WIL: Orange

**why I love**

Orange is a 12 episode contemporary sci-fi/drama series. On her first day of sophomore year, the protagonist Naho receives a letter from her future self. This letter contains information on how to stop a tragedy concerning the new transfer student, Kakeru. With the help of the letters, Naho tries her best with the information she is given to help save her new friend.

Anything below is going to contain potential spoilers, but also, cw: suicide/death. This series and my post discuss suicide in great length, which may be upsetting to some.

WYSW: Your Name

*why you should watch*

Now, I know Your Name got a ton of hype when it came out (and imo it deserved every minute of that hype) but there is definitely still a chance that some anime lovers out there have not seen it. I am here to make the case that you MUST.

So I just rewatched Your Name for the third time the other night, and cried just like I did the first time I saw it (and the second time...). Your Name, or Kimi No Na Wa, was released in 2016 and took the anime world by storm. It was so popular that it even took the non-anime world by storm; I was surprised at how many non-weebs I heard talking about this film. Which is great!

This movie is a wild ride from start to finish with plenty of twists, and in an effort to be as non-spoilery as possible I will not be talking much about the plot. There is one thing that is revealed pretty much immediately though that I think is alright to mention:

The two protagonists, Mitsuha (a girl from the countryside) and Taki (a boy from Tokyo) find themselves switching bodies at random, activated by when they sleep.

This is a Makoto Shinkai movie, and if you’ve been following this blog at all you’ll know that I am the biggest nut for Shinkai; the artistry in his films is unmatched. But I believe this movie had such a strong reception because the story was just as fantastic as the visuals.

In an age where (American) media appears to be extremely repetitive and reusing the same stories over and over again for profit, watching such an original, surprising plot is a breath of fresh air.

(Of course, no story is truly original, and every story takes influences from ones that came before it. However, there is a clear difference between a movie like Your Name and like, the fifth iteration of a live action Disney movie or something.)

Before this gets too long, I also want to mention that the characters are absolutely fantastic. Both protagonists are really fleshed out and likable, and both of them in their respective communities have the best friends EVER. I always lose it at how loyal and loving these character’s friends are.

Anyway, in this house we stan Makoto Shinkai. Watch Your Name!!!

-threecheersforinking