Speaking of votes so much is happening around the world these days with the U.S. under a major political situation. One of those things evident is the apparent rift between the FBI and the CIA, and beyond that there is so much more. Heavy stuff going around, but at least, we always have the lighter stuff. With Studio Ghibli's uncertain future, the first implication is that it might take a while before we have another animation gem from Japan on the same level as one of Ghibli's best films. That film, however, has arrived sooner than I thought, and we now say hi to Makoto Shinkai. With his latest film, "Your Name", he doesn't have to be the next Miyazaki -- see for yourself and you will probably know what I mean. More appropriately, he can be the next Miyazaki in terms of box office business because this film is currently overtaking certain top earners from Studio Ghibli in Japan, with "Spirited Away" as the remaining challenge. Placing Shinkai's latest outing alongside with "Zootopia", "Kubo and the Two Strings" and other solid outings such as "Moana" and "Finding Dory", makes the current U.S. film year as the most competitive in the animation category so far.
"Your Name" is certainly a fantasy film, and playing by the "rules" of the story, I think it succeeded in many ways (although I didn't like the ending that much). It can be unpleasantly confusing though especially if you don't like to appreciate its supernatural background. The same thing applies to "Spirited Away" because it is also such a strange film with all those cultural and supernatural stuff going on. When it comes to the awards season, I think this is poised to have the same plight as that of "The Tale of Princess Kaguya", another topnotch Ghibli outing, since "Zootopia" and "Kubo and the Two Strings" are more popular and technically advanced films; but I hope that this year turns out to be different. If not, at least it seems that the animation category is aptly shaking things up given that a lot of people are bored these days especially when it comes to their established government.
