Nothing has 99.8% a satisfaction rating. Nothing.
Well, this is new. I usually review anime long after it’s faded into irrelevance. This time I’m reviewing a movie within a month of its Japanese release. Spoilers actually matter. Proceed with caution.
Kimi no Na wa currently occupies the #1 ranked spot on MyAnimeList. It’s the first non-Ghibli anime film to make over 10 billion yen. (Based on current ticket prices, that means at least 6 people watched it.) While we’re at it, fuck Studio Ghibli. When I tell Japanese people that I like anime, that’s the first thing they ask me: “Do you like Ghibli films?” No, I don’t. Critically, yes, they’re well made, but the stories are boring and childish.
Kimi no Na wa (Your Name) is written and directed by Makoto Shinkai, whose other movies I didn’t particularly care for but were generally well-received. I’m not a movie guy. I’ve never given a +++ to a standalone movie. I’d rather watch a longer, better-developed story in 22 minute chunks. Kimi no Na wa makes efficient use of its time, but it’s still only as long as 5 episodes of anime. However much a movie packs into that time, the format just doesn’t have the potential of a full anime season.
Kimi no Na wa is the story of a boy and a girl who may or may not be connected somehow. I fear I may have already spoiled too much. The movie has an excellent intro segment that previews the movie with fewer spoilers, so just watch the movie.
Final Grade: ++
Well, that was a boring, uninformative review. I may update this post when nobody cares about the movie anymore.
Yes! I’m so sick and tired of people who claim to be huge anime fans and then they have seen only the ghibli movies and nothing else. I also think that they are too childish. They are family films. Films to watch when you have a little kid. I have nothing against people who like ghibli movies, but there are so many better tv anime that are better than ghibli movies.
I’m not a movie guy either. I still haven’t watched the “new” Evangelion movies, the third Madoka movie(I love Madoka), the Psycho-Pass movie(I also love Psycho-Pass) and I have never watched any movies directed by Makoto Shinkai. I have seen The Girl Who Leapt Through Time and Summer Wars and really liked both. I will watch Kimi No Na Wa at some point. From what I heard and read I should really like it.
And if we are talking about MAL rankings then why is every Gintama season ranked so fucking high? It’s not really THAT funny. I watched six episodes when the new Gintama season started last year and they were okay. Sometimes I laughed, but most of the time I just had this neutral expression on my face.
It’s about 70% childhood nostalgia and 30% infantalism. Same reasons why so many adult women in Japan go apeshit over Disney. It’s not necessarily the best shit out there. It’s just what they grew up with and an emotion/image they want to cling to.
Girl Who Leapt Through Time was good. The Psycho-Pass movie was ok. Haven’t seen the others, though I’m a bit curious about Eva, Madoka, and Summer Wars.
I forced myself through 20 episodes of Gintama before dropping it. I was planning to give it another shot someday, but fuck it. Sometimes the reviews are just plain wrong.
Gintama is rated really highly (as is Legend of Galactic Heroes, to a lesser extent) due to the way MAL ratings cut off. You have to watch a certain % of the show to have yours counted, and for long running shows this becomes a lot of episodes. So people who hate the show and drop it, while rating it 3, does not count to the average.
That gets even more exacerbated on long sequels when only fans will even start the show in the first place.
The sequel effect is a drastic one. I generally don’t pay attention to sequel review scores without insightful commentary to back them up.
Hilariously, I still haven’t watched a single Ghibli movie, much to the surprise of… pretty much everyone? Thing is, they just don’t look conceptually interesting to me.
In general, I share your notions on movies to a certain degree and don’t really watch a lot of them. A complex, well-written story is hard to achieve being limited by time constraints. For instance, the mere concept of HxH movie sounds inane. And we got two of them. And they sucked. Admittedly though, they might have fared better with the involvement of the actual author. Same for the Brotherhood movie.
I’ve seen people hyped about the new Shinkai movie as well as the Koe no Katachi one and quite frankly, I most likely won’t be swayed by either of them. I certainly do have my eyes on the new Yu-Gi-Oh! movie but what I liked about Duel Monsters as an anime is that it had neat characters and plot twists and it profitted from its length, anime original arcs included. The new movie story will most likely be servicable at best but that’s all I’m expecting.
That said, there are cases where even ambitious concepts can get proper treatment. Death Billiards was pretty great for instance. Pale Cocoon too. Also, digesting Cat Soup was fun.
I’d say they’re conceptually interesting. The problem is that they’re too kiddy in their execution. A few lesbians and killing sprees would do Ghibli wonders.
I made the mistake of watching an HxH movie on a flight. Also a few crappy live-action anime movies. Post forthcoming.
Oh shit, Koe no Katachi is already out? I’ve seen posters for that movie for ages. (Somehow movie posters get on school bulletin boards. I wonder how much the schools are paid off.)
I had my eye on Pale Cocoon a good 10 years ago but never got around to watching it. Will do. Maybe.
hi bro
I got your opal mehta book, by the way. Thank you!
Much love,
Michael
Wait…it just arrived? The book I sent about 5 years ago? Does plagiarism not make it through customs over there?
Wow, the hipster is strong in this comments section lol.
Okay, maybe Ghibli’s output quality today is not up to par, but don’t judge an entire studio’s history on its current output.
I’ll give you a history lesson a la Colony Drop, please watch ???????? ?? ?ℎ? ?????? ?? ?ℎ? ????, or better yet read the superior manga version.
This movie alone gives Studio Ghibli its reason to fame.
Their earlier films have more mature themes, and even adult storylines, culminating with ???????? ????????.