I was working in Japan in 2016, and by some miracle or random coincidence I saw a Japan Times article stating than an English-subtitled version of "Your Name" would be airing over the upcoming weekend at this little arthouse movie theater called Cinema Rosa in Ikebukuro. I got to see the film before 99.9% of the English-speaking otaku world, and not gonna lie, that felt pretty cool.
!!! That is SUPER cool! Really glad you were able to experience that! The closes I have to this is when the Madoka Magica movie Rebellion came out and I was able to snag an early copy of their Collectors Bluray of the film which included an english subtitle track. I still have it, too! Just, you know, can't read any of the special edition doodads it came with lol
Knowing the Shinkai context (Shincontext?) is a big part of why Your Name's finale hits. I wouldn't characterize his penchant for separating his lovers as cruelty, however. There's a concept in Japanese called mono-no-aware that maintains that the impermanence of objects is the reason why they can evoke deep feelings. Shinkai's previous films are basically steeped in mono-no-aware from start to finish and the melancholy of 5 Centimeters per Second or Voices of a Distant Star were his stock in trade.
Regarding the disparity in the timelines and why they never notice the three-year-gap, I think the relevant detail the both of you missed is that Taki and Mitsuha are experiencing their body-swaps as dreams. And details in dreams are always fuzzy after you wake up. You remember you had a dream, and probably remember some aspects of what happened, but the precise, mundane aspects get lost in the cold light of day.
Thank you for having me on! It was a BLAST chatting about Your Name and Shinkai. - Twwk
I was working in Japan in 2016, and by some miracle or random coincidence I saw a Japan Times article stating than an English-subtitled version of "Your Name" would be airing over the upcoming weekend at this little arthouse movie theater called Cinema Rosa in Ikebukuro. I got to see the film before 99.9% of the English-speaking otaku world, and not gonna lie, that felt pretty cool.
!!! That is SUPER cool! Really glad you were able to experience that! The closes I have to this is when the Madoka Magica movie Rebellion came out and I was able to snag an early copy of their Collectors Bluray of the film which included an english subtitle track. I still have it, too! Just, you know, can't read any of the special edition doodads it came with lol
Knowing the Shinkai context (Shincontext?) is a big part of why Your Name's finale hits.
I wouldn't characterize his penchant for separating his lovers as cruelty, however. There's a concept in Japanese called mono-no-aware that maintains that the impermanence of objects is the reason why they can evoke deep feelings. Shinkai's previous films are basically steeped in mono-no-aware from start to finish and the melancholy of 5 Centimeters per Second or Voices of a Distant Star were his stock in trade.
Regarding the disparity in the timelines and why they never notice the three-year-gap, I think the relevant detail the both of you missed is that Taki and Mitsuha are experiencing their body-swaps as dreams. And details in dreams are always fuzzy after you wake up. You remember you had a dream, and probably remember some aspects of what happened, but the precise, mundane aspects get lost in the cold light of day.