Let’s be real for a second: Your Name wasn’t only a great movie, it was a cinema in its purest form. It really hit differently. Whether you were a die-hard anime fan or someone who normally rolls their eyes at anything animated, Your Name somehow stole your heart. It was beautiful, emotional, and universal.

You didn’t need to know what a ‘shonen’ or ‘isekai’ is. You didn’t need to get into all the anime lingo. You just felt it. And here’s the thing: Your Name wasn’t really ‘anime’ in the traditional sense. I mean, it looked like anime. It was anime, sure. But it was something else too, at the same time. Something a whole lot bigger.

Taki and Mitsuha from Your Name. | Credit: CoMix Wave Films

And people have been wondering ever since: why hasn’t Makoto Shinkai attempted something like that again?...