Mitshua and Taki are two students who live in different areas of Japan. They have never met. One day, the two begin switching bodies as a comet begins to pass by. Now these two strangers have to find a way to work together to solve the mystery of their body swaps.
This is the basic premise of Your Name, Japanese anime film written and directed by Makoto Shinkai. Shinkai also wrote the novel of the same name that this film is based upon. 
This film was quite the surprise. I had no idea it even existed. It was only once my brother-in-law mentioned it to my wife and I that we’d even heard of it. Needless to say, I’m glad becuase I love when I see a film that totally catches me by surprise.
On the technical side, Your Name boasts some beautiful animation. It has vibrant colors and some really well designed landscapes of both countrysides and major cities. I was also impressed with the voice acting. I am not an anime purist. I will always take the option of dubbed over subtitles if it’s available. Yet the voice actors for the 2 main characters do perform really well. They captured the many emotions that Taki and Mitshua deal with while going through this ordeal. The film is under 2 hours in runtime at 107 minutes and it really doesn’t waste much of it. Every scene felt important, regardless of it was story/plot related or taking a moment to give our characters some shine. The story was really well told. The larger picture is revealed about halfway through and thankfully this revelation doesn’t derail what came before. In fact it elevates what is already a very touching story and leaves you thinking about it after the credits have rolled and you get out your seat.
I really enjoyed my time with Your Name. Beautiful animation, interesting characters and a heartfelt and dynamic story makes this my sleeper film of 2017 so far.
Final Rating (3.5/4) A touching story that has a pretty great twist. Your Name is quite the surprise as we head into the summer movie season.
