Shinkai's gem at par with Studio Ghibli's best

Rating: 9/10 (10 December 2016)

Given that Studio Ghibli is in hiatus in creating its own production (it has collaborated in the film "The Red Turtle" this year 2016), I thought that it will take time before we see another animation gem from Japan. Well, it's refreshing to find out that we soon have another animation on a level at least at par with one of Studio Ghibli's best outings.
It didn't really get my attention at first since it seems that it's like your typical teen movie about young love or another so-so film with outrageous story-line -- taking note of the body swap plot. The first part is apparently absurd because what just happened is that they have swapped bodies, which might be just another layer of a character's dream or might be the actual thing that is happening in the story. That "absurdity" made me curious; and given the edgy editing, interesting characters, and funny dialogue, I was immediately hooked until I get even more intrigued because it seems predictable but at the same time it seems exactly the opposite. Well, I'm happy to tell everyone that it did impress logically and creatively speaking. The welcomed confusion from the beginning was totally paid off by a transcendental revelation, making the whole experience -- with the sky, the comet, the thread of time, the music, the tragedy -- like a dream in itself. After that high point, I didn't really bother how it is going to end because I found myself cheering already on how did things unfold with substantial originality.
Although I find the ending conventional and a bit melodramatic for me, and also the first half quite uneven in style, I think I have found another animation gem just like the first time I discovered Studio Ghibli's gems in the past. This film reminds me of Studio Ghibli's "Whisper of the Heart" combined with the creativity of "Inception", and the sophisticated plot of "Interstellar". We might not see another full-length feature from Hayao Miyazaki anymore, but cheer up because we might see another one from Makoto Shinkai. Hopefully he will rise in the same heights as Miyazaki, and he doesn't have to be the next Miyazaki, really, because "Your Name", as Shinkai's breakthrough at new heights, is something different and compelling in a different way.