The Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts and Sciences took to social media on Wednesday to celebrate the ninth anniversary of the theatrical release of the popular anime film Your Name., created by Makoto Shinkai.
The Academy shared a video clip featuring snippets from the film, including the comet Tiamat — the central catalyst that acts as a thread connecting the past and present in the narrative.
“The beauty of YOUR NAME. On this day nine years ago, Makoto Shinkai’s YOUR NAME. (2016) was released in US theaters. The film features the voices of Ryûnosuke Kamiki, Mone Kamishiraishi, Ryo Narita, Aoi Yûki, Nobunaga Shimazaki and Kaito Ishikawa,” reads the caption by The Academy on Instagram.
Your Name. centres around Taki, a Tokyo boy, and Mitsuha, a rural girl, who mysteriously swap bodies intermittently. They develop a connection by leaving notes, only to discover they are separated by three years and a tragic comet disaster, prompting Taki to save her.
Your Name. is the first instalment of the Shinkai’s disaster trilogy. It was followed by Weathering with You (2019) and Suzume (2022), which explored themes inspired by the natural disasters in Japan.
The film stars Ryunosuke Kamiki and Mone Kamishiraishi as the voice artists of Taki and Mitsuha, respectively, with animation direction by Masashi Ando and character design by Masayoshi Tanaka.
The film broke box office records in Japan and globally, earning over USD 400 million worldwide.