Donnie Darko w/Boatloads of Sweetness Instead of Angst

Rating: 10/10 (12 April 2017)

Oh, and gorgeously animated.
I think that's a fair way to sum up this movie. It starts out as a fantasy and, as it reveals more puzzle pieces, you realize it's more science fiction. There are tightly plotted reasons for everything that's going on, all of which are revealed in good time.
Like like all good puzzle movies, there's a thrill every time something is revealed that ties things together. It's complex enough that you want to see it again immediately, but no so complex that you have any doubt as to what basically happened.
Like Donnie Darko, while it's busy scrambling your head and keeping you guessing, it is somehow managing to be deep, both emotionally and thematically (the latter drawing on Japanese culture and religion). Unlike Donnie Darko, it's never dark and disturbing in a creepy way, although there is plenty of danger and peril. Instead, it radiates sweetness and love, without ever becoming saccharine.
Donnie Darko is one of my two or three favorite films of all time, so this is high praise. Of all the films I've seen since, nothing has come closer to matching its combination of thrilling revelations, emotional resonance, and thematic depth than Your Name.