to captivate the new generation of moviegoers, for better or worse. many young anime fans seem to view him as a bitter curmudgeon stuck in the past - and while they're not entirely wrong, they have no respect or appreciation for media that isn't in tune with their ego. they might when they get older, but the cycle will most likely continue in perpetuity for so long as social media exists, which will probably endure for the remainder of human existence.

Ghibli is unapolagetically rigid in preserving its image, it is the unmovable foundation of worldwide, critically acclaimed Japanese anime. while advertising likes to remind people that Kimi no na wa is the world's highest grossing anime film of all time, they will never tell you that it still didn't beat the now 16-year old record of highest grossing film of all time in Japan - which still far and away belongs to Spirited Away. if not for the success of Ghibli or much less Spirited Away, who would have paved the way for Kimi no na wa to receive this honor? the answer is no one, and Shinkai understands that, but his audiences have largely forgotten.

i will admit i kind of went in hoping to not like it as well as i have a chip on my shoulder about this, but i'm glad to have been proven wrong. people should celebrate that Shinkai is not and no one ever will be "the next Miyazaki". Miyazaki is Miyazaki, Shinkai is Shinkai. they are their own filmmakers, shaped and molded by the world and media they experienced. i have a lot of respect for Shinkai's drive and humbleness in the face of success, because i believe it will inspire him to create even better stories and give him a lifelong passion to pave the way for the future of animation through sheer willpower like the creators before him have their whole lives. in a way its a passing of the torch, perhaps a reluctant one but something that needs to happen. it's clear that Goro never wanted to do what his father did, and if Ghibli passes with its founders, then that is the way it should have been.

[Bamyasi]

or leave them as miserable, broken adults with nothing of consequence from the last hour of animation you just watched like he did in 5cm. but i knew judging by the success of this film that it actually had a proper ending as it would not have been such a box office smash if it left audiences depressed as fuck - although in my case 5cm just made me confused and angry.

I give 5cm a pass just because I'm a sucker for montage and lack of closure but yeah it was pretty lame storytelling. I would've been fine with a more downbeat ending in this movie once I saw how amazing the tonal shift was, but by the end I was relieved it wasn't to be.

i think it will be remembered and Shinkai has a pretty solid formula for success now, although i highly doubt any of his films will be as successful as Kimi no na wa. the striking visuals will get people in theater seats, but the way Kimi no na wa is structured that compelled people to go see it a 2nd or even a 3rd time you can't really do again as a filmmaker.

i doubt he cares, but i think he will strive to outdo himself either way as he was not satisfied with the finished product and even asked people to stop going to see it.

I could see that happening, but hopefully he'll surprise us with something new. I hope he makes another thriller as good as this but it definitely couldn't be done by retreading old ground. Why would he ask people to stop seeing his movie though? Did the last act feel that unfinished to him because imo it had too much going on. Guess I'll read the book if I can get past the pedestrian writing.

Shinkai is doing something Ghibli stubbornly refuses to do and that is tell a supernatural story in a modern frame. while i sincerely doubt there will ever be another director as prolific and organically attuned to animated film as Miyazaki, he has clearly failed to captivate the new generation of moviegoers, for better or worse. many young anime fans seem to view him as a bitter curmudgeon stuck in the past - and while they're not entirely wrong, they have no respect or appreciation for media that isn't in tune with their ego. they might when they get older, but the cycle will most likely continue in perpetuity for so long as social media exists, which will probably endure for the remainder of human existence.

Yeah I never understood the anti-Miyazaki bandwagon. I think people just like seeing legends reduced to a more human scale, especially when their hobbies are under attack. If there was someone as iconic as him in Hollywood willing to call out the industry, it would definitely be a good start. Why do you think they refused to tell a modern supernatural story? Omoide no Marnie was close enough.

Ghibli is unapolagetically rigid in preserving its image, it is the unmovable foundation of worldwide, critically acclaimed Japanese anime. while advertising likes to remind people that Kimi no na wa is the world's highest grossing anime film of all time, they will never tell you that it still didn't beat the now 16-year old record of highest grossing film of all time in Japan - which still far and away belongs to Spirited Away. if not for the success of Ghibli or much less Spirited Away, who would have paved the way for Kimi no na wa to receive this honor? the answer is no one, and Shinkai understands that, but his audiences have largely forgotten.

Regarding Spirited Away comparisons, my friends and I thought even more Shinto overtones would've done this movie good. Absurd it wasn't nominated for BAF as it absolutely blew that Disney furshit out of the water.

i will admit i kind of went in hoping to not like it as well as i have a chip on my shoulder about this, but i'm glad to have been proven wrong. people should celebrate that Shinkai is not and no one ever will be "the next Miyazaki". Miyazaki is Miyazaki, Shinkai is Shinkai. they are their own filmmakers, shaped and molded by the world and media they experienced. i have a lot of respect for Shinkai's drive and humbleness in the face of success, because i believe it will inspire him to create even better stories and give him a lifelong passion to pave the way for the future of animation through sheer willpower like the creators before him have their whole lives. in a way its a passing of the torch, perhaps a reluctant one but something that needs to happen. it's clear that Goro never wanted to do what his father did, and if Ghibli passes with its founders, then that is the way it should have been.

That's a very heartfelt defense of both of them. I think it's kind of weird that this feels like the first "mature" work from CoMix, but I guess unlike Miyazaki, Shinkai he didn't have two full decades of experience in the industry making beautiful literary adaptations before founding a studio.

Tonari no Totoro is my favorite movie of all time (tied with 2001), and Majo no Takkyubin is like top 10. When I was referring to Ghibli's output since Spirited Away I was mostly referring to the tertiary directors like Goro and Yonebayashi; and while I do think Howl's, Ponyo and Kaze Tachinu were "just okay," it's mostly in comparison Miyazaki's work from the four decades prior. Directors always lose touch I think it's like a natural law, whether its with their audience's egos or simply the world around them. They're still great films compared to almost everything else, especially globalist Hollywood garbage, but if I had to choose between Future Boy Conan, Castle of Cagliostro or any of Miyazaki/Takahata's early work at Toei and NipAni and those three movies, I'd pick the former every single time. I think a lot of people would if the Ghibli brand weren't among the most powerful in animation.

Shinkai-Miyazaki comparisons I think are mostly done by western shills in order to sell DVDs to casuals, but it's still sort of entered our collective perception of him, which I'm sure does infinitely more harm than good. Here's hoping this isn't the last we hear from his muses, because fuck if they weren't with him in full force for Keit愛.

[Bamyasi]

Tezuka and Miyazaki had a somewhat uneasy relationship. Miyazaki acknowledges his influence, like the influence of an older brother or predecessor, but the influence may not have been seen as an entirely beneficial one.

As noted by Helen McCarthy, Miyazaki wrote an essay, after Tezuka's passing in 1989, in which he reflected on the influence Tezuka had on his own career in particular and the development of anime in Japan in general. Miyazaki acknowledges that Tezuka was among the creative artists who inspired him to become a manga author but he writes that he initially reacted indignantly and that he felt humiliated when it was pointed out to him that his style as a draughtsman resembled that of Tezuka.

Once he realised that the observation about the resemblance was accurate, he destroyed his sketches and decided to return to the study of basic drawing skills in order to start over. He notes that he does not share the advice that young manga artists should imitate the work of their predecessors when starting out.

In his essay he also writes that he became increasingly critical of Tezuka's role in the development of anime in Japan and he criticised, particularly other animators, for the reverential treatment, to the point of worship, given Tezuka. In Miyazaki's world view, influence is supposed to drive the medium forward and although Miyazaki markets his own name brand well, he is nevertheless also critical of the godlike status bestowed on him.

He has indicated that he sees such praise as stifling instead of encouraging the exploration of creativity and the development of a personal style in younger artists.

It all comes full circle.

[Bamyasi]

Okay I revisited Shinkai's oeuvre. I was going to post this in the thread of bad: hot opinions edition before realizing Shinkai might actually be one of my favorite directors, so this probably in fact belongs in the journey thread. Definitely wouldn't have come to this conclusion without having seen Keit愛 first.

Hoshi no Koe - Every bad gene that would negatively affect his subsequent output is expressed here. Too concerned with voiceover and not enough with images. There's a reason your parents would tell you a story (even with pictures) instead of showing you one when you were a kid if they wanted to put you to sleep. There's way more interesting stuff happening here that a boring dumb gimmicky rom-dram like holy fuck isn't there a war going on in this movie? Isn't she in like actual physical danger? What the fuck did she just kill a sentient lifeform? If you want to make us care about what your characters care about, there should be a conflict between what theywant and what they have to do. If you want your audience to care about something more generally, put it in the background, where themes and metaphors belong. Instead this is just a frivolous story about cellphone reception.

I know the guy made this movie pretty much by himself on his macbook, but the fact it kinda sucks just points to so many problems with the independent filmmaking business model. No wonder the great directors of the 80s and 90s had such amazing output, most of them cut their teeth at the great studios of the 60s and 70s. This is what differentiates arthouse media from its inferior "indie" counterpart. I don't think most people are as genuinely impressed with Undertale: the Game as they are with Undertale: the Story aka Toby Fox aka That Could Be Me: How a Lowly Webcomic Fan and FM Synth Composer Broke the Bank. 4/10 it's okay. God I'm such an ass.

Kumo no Mukou, Yakusoku no Basho - Exactly the same problems as Hoshi no Koe, except thrice as long. The first two thirds of the movie are accompanied by voiceover and dumb sci-fi gobbledegook and almost none of it is of any consequence. It's a 30-50 minute story padded out to 90. Further proof that a director who's only worked will small ideas on small budgets won't suddenly have big ideas if you throw a bunch of cash his way. Who the hell cares about parallel universes? There's definitely an engaging adventure story a la Laputa or his fourth movie buried somewhere in there, but Shinkai yet again places primacy on his characters feelings over their actions. Also the music is lame. 4/10 pretty good. Also I suck.

Byousoku 5 Centimeter - Hopelessly, unapologetically uncool, but that's why I like it. It's not pretending to be anything it's not, which is more of a poem written in desktop wallpapers and music than a story. It's a poem about limerence and arrested development, not romance. The characters in this movie don't actually love each other, which is why it works. It's ironic. Rather, they love the idea of being in love, and two of them grow up to be bitter lonely narcissists, not because their love wasn't reciprocated but because they're still mentally children. That's why its poetic, because if their love was requited the Romantics would've fucked and moved on instead becoming poets. It's borderline satire, but there's also a skosh of hope and healing at the end. Still too heavy on the voiceover in some parts. 6/10 objectively but I'd give it a 7 for the ending montage.

Hoshi wo Ou Kodomo - Okay I'd obviously forgotten or had never realized how good this movie is, but I did enjoy it far more than I had on my first viewing. I don't know why. This is Shinkai's only movie wherein I think Ghibli comparisons hold any water, most noticeably to Tenkuu no Shiro Laputa. The storytelling is a bit clumsier than Ghibli's debut, and while it shares only that films gravity and none of its levity, I'd say it's nearly as good, because it makes up for these shortcomings on the strength of its themes and characters (particularly the villain). Like 5cm it's a story about acceptance of loss and arrested development (the title literally translates to Children Who Chase Lost Voices but only the main character is a child), though this time the central motif is death rather than love. While sports exactly zero scenes as iconic as most of Laputa's runtime, and the central couple doesn't have nearly as much chemistry as Sheeta and Pazu, overall Hoshi wo Ou Kodomo is a more nuanced entry to the animated adventure genre. No voiceover so 8/10.

Kotonoha no Niwa - I'd always liked this movie. It's basically 5cm fixed, because it's an actual love story. The Haruki Murakami influence is particularly apparent here as well, even though it pervades pretty much all his work. The music is great and the dialogue, while never as good as many rom-drams, is functionally restrained, and makes the climax feel more real, if some might say overwrought. Definitely a hard 8/10. Almost 9.

Yeah I take back what I said about Keit愛 being far and away his best movie. Still think Hosoda's a hack though 😏.

Claiming this thread as my Shinkai fanblog.

[rtil]

i don't think i could be assed to watch 5cm again, but i remember what bothered me the most about it was the way it was split in to 3 parts. was it even meant to be viewed as a film? it didn't feel like it. the 3rd act was my least favorite part. tbh i have not seen his other movies besides garden of words, which is also stunted in its own way, but it's better than 5cm. i don't think his earlier entries are worth seeing if they're even more amateur than 5cm. he probably should have made shorter format stuff cuz he wasn't very good at telling movie-length stories if 5cm is anything to go by.

Shinkai-Miyazaki comparisons I think are mostly done by western shills in order to sell DVDs to casuals, but it's still sort of entered our collective perception of him, which I'm sure does infinitely more harm than good.

yeah because people fall for it and then the label sticks. honestly i think they have almost nothing in common when it comes to directing, so maybe people will see through it. i wonder if japanese audiences have ever had the thought come across their minds. somehow i doubt it.