#Narita boy story explained series#

#Narita boy story explained series#

Whether it’s the train system in Tokyo, its gorgeous skyscrapers touching the sky, a never-ending horizon in Itomori, or even just a series of streets on a mountainside, “Your Name” is one of those animated films in which one could pick any still frame from it and hang it on their wall. The settings of “Your Name” somehow feel both lived-in and magical at the same time. Shinkai and his team have both an eye for detail and a poetic vision.

To say that “Your Name” is visually striking would be a giant understatement. This is when “Your Name” becomes something very unexpected. He has vague memories of vistas from Mitsuha’s life and he sets out to try to find her. But one day, they stop switching, and Taki can’t get a hold of Mitsuha in any way. For example, Mitsuha has the courage to talk to the girl Taki likes, serving as a sort of body-switching Cyrano de Bergerac. Rather than get into wacky hijinks like an ‘80s Disney movie, they work to help each other, leaving each other notes and diaries about what happened when they switched places. Mostly through discussions with people around them about how weird they were acting, Mitsuha and Taki figure out that they’re switching places randomly, only after sleep. And, of course, the same thing happens in reverse. The next day, Mitsuha wakes up back in her own form but with only vague memories of the day before. One day, Taki wakes up and looks down to see breasts. They are both average kids with their own social circles, but they have no actual connection, and lead very different lives, at least partially defined by their equally gorgeous settings of city vs. The set-up is relatively simple: Mitsuha ( Mone Kamishiraishi) is a high school-age girl who lives in the fictional Itomori, a gorgeous, quaint village in the Hida region of Japan Taki ( Ryunosuke Kamiki) is a slightly older boy living in Tokyo. Writer/director Makoto Shinkai takes what could have been a very cheesy “Freaky Friday”-esque concept and imbues it with melancholy and honesty.