Your Name

          Your name or 'Kimi No Na Wa' is an iconic anime movie. Not only is it the world's highest grossing anime film with box office earnings just under 358 million dollars (hot damn!), but also has won more awards than I can list here. Why is it so good you ask? Well for starters it's because the creator of Your Name, Makoto Shinkai, is an artistic and creative genius. The visuals and animation style are in a league of their own. In fact every image is so vibrant that you'll be watching with a guaranteed glimmer in your eyes and you might even shed a tear just because of its beauty. Strange thing is, if you ask me to categorize this movie in just one genre, I simply can't. Your Name has everything in it, it's the very definition of a multi-layered plot. But more than that, this one movie encapsulates everything good about anime as a medium, not because of what qualities it has, but because of how it makes you feel.

I don't want to give away much here, but I'll describe he basics of its story. We follow the lives of Taki and Mitsuha who are starkly different people. Mitsuha lives in a rural town and wants nothing but to get out of there and live a fast paced city life. Inversely, Taki lives in Tokyo and is a student struggling to find a corporate job while working part time as a waiter. They one day realize that they're connected somehow and switch bodies from time to time, just for a short period. The story continues to explore the reason for this phenomenon and how the two begin to understand each other, without really meeting. Now I know you'll think this is a sappy and overdone body switching plot, but trust me this doesn't even scratch the surface, there's so much more to it that I can't talk about without spoilers. I'll say it again, the story is genius and unexpected, just go watch it (all hail Makoto-san). Now the cherry on the top here is an absolutely amazing soundtrack done by a band called The Radwimps. They even redid all their songs in English to go with the English dub of the movie which is just some sheer dedication. I genuinely listen to at least one long from this soundtrack everyday. 

I have no criticism for Your Name. I think it has everything a great anime needs and anyone who finds faults here is just reaching for something that isn't there. I actually think I just wrote this post as an excuse to re watch the movie despite having seen it eleven times before. Just go watch it, bring your non anime watching friends along and you might convert them too (I've used Your name to convert many a person into anime lovers).
        My personal ratings are:

Story: 5/5
Character Development: 5/5
Dialogue: 4/5
Music: 5/5 

Overall Recommendation: One Casual Introduction 

You can rent or buy your name on Amazon or Google Playstore for under five dollars. If you need to stream it illegally then at least try and buy its DVD in the future when you have the money.