"Your Name" (Japanese: 君の名は。, Hepburn: Kimi no Na wa; lit. "Your Name is…") is a 2016 Japanese animated romantic fantasy film written and directed by Makoto Shinkai. It was produced by CoMix Wave Films and distributed by Toho. This film is the first in what critics call Shinkai's "disaster trilogy," followed by "Weathering with You" (2019) and "Suzume" (2022). Each film in the trilogy explores themes inspired by the frequency of natural disasters in Japan. The story follows two high school students, Taki Tachibana and Mitsuha Miyamizu, who begin to swap bodies without ever meeting, causing chaos in their lives.

The film features the voices of Ryunosuke Kamiki and Mone Kamishiraishi as Taki and Mitsuha, respectively. Masashi Ando directed the animation, and Masayoshi Tanaka designed the characters. The musical score and soundtrack were composed by the rock band Radwimps. A light novel with the same name, also written by Shinkai, was published one month before the film's release.

"Your Name" had its first showing at the 2016 Anime Expo in Los Angeles on July 3, 2016. It was released in Japan on August 26, 2016, and shown internationally in 2017. The film received praise for its story, animation, music, visuals, and emotional impact. Until it was surpassed by "Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train" in 2020, "Your Name" was the highest-grossing Japanese film ever, earning $400 million worldwide. It broke box office records and outperformed "Spirited Away." The film won awards, including Best Animated Feature at the 2016 Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards, the 49th Sitges Film Festival, and the 71st Mainichi Film Awards. It was also nominated for the Japan Academy Film Prize for Animation of the Year.

A live-action version of the film is being developed by Paramount Pictures and Bad Robot.

Plot

Mitsuha Miyamizu is a high school student in a small town in Gifu. She is tired of life in her quiet town and wishes to be reborn as a boy in Tokyo. Soon, she begins to switch places with Taki Tachibana, a high school student and part-time waiter from Tokyo's Shinjuku ward. On some days, they wake up in each other's bodies and must live the entire day as the other, returning to their own bodies when they sleep. They made rules about sharing their bodies. They communicated by writing on paper, using their phones, and writing on their skin. In each other's bodies, Mitsuha sets Taki up on a date with his coworker Miki Okudera, while Taki helps Mitsuha become more popular at school. He also accompanies her grandmother Hitoha and younger sister Yotsuha to a shrine inside a crater. He offers kuchikamizake fermented with Mitsuha's saliva. Hitoha explains that God has power over time and the connections between people. Mitsuha tells Taki that Comet 279P/Tiamat will pass closest to Earth on the day of the autumn festival. The next day, Taki goes on a date with Okudera in his own body. She enjoys it, but notices his strange behavior and thinks he is thinking about someone else. Taki realizes he has feelings for Mitsuha. He tries to call her but fails. The body-switching stops without explanation.

Taki, Okudera, and his classmate Tsukasa Fujii travel to Hida to find Mitsuha. He does not know the name of her town, so he draws it from memory. A Takayama ramen-shop owner recognizes Itomori and agrees to take them there. They find the town's ruins, which were almost destroyed by pieces of Tiamat (at the same time, Mitsuha's messages disappear from Taki's phone). Even though it is 2016, Taki learns the comet passed in 2013 and realizes he was traveling back in time whenever he switched bodies with Mitsuha. At Hida City Library, Taki and his friends discover that the Miyamizu family and their friends were among 500 people who died in the disaster. Taki begins to forget his memories of Mitsuha. Later, Taki goes to Goshintai to drink Mitsuha's kuchikamizake. He faints and has a vision showing parts of her life, learning she once came to Tokyo to find him. He does not know this at first, but she passed her kumihimo braid to him, which he has worn as a lucky bracelet. He wakes up in Mitsuha's body on the festival morning. Hitoha has an insight when she sees "Mitsuha" acting unusually. She tells Taki the body-switching has been in their family for centuries. Taki asks Mitsuha's friends Sayaka and Tessie to help evacuate Itomori before Tiamat hits by destroying the town's power station and taking control of the emergency broadcast system. He returns to the shrine, where Mitsuha has awakened in his body. At twilight, their timelines overlap, allowing them to meet in person. Taki gives back Mitsuha's braid. As they try to write their names on each other's palms, twilight ends before Mitsuha can write hers.

Returning to Itomori, Mitsuha finds the mayor, her estranged father Toshiki, told residents to stay in the town. She convinces him to order an evacuation instead. As she begins to forget Taki, she notices he wrote "I love you" on her hand instead of his name. Taki wakes up in his own time without remembering Mitsuha.

Five years later, Taki has finished university but struggles to find a job, still feeling sad. He keeps thinking about the Itomori meteor strike, where residents were saved by a last-minute evacuation. Eventually, on April 8, 2022, he sees Mitsuha, now living in Tokyo, on a nearby train. They race to find each other. On the steps of Suga Shrine, Taki calls out to Mitsuha, and they both ask for each other's names at the same time.

Production

Makoto Shinkai thought of the movie's story after visiting the fishing village of Yuriage in Natori in July 2011. This visit happened after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. He saw the damage and thought, "this could have been my town." He then imagined a film where the people of Yuriage would trade places with the movie viewers. During his visit, he made many drawings, some of which were shown in exhibitions.

Shinkai shared his first movie idea with Toho on September 14, 2014. The original title was Yume to Shiriseba (If I Knew It Were a Dream), taken from a line in a poem by Ono no Komachi. Later, the title changed to Kimi no Musubime (Your Connection) and Kimi wa Kono Sekai no Hanbun (You Are Half of This World) before becoming Kimi no Na wa (Your Name is…). On December 31, 2014, Shinkai said he had been writing the movie's storyboard.

The story came from many books, including Inside Mari by Shūzō Oshimi, Ranma ½ by Rumiko Takahashi, the Heian period tale Torikaebaya Monogatari, and the short story The Safe-Deposit Box by Greg Egan. Shinkai also said the movie was influenced by Interstellar (2014) by Christopher Nolan. He and his team also looked at their earlier work, such as the TV ad Crossroads for Z-kai (2014) and the movie 5 Centimeters per Second (2007).

The town of Itomori, a main place in the movie, is not real. However, the movie used real places as inspiration, such as the city of Hida and its library.

Music

The music for the movie Your Name was created by Yojiro Noda, the lead singer of the Japanese rock band Radwimps. The film’s director, Makoto Shinkai, asked Noda to write background music that would support the characters’ dialogue or thoughts. The soundtrack was praised by both critics and viewers and is considered an important reason for the movie’s popularity. At the 2016 Newtype Anime Awards, the soundtrack received an award nomination for "Best Soundtrack," and the song "Zenzenzense" was nominated for "Best Theme Song."

In addition to instrumental tracks, the movie includes four songs performed by Radwimps. These songs are available in both Japanese and English:

• "Yume Tōrō" (夢灯籠, Yume tōrō; which means "Dream Lantern")
• "Zenzenzense" (前前前世, Zenzenzense; which means "Past-Past-Past Life")
• "Sparkle" (スパークル, Supākuru)
• "Nandemonaiya" (なんでもないや, Nande mo nai ya; which means "It’s Nothing")

Release

Your Name had its first showing at the 2016 Anime Expo convention in Los Angeles on July 3, 2016. It was later released in theaters in Japan on August 26, 2016. The film was shown in 92 countries. To be considered for the Academy Awards, the film was shown in Los Angeles for one week (December 2–8, 2016).

The film was also shown in Southeast Asian countries. Purple Plan shared an English- and Chinese-subtitled trailer for the film, with its first showing in Singapore on November 3 and in Malaysia on November 8, followed by daily screenings. In India, PVR Cinemas released Your Name as the opening film of the "Makoto Shinkai Film Festival" on May 19, 2023. M Pictures released the film in Thailand on November 10, 2016, earning ฿ 22,996,714 (about US$649,056) in four days. In Indonesia, Encore Films and CGV Blitz announced plans to screen the film, with Encore hosting its first showing on December 7. Pioneer Films [tl] showed the film in the Philippines on December 14, 2016, where it became the highest-grossing animated movie of 2016 in that country. In Hong Kong, the film opened on November 11, 2016, earning HK$6,149,917 (about US$792,806) in three days. The film had its first showing in Taiwan on October 21, 2016, earning NT$64 million (about US$2 million) in its first week. By October 31, 2016, the film earned NT$52,909,581 (about US$1.666 million) in Taipei alone. It was released in Chinese theaters by Huaxia Film Distribution on December 2, 2016.

The film had a limited release in Australian cinemas on November 24, 2016, by Madman Entertainment in both Japanese and English. Madman also released the film in New Zealand on December 1, 2016. The film was shown in France on December 28. Anime Limited distributed the film in the United Kingdom, where it was released on November 18, 2016. Funimation released the film in North American theaters on April 7, 2017. In Germany, the film was shown in over 150 cinemas in January 2018, with all tickets sold out on the first day. It ranked among the top ten movies of that weekend. Additional screening days were added due to high demand.

Your Name was released in 4K UHD Blu-ray, Blu-ray, and DVD in Japan on July 26, 2017, by Toho Pictures. The release included Regular, Special, and Collector's editions. Funimation announced at Anime Expo 2017 that the film would be released on Blu-ray and DVD by the end of 2017, though no specific date was given. At Otakon 2017, Funimation confirmed the film would be released in Standard and Limited Edition Blu-ray and DVD Combo Packs on November 7. In the first week after release, the Blu-ray standard edition sold 202,370 units, the collector's edition sold 125,982 units, and the special edition sold 94,079 units. The DVD Standard Edition sold 215,963 units, placing first in sales. Your Name became the first anime to have three Blu-ray Disc releases in the top 10 of Oricon's overall Blu-ray Disc chart for two consecutive weeks. In 2017, the film generated ¥6,532,421,094 (US$58,238,797) in media revenue from physical home video, soundtrack, and book sales in Japan.

Overseas, the film earned over US$10.5 million from DVD and Blu-ray sales in the United States as of April 2022. In the United Kingdom, the film was the second best-selling foreign language film on home video in 2017 (after Operation Chromite) and again the second best-selling foreign language film (after My Neighbor Totoro) in 2018.

Your Name was first shown on Japanese television on November 4, 2017, by satellite broadcaster Wowow. The channel also aired a special program about Makoto Shinkai and his previous works. The film had its first broadcast on Japanese terrestrial television on January 3, 2018, via TV Asahi, with an audience rating of 17.4%.

On February 18, 2018, Your Name had its first showing on Philippine television through ABS-CBN and its HD service. The broadcast was shortened to 75 minutes for commercial breaks. Kantar Media Philippines reported an audience rating of 9.2%, while AGB Nielsen NUTAM reported 3.1%. On April 9, 2020, the film was aired again during Holy Week with minor content cuts and a longer runtime of 102 minutes (excluding commercials in a 2-hour timeslot). The broadcast became a trending topic on social media. Makoto Shinkai thanked viewers for watching the broadcast through a post on his Twitter account.

Reception

"Your Name" was a very successful movie worldwide. Before the release of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train, it was the most successful Japanese film ever, earning US$400 million globally.

In Japan, the film earned ¥25.17 billion, which is 10% of all the money made from movies in the country that year. It became the second-highest-grossing film in Japan, after Spirited Away, and the fourth-highest overall, after Titanic and Frozen. It was the first anime film not directed by Hayao Miyazaki to earn more than US$100 million (~¥10 billion) in Japan. The movie was the top film in Japan for twelve non-consecutive weekends, holding the number-one spot for nine straight weekends before being replaced by Death Note: Light Up the New World in late October. It returned to the top for three more weeks before being replaced again by Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

The film was also very successful in China, where it became the highest-grossing Japanese film in the country on December 17, 2016. It earned US$81.3 million there, making it the most successful traditionally animated film in China. The movie was shown in over 7,000 theaters, earning about US$10.9 million on its first day from 66,000 showings and attracting over 2.77 million viewers. This was the biggest opening for a traditionally animated film in China. It held the record for the highest-grossing non-Hollywood foreign film in China until two Indian films, Dangal and Secret Superstar, surpassed it in 2017 and 2018. In July 2024, the film was re-released in China, earning over US$5.3 million on its first day.

In South Korea, the film reached number one on its opening five days, with 1.18 million viewers and US$8.2 million in ticket sales. It became the first Japanese film since Howl's Moving Castle to top the charts there. The film eventually earned 3.81 million admissions and US$23.6 million in South Korea, making it the highest-grossing anime film in the country until 2023, when it was surpassed by The First Slam Dunk and Suzume.

In Thailand, the film earned ฿44.1 million (US$1.23 million). By December 26, 2016, it had made US$771,945 in Australia and US$95,278 in New Zealand. On December 20, Australian distributor Madman Entertainment reported the film earned over A$1 million in Australia before its limited release ended.

In the United States and Canada, the film earned US$5,017,246. In the United Kingdom, it made £500,000 (US$675,000) in 2016, becoming the fifth-highest-grossing non-English and non-Hindi film in the country that year.

The film received widespread praise from critics. Based on 119 reviews, Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 98% positive rating with an average score of 8.2/10. The site’s summary said, "As beautifully animated as it is emotionally satisfying, Your Name adds another outstanding chapter to writer-director Makoto Shinkai’s filmography." On Metacritic, the film scored 81 out of 100 based on 26 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim."

Mark Schilling of The Japan Times gave the film a 4/5 rating, praising its "blend of gorgeous, realistic detail and emotionally grounded fantasy." He also noted the film’s "over-delivery" of "the comedy of adolescent embarrassment and awkwardness" and its ending, which he described as "To the surprise of no one who has ever seen a Japanese seishun eiga (youth drama)." Reviews outside Japan were also mostly positive. Mark Kermode called it his ninth favorite film of 2016 in the UK. In The New York Times, Manohla Dargis called it "a wistfully lovely Japanese tale," while David Sims of The Atlantic described it as "a dazzling new work of anime." The Boston Globe said it was "pretty but too complicated." Mike Toole of Anime News Network listed it as the third-best anime film of all time. John Musker and Ron Clements, directors of several Disney films, praised the film for its beauty and originality.

Despite the praise, Shinkai said the film was not as good as it could have been. He explained, "There are things we could not do, [the director of animation] Masashi Ando wanted to keep working [on] but had to stop us for lack of money […] For me, it's incomplete, unbalanced. The plot is fine but the film is not at all perfect. Two years was not enough."

Characters from Your Name, especially its main characters Taki Tachibana and Mitsuha Miyamizu, appeared in Shinkai’s later film Weathering with You (2016) and its light novel.

Nekotofu, the creator of the

Adaptations

The film was adapted into a light novel by Makoto Shinkai. The novel was published in Japan by Kadokawa on June 18, 2016, one month before the film's premiere. It contains 262 pages.

By September 2016, the novel had sold about 1,029,000 copies. An official visual guide was also released. The novel has sold over 1.3 million copies. Combined, the novel and visual guide have sold more than 2.5 million copies.

A follow-up to the light novel was released on August 1, 2016, under the title Your Name. Another Side: Earthbound. This book takes place during the events of Your Name and is told from the perspectives of Mitsuha's friends and family. The novel was written by Shinkai and Arata Kanoh, with illustrations by Masayoshi Tanaka and Hiyori Asakawa.

Both light novels were adapted into manga by Shinkai. They were published in English by Yen Press. An audiobook version was released by Yen Audio in July 2024.

On September 27, 2017, J. J. Abrams and Eric Heisserer announced plans to create a live-action remake of Your Name. The film would be produced by Paramount Pictures and Bad Robot in partnership with Toho, the company that made the original film. Toho would handle the film's distribution in Japan. Abrams would serve as the film's producer, and Heisserer would write the screenplay. Heisserer explained that the Japanese rights holders wanted the remake to be viewed from a Western perspective, with the story's settings changed to feature a Native American woman living in a rural area and a young man from Chicago who swap bodies magically and intermittently.

Marc Webb was chosen to direct the remake in February 2019. By September 2020, Deadline Hollywood reported that Lee Isaac Chung had taken over as both writer and director, using a script draft written by Emily V. Gordon. Abrams and Genki Kawamura were listed as co-producers. Chung left the project in July 2021 due to scheduling conflicts.

On October 31, 2022, Carlos López Estrada was announced as the new writer and director, replacing Webb and Chung.

According to Kawamura, the film was still in production as of October 2023. Progress had been slowed significantly by the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike.