This delightful Japanese animation follows two strangely interlinked lives; Mitsuha, a high school girl living in a rural area of Japan, and Taki, a similarly aged boy in Tokyo. They have never met but they somehow start switching places in their dreams. At first each thinks they are having strange but very realistic dreams but the following day as the 'dream' fades they are surprised when friends and family tell them that they had been behaving oddly the day before; not recognising anybody and not knowing where they are meant to be
then each finds a note from the other. They continue to swap days until suddenly it stops
Taki can't recall many details but he has a memory of the place Mitsuha lived and is drawn to find her. Armed with a sketch of the location he finds the village and learns a shocking truth
it had been destroyed in a natural disaster three years previously and Mitsuha was amongst the five hundred people who died! He is determined to find a way to swap places again so he can save her.
Anybody who has seen previous films from director Makoto Shinkai will immediately recognise the beautiful style of the artwork, with incredibly detailed backgrounds. Of course a good film must do more than 'look good' and this succeeds there too; the first half is a fun introduction to the characters and their situation. This is done with plenty of humour; the fact that they find themselves in bodies of the opposite gender is quickly handled in an amusing but not a crude manner. There are lots of delightful details such as while swapped they talk in different dialects and Taki talks like a girl of course this is better appreciated if you speak Japanese but is explained so non-Japanese speakers (like me) can realise that it is happening. The events that take place half way through the film come as quite a surprise and suddenly change to tone of the film. As Taki tries to find a way to save Mitsuha and her village it is far from obvious that he will be successful. Overall I'd certainly recommend this to older fans of good animation; the content isn't really unsuitably for younger viewers but it would probably be a bit confusing.
These comments are based on watching the film in Japanese with English subtitles; an English dub is also available on the DVD I bought.
Anybody who has seen previous films from director Makoto Shinkai will immediately recognise the beautiful style of the artwork, with incredibly detailed backgrounds. Of course a good film must do more than 'look good' and this succeeds there too; the first half is a fun introduction to the characters and their situation. This is done with plenty of humour; the fact that they find themselves in bodies of the opposite gender is quickly handled in an amusing but not a crude manner. There are lots of delightful details such as while swapped they talk in different dialects and Taki talks like a girl of course this is better appreciated if you speak Japanese but is explained so non-Japanese speakers (like me) can realise that it is happening. The events that take place half way through the film come as quite a surprise and suddenly change to tone of the film. As Taki tries to find a way to save Mitsuha and her village it is far from obvious that he will be successful. Overall I'd certainly recommend this to older fans of good animation; the content isn't really unsuitably for younger viewers but it would probably be a bit confusing.
These comments are based on watching the film in Japanese with English subtitles; an English dub is also available on the DVD I bought.