Movie Review: Your Name / Kimi No Na Wa, Japanese Anime Film Worthy of an Oscar

It's been more than 3 months since we heard the hype from the movie Your Name, or Kimi no Na wa in Japanese. This Japanese animated film seemed horrendous to a wide audience who is not used to watching anime movies. After successfully reaching more than Rp 1.1 trillion since its debut in August yesterday, finally Your Name / Kimi no Na wa we can see in Indonesia in this December. What's the story like? Let us consider the following review.

Kimi no Na wa tells the story of the life of a girl named Mitsuha Miyamizu and a boy named Taki Tachibana. Mitsuha is the son of the village while Taki lives in central Tokyo. Sometimes they dream like they are exchanging souls, but over time the dream becomes more real. When they realized they were not dreaming, they started making diaries to report on the events they had experienced in exchange for places. One day, the phenomenon of this exchange stopped. Feelings of restlessness and love that arise in the heart make them try to find each other's existence.

The story is said to be inspired by an old tale in Japan that tells of two brothers and sisters. Because of his personality, the boy was raised like a woman while the girl was raised like a man. In addition to fairy tales, there is also a poem about dreams that inspire the elements in which they both exchange after awakening from sleep, like a dreamer. A familiar story theme such as this that managed to make Kimi no Na wa well received by the Japanese audience.

The rows of Kimi no Na wa's film castors include Ryunosuke Kamiki as Taki Tachibana, Mone Kamishiraishi as Mitsuha Miyamizu, Masami Nagasawa as Miki Okudera and Etsuko Ichihara as Hitoha Miyamizu. In terms of character, the voices are able to convey what the scriptwriter wants well so easily understood audience. Any character that exists, whether major or minor, can be given a strong characterization and characterization and emotion that correspond to what is visualized.

Like the previous Makoto Shinkai movies, Kimi no Na wa presents a beautiful animated visualization. Each scene is displayed makes us look like a painting with a stunning view. Almost all the visible backgrounds are drawn based on real objects in Japan. The entire section from the object to the background is made in great detail. Starting from the buildings in urban areas, grass in the fields, even to small objects on the table. What's more, each object is adjusted to the time it takes. For example the smartphone used by the main character. From the objects we use, we can see the transition of time running.

When shown in natural scenery, we can see the coloration of each element is very natural, like a photograph taken by a professional photographer. Not only that, the emotions of each character can be felt just by looking at their movements. With such stunning animations, I do not think it is surprising that many people compare Makoto Shinkai's work with animated films from Studio Ghibli.

In addition to the visual aspect, we can also feel the soundtrack that complements the beauty of this film. The composition of the score is done by Noda Yojiro, the vocalist of the band Radwimps who helped fill the soundtrack Kimi no Na wa. From the entire film, each score and song feels fit to fill each scene. Each emotion that is displayed like the sadness and happiness of the character can be well conveyed to the audience thanks to the help of the soundtrack. Some of the audience even cried to hear the strains of piano that accompanied the protagonist's grief. It is wonderful to hear a score that is able to compensate for existing stories and visuals.