I will find you before wishing upon a comet
My thought of <your name>
Preface
It’s some days since I have seen <your name>. The first time with my friend, the second time in my home. After watching it, I’ve got some feelings to talk through, so I have written this article. But I haven’t written in a while and I’m not a student of literature and not good at writing(especially in English(ToT)). Finally, most of it is my personal opinion, so please forgive me for any mistakes, thanks www
This is my first time to translate a long article in English. There are lots of mistakes in it.
In particular, I would appreciate two people Rin and Mei. They help me to finish this article and give me some valuable advice. Thank you very much again.
This article mainly follows keywords in chronological order as much as possible, and the writing style is very casual.
Ⅰ About the Story
1. The story is about a village girl Mitsuha(宮水三葉) moving into the city.
In the beginning, it shows that Mitsuha, being a village girl, is dissatisfied with the life in a backward town, 糸守町. A combination of life-style, influence from her father, the gossip concerning the tradition of her family from her classmates……these made Mitsuha feel as if her situation was unbearable.
‘There’s nothing in this town.’(actually not exactly nothing, there’s a café www)
Due to an event with an alcohol called ‘Kuchikamisake’(口嚼酒), Mitsuha finally shouted her well-known saying, ‘Please make me a handsome boy from Tokyo in my next life!’
Then… she really became a handsome boy in Tokyo( wtf?? I wanna be one too! www)
The modern city of Tokyo shocked Mitsuha deeply. Bustling crowds, high buildings, real cafés, busy part-time job, which have never exist in town. Full schedule made her feel so excited.
Mitsuha only needed a change, to get away from stagnant town-life and enjoy a different life. People always like her, new and unknown things always have infinite appeals to people. Although the future like an endless night, youth is still unwilling to submit to mediocrity and fight for the future. The youth must be able to pursue their dreams. www
2. My sister, how much do you like your boobs ?
Transforming the body is an old theme in many movies and animals. However, there’s a distinctive and outstanding way it’s expressed in this movie. The sense of reality.
A common question is that if you are boy and wake up to find that you became a girl, what’s the first thing you would wanna do? Taki(瀧) asks us what he’d do…… caress the boobs www. Sure, it’s very real, a normal high school boy’s choice.(I think I would be like him www) To focus on a better detail could make a story more realistic. For example, Mitsuha often falls down from her bed after exchanging body because she always sleep on the floor.
How about the life of a girl living a boy’s life, and a boy living a girl’s life? To get such a different life makes it so much easier to break out the of limits of one’s reality, and that person will be more successful. A girl’s perspective( 女子力,feminine) will make a boy more tender, and a boy’s perspective(男子力, masculine)will make a girl more brave.
Whenever you don’t know how to change yourself, if you can learn to change your way of thinking to a different or contrary point from before, this will be able to give you some unforeseen achievements.
3. Love from words
Generally, love starts when people meet face to face and usually get along very well with each other. But the love between Mitsuha and Taki isn’t like that.
There is a person who you have never met but knows your life and chats with you using only words everyday. Finally, somehow both of you fall in love with each other. Do you think it’s an unbelievable but romantic story?
Mitsuha and Taki are familiar with each other and care about each other. Although they have never lived together, love will come in time by the magic of words.
Traditional love is based on language, but the love of <your name> is built on words. Communication by words is different from language. When you use words, you don’t care about the other’s expression. Thus, words could be more directly and purely to express your feelings instead of language.
Sometimes, people fell in love with each other unknowingly.
4. Traditional culture and philosophy of Japan
There are some traditional culture and philosophies of Japan shown in <your name>.
‘Kuchikamisake’(口嚼酒): There is a special way to make it . www Nowadays, maybe some people couldn’t accept such a thing, but there is no doubt that it’s a real tradition we should respect.
‘Braided Cords’(組紐): A cord that connects through time and represents the flow of time itself. The cords converge and take shape. They twist, tangle. Sometimes they even unravel, break, then connect again. Musubi-knotting(結) is time, which connects Mitsuha with Taki, meeting casually, separating abruptly. People are also like that, meeting and separating again. But no matter how we separated, that cord is still keeping us together and eventually we meet again. It represents love between lovers, friends, family……the most important relationships (絆)
5. Persistence when Alone
How to find a girl when you don’t know her name and address? Taki did it with his unwavering persistence alone. Taki only remembers little message about糸守町but he look up lots of information. With more hard practise day by day, finally he draws the beautiful view of 糸守町.
Alone one, with a bag and no destination, Taki went to find it……by coincidence he succeeded but the town had been destroyed. However, Taki didn’t lose his heart and tried his best to find out anything about the town.
In the end, Taki saves the town. It seems that he didn’t quite know the direction in this trip but he was still keeping doing. How valuable his persistence is!
Nothing in the world is difficult for one who sets his mind to it. Rome was not built in a day. If someone want to do something, they shouldn’t always think about how difficult it is. Success relies on perseverance and then the future can be created by yourself.
6. Dusk
In my view, the best scene in <your name> is when Mitsuha and Taki meet during dusk.
In dusk, breaking all time constraints, both of them have met again.
Three years ago, you went to find me but I didn’t know you then
Three years later, I go to find you but you are not here
Destiny make a joke; we have been separated so many times. But the relationship(絆) between us, which connects our hearts, has been never cut. One day, we will through the destiny and see each other with love tear.
Just a bit more, let us hug each other
Just a bit more, omg I haven’t written my name www
7. Your name
I’ve been looking for something that I have forgotten, but I know it’s very important to me.
Time has passed, the village girl become a ordinary worker, the boy has failed interviews several times.
The world is so big that we are irrelevant, and we don’t know each other.(It’s a feeling of helplessness with reality from < Byousoku 5 Centimeter(秒速5センチメートル)>
Time is so long that we just need find and to meet at the right time again.(It’s another compromise to reality from < The Garden of Words(言の葉の庭)>
I don’t care about anything else. I want to meet you now, turning on the ladder.(It’s facing to reality from <your name(君の名は。)>
Wherever you are, whenever you are, no matter how many light years I need to cross, I will find you before wishing upon a comet
‘Hey, haven’t we met before?’
‘I thought so too!’
‘Your name is …….’
Ⅱ About Painting
The painting from Makoto Shinkai(新海誠) is always kept in high-quality. Each frame in <your name> could be a screenshot for desktop wallpaper. The most happy thing is that the character designs are more beautiful than before. www
1. 糸守町: There’s no doubt that糸守町shows beautiful Japanese rural scenery perfectly by Shinkai(新海誠). To link mountains and rivers, shrines(じんじゃ) and festival(祭), the glorious scene of craters for thousands of years…….
2. Clouds and comets: The painting of a comet across the night sky interweaving with clouds is soooo beautiful! It’s breathtakingly beautiful!
Ⅲ Music
From RADWIMPS, these 4 songs (梦灯笼、なんでもないや、前前前世、スパークル) I’ve listened to on repeat countless times. And BGM in <your name> is also mellifluous. The music connects with the story faultlessly. So whenever I listen to the music, I could imagine the painting from <your name>.www
BTW, Taki’s cv Ryunosuke Kamiki(神木隆之介) works very hard. When Mitsuha occupies Taki’s body, Kamiki speaks in a girl’s tone and dialect, which is so cute(萌)！！⁄(⁄ ⁄•⁄ω⁄•⁄ ⁄)⁄
Ⅳ Summary
To summarise, <your name> is a very good in story, painting and music. I enjoyed it so much and feel so happy with both visual and aural effects as an audience member.
It is also showing progress for Shinkai(新海誠); from < Byousoku 5 Centimeter> to < The Garden of Words> to <your name>, from feeling helplessness to compromise to facing things down. People are always moving forward.
In the end, thank you to everyone for taking the time to read my pathetic article. If it can make you smile, it’s my honor.
(please don’t criticize me too much www)
