A beautiful film with a band blasting their music into your ears.

Rating: 8/10 (4 September 2019)

Probably due to how lame and unentertaining these types of movies are, I tend to avoid movies that involve body swaps like a plague. What Shinkai Makoto did here with the story really was impressive as he added a bit of a twist to it and making a very cohesive and entertaining story. Makoto has a very unique style from the other current Japanese animators by providing films that are absolutely beautiful to look at, such as the landscapes and sceneries. He mixed these beautiful scenes with a surprisingly interesting story by having two interesting characters and for us to see them experience what is going on as they constantly swap bodies back and forth. I liked how the movie doesn't focus on certain tropes and used the comedic moments effectively. You understand who they are and end up liking both of them by the end of the film. Also, the twist that I've mentioned earlier is surprising and introduces a stake for these characters to overcome. This is where the emotional part hits extremely well as you end up cheering for them and you hope that everything will work out with them in the end.
The voice acting was surprisingly good, especially as the actors who voiced the main roles are not professionally trained voice actors. Both Kamiki Ryunosuka and Kamishiraishi Mone gave so much personality to their characters and were able to act emotional and funny when it was needed.
Not everything I have to say is positive as there were a few things that did have me not enjoy as much as other people have. First off, as much as I liked the characters, after a certain point, the movie takes a comedic route by going into a montage and the film skips over a few consequences or ends subplots that were introduced at the beginning of the film so quickly to the point where it felt like it wasn't necessary. I wanted to see more of a conclusion, instead of a quick scene to show to know that some problems are resolved and will never come back.
One of the major complaints is that parts of the film felt like I am sitting at a park, enjoying the scenery with someone dear to me, when suddenly, a band pops out of the bushes and starts singing their songs a couple of centimeters away from me. The band, Radwimps, did a great job and made a good soundtrack. However, just like in a lot of Japanese films and dramas, they tend to go very melodramatic and they add the music at the right time to sell their soundtrack, along with forcing people to feel a certain emotion. I instantly got annoyed when they started the movie with an anime style opening and would blast up their music so high that I couldn't focus or hear what the characters were saying. This would happen constantly throughout the film to the point that it got distracting and I wanted to plug my ears until the song had finished.
Despite what I said, I'm pretty sure there are people out there that don't mind those kind of things and they would enjoy the movie more. I personally don't like and still enjoyed it overall. I'm glad this movie was a big hit as we will be able to see more top quality animation from Makoto.