It takes only two words to sum up why 2016 was always going to be a hard act to follow: ¡°Your Name.¡±
To call Makoto Shinkai¡¯s body-switching romance a hit is a little like calling Tokyo Skytree ¡°pretty tall.¡± The film made up nearly half the domestic anime box office and, worldwide, became the highest-grossing anime film of all time (Hayao Miyazaki¡¯s ¡°Spirited Away¡± still claims that honor on the Japan charts). Its success did not go unnoticed in Hollywood, where J.J. Abrams¡¯ Bad Robot snapped up the remake rights this September.
The year 2017 did not feature any ¡°Your Name.¡°-size theatrical hits ¡ª though not for lack of imitating. Engaging in that sincerest form of flattery, films such as ¡°Napping Princess¡± and ¡°Fireworks, Should We See It from the Side or the Bottom?¡± featured ¡°Your Name.¡°-esque rural settings, teen romances and fantasy/sci-fi twists, and while they were modest successes they didn¡¯t quite click like Shinkai¡¯s smash did.
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