Okay, I admit the Your Name movie may have been old news to many of us considering that it came out in 2016.

But it’s hard to forget how sensational the movie has become when it raked $382.2 million in sales worldwide.

Yes, there’s nothing fascinating about the number when there are a handful of anime movies that rake a lot more than the Your Name movie does.

Take the Demon Slayer: Mugen Train Arc movie which generated $507.1 million in sales worldwide.

Well, it makes sense why the movie could rake this much considering how popular the manga is.

But the reason why the movie can rake up this much sales has a lot to do with the movie being the continuation of the second season.

Will it generate the same sale amount if it’s an original story?

Maybe it will. But you can bet it will generate a lot more sales if the movie is the continuation of the second season.

You certainly wouldn’t want to leave yourself hanging when the next season of the anime would tie back to what happened in the Mugen Train arc, which it did.

Despite not making as many sales as the Demon Slayer movie, it’s still impressive that an original anime movie like Your Name can rake this much in the box office.

It must be because of Makoto Shinkai!

Well, it’s not unusual for the movie to shoot up its popularity because of the person behind it.

After all, that’s the whole reason why so many people will watch movies by Studio Ghibli.

It’s because the person behind all those movies is none other than Hayao Miyazaki.

Slap the Hayao Miyazaki name on any unknown movie and you can bet people will flock to watch the movie.

Don’t believe me?

Take his recent movie, The Boy and the Heron as an example.

Unlike the movies that came before it, they didn’t go gung-ho with promoting The Boy and the Heron like they always did with their movies in the past.

Despite its lack of promotion, the movie was still doing well at the box office.

Since some people do watch because of the person behind it, then that must also be the case for Makoto Shinkai, right?

Sad to say, I doubt that.

Yes, Makoto Shinkai is indeed a well-known director among anime fans.

But sad to say, he doesn’t have the same clout as Hayao Miyazaki does.

It was only when Your Name blew up that he rose to fame.

What makes people love the Your Name movie so much?

If Makoto Shinkai isn’t the reason that makes people love the movie, then what it is then?

Well, your guess is as good as mine.

But if I have to bet on what causes the movie to rise in popularity, I’m guessing it may have something to do with these reasons.

Just to be clear what I’m about to say from this point onward will contain spoilers. So, never say that I didn’t warn you ahead of time.

It’s a bittersweet love story

Let’s be honest here, we’re all a sucker for a love story, particularly the bittersweet one.

Imagine having to reunite with someone you used to have a connection with after some time, albeit a brief one.

But for whatever reason, you felt like you met this person before despite you meeting each other for the first time.

What makes this type of reunion a bittersweet one is that they finally reunite once again after all the things they’ve been through.

The only unfortunate part is that they forgot about the hurdles they had to overcome to finally see each other.

It’s as if they’re undergoing a memory reset, causing them to forget what ties them together in the first place.

Yes, the outcome for both Taki and Mitsuha isn’t something that we’re hoping for.

But it’s still a good outcome for both of them nevertheless.

It doesn’t go overboard with the body-switching theme

There’s no denying anything that revolves around body-switching as a main theme will always have something lewd in it.

So, Your Name is no exception here.

You will still be seeing Taki fondling Mitsuha’s breasts as soon as the body-switching takes place.

In fact, you’ll be seeing him doing the same thing a few times throughout the story too.

But unlike the typical body-switching trope, this scene only serves more as making a joke out of the situation.

Imagine Taki’s reaction when Mitsuha’s sister caught him in the act every time she went to Mitsuha’s room to wake him up.

And let’s not forget Mitsuha’s sister’s response to such an act is gold when she catches him doing that a few times.

Of course, they can always go to town with the lewd stuff when body-switching is their main theme.

But it won’t do the movie justice when the only thing people remember about the movie is Taki doing all sorts of lewd things when he switches body with Mitsuha.

It has an unexpected plot twist

Who would have imagined something sinister took place when Mitsuha decided to see Taki in the flesh?

Do you expect the whole town to get wiped out by a meteor only because they decided to see each other for real this time?

Well, I already expected something bad was bound to happen the moment Mitsuha decided to meet Taki.

But I certainly don’t expect the impact to be this severe because of her actions.

As you can already tell, what happened after that is beyond what any of us can comprehend.

You can’t wrap yourself around everything that happens towards the end. And it’s even more so when the rest of the story is purely cinematic with not much room for explanation.

The solution to the problem doesn’t need to be anything logical, I suppose.

I always assume that the kind of dramatic action the character has to take along with the unconventional solution to the problem is unique to Your Name.

But it turns out that Weathering with You also follows the same formula.

If anything, I should say this is the essence of Makoto Shinkai’s movies.

Expect to have an unexpected plot twist with flashy, less logical scenes toward the end.

It’s indeed a good movie

Despite its unusual and less logical scene towards the end, it sure is an interesting movie to watch.

Does the movie manage to convert me into becoming Makoto Shinkai’s diehard fan?

Well, not really.

But I have to admit Your Name got me intrigued enough to watch Weathering with You.

I have yet to watch Suzume as I write this.

But you can bet I will watch the movie when I have the chance. And the premise doesn’t seem so bad too, if you ask me.

P.S. While the kind of story that I write doesn’t revolve around body-switching, I do have a light novel that has the romance bits in it.

If you’re in the mood to read a psychological suspense light novel that also has romance in between, then The Diary of Modern Cinderella is perhaps what you’re looking for.

Interested in giving the light novel a try? You can take a look at the book on my Payhip store. Use the coupon code SEKINAMAYUBLOG to get 25% off on your purchase:

The Diary of Modern Cinderella on Payhip