Makoto Shinkai’s animated masterpiece, Your Name (Kimi No Na Wa), stole our hearts at the end of the film when its lead characters, Taki and Mitsuha, finally find their way back to each other after five years of longing.
But what if they actually didn’t meet in the end?
Someone posted a theory on the Facebook group “Subtle Asian Traits” in which he suggested that the ending of Your Name conflicts with the ending of Shinkai’s recent feature film Weathering With You which exists in the same timeline.
In Weathering With You, Hodaka saves Hina from being the “weather maiden” whose sacrifice was necessary for the persistent rains over Tokyo to stop. As a result, the rains never cease and, when Hodaka and Hina meet again in 2021, the entire city is underwater.
This makes it impossible for Taki and Mitsuha to meet at the staircase where they did because, according to the manga, it was set to happen in the year 2022. If the couple existed in the same timeline as Hodaka and Hina, how could they have had their chance encounter in the train and then find each other in complete sunlight? It wouldn’t have made sense.
Another person, however, debunked this theory by showing a side-by-side comparison of Mitsuha’s brief appearance in Weathering With You and the scene in which she met Taki in Your Name. He noted that Mitsuha was wearing the same outfit in the scene when Hodaka went to the department store to purchase a ring the same day Hina was going to clear the sky for Hodaka’s boss’s daughter.
Still, that would mean that the timeframe of Your Name is incorrect.
What do you think about these theories? Do you agree with it or do you have your own thoughts about it? Tell us in the comments!
(ALSO READ: ‘Weathering with You’ is first anime submitted for Oscars in over 20 years)
Do you have a story for the WhenInManila.com Team? Email us at story.wheninmanila@gmail.com or send us a direct message at WhenInManila.com Facebook Page. Interact with the team and join the WhenInManila.com Community at WIM Squad!
