Your Name. - Gestern, heute und für immer

After all the praise, exaltation to the heavens, I was most likely expecting the impossible, and that's why I ended up completely disappointed after watching it. I was expecting something new, not innovative, but new for Makoto Shinkai. But alas, I got nothing of the sort. Again, it's nicely animated, the sky, the trains; the touching story of a boy and a girl... It's also cheerful and playful. But I don't think it's the miracle that everyone's making it out to be... Of course, if it were the first Shinkai I'd seen, I could understand the fascination; but for me it's just another Shinkai in a series of fairly similar films, so I can't rate it better than 3 stars. (08.07.2017)

Auch wenn es nach meinen Bewertungen vielleicht nicht danach aussieht, gefällt mir grundsätzlich die Arbeit von Makoto Shinkai. Der Herr kann eine wirklich tolle, angenehme, poetische und tiefgründige Darbietung zeigen, die man sehr gut genießen kann. Das einzige, womit ich bis heute ein bisschen Probleme hatte und wahrscheinlich der Hauptgrund, warum ich einige seiner Werke nicht vollständig bewerten konnte, war meistens das Ende. Bei den meisten von denen hatte ich immer eine gewisse Erwartung, mir was vorgestellt, wie es enden sollte, aber nie ging die Gleichung auf. Darüber hinaus verursachte die Art und Weise, wie Makoto es normalerweise abschloss, mehr Enttäuschung bei mir, was die starke Erfahrung zu nichte machte, die beim Zuschauen so erfolgreich aufgebaut wurde. Nun, jetzt sind wir darüber hinweg. Makoto kam schließlich zu einem Abschluss, der meine Eindrücke verstärkte und somit hat er von mir einfach die 5* verdient. Die Animation, Musik und Charaktere sind wieder großartig, und die Art und Weise, wie Makoto mit Zeit und Bewusstsein spielt, ist einfach ein sehr originelles und interessantes Schauspiel. Hier gibts‘ nichts zu meckern, schön angenehm und poetisch... 9,5/10 (10.09.2016)

I had almost given up on this artist, because I was convinced he was experiencing a gradual decline in his creative powers and heading inevitably to the bottom of the artistic abyss. If one could explain Makoto's creative failures of the last few years to me, lost in dullness and rumoring, by the fact that he was just saving and gathering his strength for this gem, then I would let him be forgiven for these indiscretions and enthusiastically pat him on the back. What I expected from him, I certainly now got: polished visuals, fluid animation, sunsets and picturesque skies bordering on the kitschy, lots of shots of trains, full of melancholy, and an excellent soundtrack, albeit this time performed by my favorite band Radwimps; but all this now goes hand in hand with an interesting storyline, which, although God knows how far from being original it is, and even if some might call it a mixture of various anime tropes, it is handled exceedingly well. It offers various interpretations of the story, making the movie resonate strongly with the audience even after watching it. It is playful, cute, and funny, but it is not primarily touchy-feely in a stupid way. It is classic Makoto, all of his trademarks are there and in large quantities, but at the same time it is a distinctive and unmistakable work in the context of Makoto's oeuvre. It is an oeuvre that teeters on the thin edge of superficial likability, where you can see both a merely audio visually compelling story, and a multi-layered piece that will not let you rest for a minute and will resonate with you for quite some time – and Mitsuha and Taki have clearly pulled me towards the latter. After a very long time, this is finally one hyped anime that I can relate to and ride the wave of, too. A small insignificant plus for Shinkai for making me buy both a movie on DVD and its soundtrack after nine years. And a minor minus for getting really crushed by the phenomenon and not being able to resist shelling out a disgusting amount of yen to visit a themed café and buy a bunch of crap like notepads, pens and postcards. What a cheeky movie! (Seen at Toho Cinemas Nijo, Kyoto, 11/2016.) (20.10.2018)

I really think it's too bad that Japanese anime hasn't managed to make it to Czech movie theaters yet. I think it has quite a lot of potential, although admittedly it would probably take quite a long time to be commercially successful. It's still a shame, because Your Name is proof that we're missing out on a lot. (22.03.2018)