- Author – Makoto Shinkai
- Publisher
– Kadokawa (in 2016)
- Genre – Romance, Drama, Fantasy
Anime
has become a popular form of entertainment throughout the world, in which the
director Makoto Shinkai’s name is well renounced to all its fans. This review
is based on the novelized movie ‘Your Name’ written and directed by
Makoto Shinkai. It was published in Japan by Kadokawa on June 18, 2016, a
month before the film premiere.
‘Your
Name’ is one of the popular stories that Makoto Shinkai had written. It revolves
around Mitsuha Miyamizu, a high school girl living in the fictional town of
Itomori in Gifu Prefecture's mountainous Hida region and Taki Tachibana, a high
school boy living in Tokyo. One day, Mitsuha, who wished to be a
handsome Tokyo boy in her next life wakes up and realizes that
she has somehow ended up in Taki's body.
Taki and Mitsuha realize they have somehow switched bodies when they slept. They start communicating
with each other by leaving notes on paper or leaving memos in each other's
phones. As time passes, they become used to the body swap and start intervening
in each other's lives. One day, Taki finds that they have stopped switching
bodies and eventually decides to visit Mitsuha in her hometown. Without knowing
the name of her village, he travels around the Hida region, relying solely on
the sketches of the village's scenery he has drawn from memory. Finally, after
long searching he founds that a fragment of the comet Tiamat fell to earth
three years ago and obliterated Itomori and its surroundings, killing a third
of the town's population including Mitsuha.
Attempting to
reconnect with Mitsuha, Taki goes to Mitsuha's family shrine. Realising that
his and Mitsuha's timelines were separated by a few years the whole time, Taki
drinks kuchikamizake (also known as the oldest sake) that Mitsuha
made and left behind as an offering, hoping to reconnect to her body before the
comet strikes. Succeeding, he wakes up in her body on the morning of the
festival and realizes that he still has time to save the town. Convincing her
friends about the comet, he gets their help in trying to evacuate the village.
Taki then heads towards the shrine where he finally meets with Mitsuha in his
own body and tells her to convince her father. Taki before returning to his timeline
promise to find her.
As time begins
to pass, their memories of each other start to fade and disappear; both of them
forget each other's names, as well as the events that happened between them.
Eight years later, it is revealed that Mitsuha persuaded her father to conduct
an emergency evacuation drill across the surrounding districts, allowing most
of Itomori's residents to escape in time and survive. Taki has graduated from
university and is trying to find a job, but still has lingering feelings that he
is missing something important to him. He finds himself attracted to items
relating to Itomori, such as magazines and people he thinks are familiar. While
riding separate trains, Taki and Mitsuha are stunned to see each other when
their trains suddenly run parallel to one another. They get out at their next
stops and try to find each other; they finally meet at a staircase and, feeling
as though they know each other somehow, ask for each other's name.
All in all, this is a wonderful novel that fascinates the reader with
its rich Japanese culture and artwork. It is a highly recommended novel which
lets the readers experience all sorts of emotions.
By Anindya Sarkar
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