In ACG works, the crossing system always has an irresistible charm for the audience.
Because of the interlacing of time and space, these works can often use a staggered and orderly narrative rhythm to break the audience's inertial thinking and induce them to interpret the plot from more angles. At the same time, the scientific or mysterious nature of these works can also broaden the audience's knowledge.
However, in order to tell a cross-over drama well, in addition to the creator's strong ability to control the script and characters, it is also necessary to have a deep understanding of the concept of time paradox, otherwise the logical incompatibility will become a hard wound of the cross-through work, and there is no story to speak of.
It is precisely with such a creative difficulty that in the entire history of ACG development, the cross-section works occupy only a small part, and what can be called excellent is even more rare.
On November 25, some Japanese netizens voted for the best crossover animation in recent years, among which popular animations such as "When the Cicadas Cry", "The Gate of the Stone of Destiny", "Magical Girl Circle" and other popular animations were on the list, and the one, two or three most concerned were "re: Life in Another World from Scratch", "Your Name", and "The Girl Who Traveled Through Time and Space".
For veteran enthusiasts, they have more or less heard and even personally felt the charm of these cross-sectional works, but for some audiences who are not deeply involved in the ACG field, they may only know a little about the work of "Your Name".
Admittedly, "Your Name", released in 2016, is a phenomenon, and at a time when ACG was still a niche hobby, this cross-genre work successfully broke the circle.
In Japan, it became a symbol of the popularity of animation, and at one point it became a Japanese animation under Spirited Away with a box office of 25 billion yen;
In China, it became the first Japanese manga work for many young people to see in theaters, and set off a wave of domestic theaters to introduce Japanese animation films, and it is still the highest-grossing work of Japanese animation in China.
But such a phenomenon-level work, but lost to "re:0", does it mean that "Your Name" is no longer the top of the cross-genre animation?
The answer is no!
"re:0" as a light animation, already has a stable basic audience, and "Your Name" as an animated film, its story has long been completed, there is no independent work to supplement its follow-up, in the further accumulation of popularity is naturally at a disadvantage.
Therefore, we may wish to limit the time period to the present of 2016, when "Your Name" was released, and among the animated films released during this period, there are countless cross-sectional works, but the cross-sectional works that can cause a sensation again can be said to be almost zero.
So what is the charm of "Your Name" that can make the niche hobby of animated films enter the public's vision?
Probably already a well-known thing, "Your Name" tells the story of Tachibana Taki and Miyamizu Mitsuba who will exchange bodies in their sleep, and the two people who learn of this matter have made an agreement with each other to maintain each other's lives without being exposed and protecting privacy.
At this time, the two people just have no choice but to accept the fact of exchanging bodies and maintain their lives in the form of "mutual loss", so in the early stage, the relationship between the two is at the level of "friends who have never met".
After a series of events, Taki learns that Mitsuba was killed in a natural disaster caused by a meteorite fall a few years ago, and in order to save Mitsuba and the townspeople, Taki and Mitsuba once again exchange bodies to save the crisis, and embark on a magnificent love journey across time and space.
Director Makoto Shinkai has always been known in the circle for his realistic and literary storyboarding. Whether it is the surreal pictures such as "Wings of a Long Time" and "The Sound of Stars", or the realistic scenery of "Five Centimeters per Second" and "The Garden of Leaves", it can bring visual touch to every audience.
In "Your Name", he raised this creative style to another new height, with the two characters of Taki and Mitsuba as the main perspective, and fully integrated the folk customs of rural Japan and the culture of the city into the plot and picture.
Mitsuba's family is the administrator of Miyasu Shrine, and as the eldest daughter, she weaves knots for the shrine every year and performs a double dance in a witch's costume and dressing up at the Toyoho Festival. In addition, she also chews rice grains in public to make "chewing wine" during the ceremony, and places them in the sacred body of the mountain to be worshipped.
These Folk Customs, which are full of Japanese style, are interspersed with plot and pictures, and assume the responsibility of promoting the development of the story. It's just that these processes are not completed by the people of the Miyamizu family, who occasionally exchange physical taki, and are more or less involved in the preparation of these tasks.
At this time, Taki, as the protagonist, also assumes the role of the audience's perspective, and through his lack of understanding of folklore, he leads to various settings about Miyamizu Shrine in the play.
For example, on the way to the mountains to store chewing wine, "Mitsuba (Taki)" learned from his grandmother the meaning of "birth spirit" and "knotted rope", laying the groundwork for the subsequent Taki to find a way to actively exchange bodies.
On the other hand, after becoming Taki, Mitsuba observes and experiences Tokyo's urban life from a new perspective, which not only allows her to realize her wish to "become a handsome man in Tokyo", but also shows the audience the interpersonal relationships around Taki through the interaction between "Taki (Mitsuba)" and the people around her.
Through this way of identity exchange, new perspectives are constantly changed, and while interpreting new relationships and laying new foreshadowing, it also brings more audiences to subtly receive the contrasting cultures and landscapes of Tokyo and Itoso.
In Makoto Shinkai's previous works, except for some SF works, the stage is set in a city that exists in reality. Therefore, when creating, he will perfectly restore the landscape of these cities, and make full use of the characteristics of the animation medium, artificially creating a light source to further highlight the beauty of these landscapes.
And these real and romantic landscapes, in the hearts of the audience to plant the seeds of longing, although these pictures are almost 100% restored, and even beautify the real scene, they still become the audience's "holy land tour" opportunity.
Therefore, after the release of "Your Name", whether it is through field visits to these cities to complete a real holy land tour; or imitation of Shinkai Makoto's composition, tone, to some landscapes unrelated to the work in the later period, the number of people to a false "holy place tour" has increased greatly, and this is also one of the signs of "Your Name" from niche to public.
Back to the plot, after Taki and Mitsuba exchanged bodies, learned and experienced each other's lives and interpersonal relationships, "Your Name" is still in the category of "science fiction comedy". But with the development of the plot, the truth is gradually revealed, and the entire chapter is also developing in the direction of "science fiction crossing".
In this part, Chengge also pulled the audience's emotions to the peak by detonating the concentration of the early foreshadowing and the introduction of the moving soundtrack, and all of them were in tears.
Mitsuba Taki successfully made an appointment with the senior Okuji, but missed the opportunity to meet because the two did not exchange bodies on the day of the date.
During the date, Okuji's seniors deduce Taki's true heart through Taki's various performances and reactions to "Hida (Itamori)" during the photo exhibition, and Taki learns that his feelings for Mitsuba have changed.
The next two people, both face what happened to them from their own perspectives, and the audience also sorts out the space-time lines of the two people sequentially because of these constantly changing perspectives, mistakenly thinking that Taki and Mitsuba are in the same time and space.
However, when Taki sets out to find the town where Mitsuba is located, the truth is revealed as the comet falls. It turned out that Mitsuba had been lost in the natural disaster three years ago, and the person who had been exchanging bodies with himself was actually the past Mitsuba, so it was impossible to meet each other in the staggered time and space, the yin and yang of Taki and Mitsuba.
At the moment when Taki was at a loss, "chewing wine", "producing spirits" and "knotting ropes" became his life-saving straws, the first two becoming the key to Taki's first and last active exchange of bodies, and the latter was the clue for him to sort out the timeline.
Eventually, Taki, who became Mitsuba again, persuaded his companions to start planning a rescue battle. As the time on both sides comes to the blurred boundary of "The Time of Dusk", the time and space lines intersect, and two people with an age difference can meet at the same age.
It is this kind of meeting that transcends difficulties and transcends time and space that gives love a more romantic atmosphere.
However, just when this atmosphere is at its peak, the sudden disappearance of "Dusk Time" causes the two to return to their own perspectives again, pulling the audience who are still immersed in the touching into the urgent atmosphere.
As the time for the comet to fall continues to approach, Mitsuba sees the words left by Taki in a desperate time, and "Your Name" once again slaps the word "romantic" into the audience's face. At this time, the soundtrack that does not know when to pause is played again, and the lyrics are both about Taki's heart to show love to Mitsuba and reconcile the catastrophic nature of the comet's fall.
As the comet continues to approach, スパークル (movie ver.) (Spark) sings to the climax, echoing the beautiful sky.
At this point, even a disaster in "Your Name" is beautiful and romantic.
Of course, the charm of "Your Name" does not stop there, it can be said that in the period of release in 2016, this animation was "unprecedented" and "beyond expectations" for Chengge fans.
In the final part, Makoto directly describes Taki and Mitsuba and their lives after adulthood through omitted editing techniques, to illustrate the success of the rescue operation on the side.
At this time, it is learned from the inner monologue of the two that the memory of exchanging bodies has disappeared, and the hearts of the audience are hanging again;
For those who are familiar with Makoto Shinkai, "sadomasochism" has become a mark of Makoto's works. How deeply the feelings of the early stage are portrayed, how much the parting in the later stage hurts the audience's heart, which is simply Makoto Shinkai's youth trauma literature.
For example, today, 14 years later, whenever we think back to the train at the end of "Five Centimeters per Second", our mood is always difficult to calm down.
There is also "The Sound of Stars", A sheng and Mikako, who cannot meet because they cross time and space, are also the intentions in the hearts of Makoto fans;
And the cameo in "Your Name" is also a continuation of the ending in "The Garden of Words and Leaves" in which she failed to meet Takao again.
Fortunately, in "Your Name", Makoto Shinkai does not want to, nor does he need to reproduce, the misses of Takaki and Akari, the regrets of Asaku and Mikako, and the difference between Takao and Yukino-sensei. Taki and Mitsuba, who have exchanged physical experiences, are already destined to be happy when they recognize each other.
When the two men said the line that pointed out the topic, the whole story came to an abrupt end, leaving the ending to the audience's imagination...
In fact, no, in "Weather Children", the two appeared again, and from some details of life, explained the real ending of the two.
What's your name?
Shigeru Miyamoto.
The grasp and mobilization of the timeline, the sense of distance, the atmosphere, the portrayal of the emotions of young girls, and the depiction of the scenery, objects and culture of the countryside and the city are the most fascinating places of this animated film.
It's been almost 6 years, and rather than saying that there has been no crossover animation that can beat "Your Name", no one can reproduce the shock that "Your Name" brought to the audience, the industry, and the market when it was released.
And in this regard, even Makoto Shinkai himself is difficult to do.