If going long weeks between posts is what it takes to put out things I can be this proud of, maybe it’s an okay trade-off…
I don’t know how many of you fair readers have seen your name. (Kimi no Na Wa), but it’s the hot ticket right now like… everywhere. I’ve seen it a couple of times in the last month and finally put together all of my thoughts on it for Crunchyroll. The article’s basically spoiler-free, so even if you haven’t seen it you should give it a read!
Mage in a Barrel 
I get what you’re saying. I can confidently say after seeing Your Name twice (once each subbed and dubbed) that this is one of my favorite anime movies now (definitely among my top 5 anime films at least), but I also felt a strong desire to share it with people, though I didn’t really stop to explore why I felt that way. I saw it with a couple of my friends the first time, and all three of us really enjoyed it, and of course I talked it up to my anime club in April when it was getting ready to come out (some of my kids did go see it and we talked about it a little at this month’s meeting; they all enjoyed it too). But this was one that I was also talking up to not just friends and club members but also to some of my co-workers who are at least open-minded about anime, and I even considered suggesting my parents go see it, though I ultimately didn’t bother because their local theater was only doing one dub screening a day and it wasn’t at a good time for them.
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Yup, it’s a super duper easy film to share with people, and I wonder if the fact that we anime fans really don’t get to do that much is why the impulse (at least judging by some of the response I’ve heard form people who have read this piece) to share it has worked on so many watchers. It’s a cool thing. 🙂
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I’m going to see the film when it comes out on DVD around here. It will, I’m sure. Every Shinkai film so far has come out, and they’re not going to stop at the top seller. At the same time, all the praise worries me a little. I like Shinkai best when he’s more detached, keeping himself back like a clinical voyeur. She and Her Cat is perhaps the best example of that. I’ve not really clicked with him when he’s trying to go for sentimental story telling – Children Who Chase Lost Voices, for example, left me completely cold. (Voices from a Distant Star is your favourite? That’s an excellent one!) I own Garden of Words but haven’t seen it yet.
Nevertheless, I get the general feeling. For example, back in 2011 I got my mum to watch Usagi Drop. Some shows are just easy to share.
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You haven’t clicked with Shinaki when he goes sentimental yet you like Voices of a Distant Star…? You are a strange one—I’d consider Voices to be even more sentimental in character than your name.!
So I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what you think about it when you actually do get a chance to see it.
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“Sentimental” may have been a bad word use, but I have no better to offer. It’s not that I disagree with you that Voices is sentimental, but it feels different from the sort of sentimentality that dominates Children and interferes with Place Promised. It’s more in line with 5 cm per Second (which is also very sentimental). Actually, Shinkai is probably always sentimental in some way.
I’ll buy Your Name as soon as I realise it’s out; when I’ll watch it is a different matter.
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TBH I was trying so hard not to cry when I saw it in the cinema. It is that good.
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[…] Shinkai. After producing what could arguably be called the most successful anime movie ever (and a film I genuinely loved), he returns two years later with a follow-up that not only avoids the pitfall of existing so much […]
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