"Kimi no Na wa" Should Have Ended Like "Lovely Runner"

Episode 16 of "Lovely Runner"

This was my review of "Lovely Runner," which I had recently finished watching. And as I have said in that post, I thought I was going to dislike "Lovely Runner" because of its time travel element. But I didn't, and as a matter of fact, I was quite satisfied with the way it ended. I would like to just say that had "Kimi no Na wa" ended in a similar fashion as "Lovely Runner," I think I would have liked that film more.

"Kimi no Na wa" (transl. "Your Name.") was amazing, plain and simple. It was stunningly crafted in terms of its technical aspects such as the music and art. The only thing that made me dislike it was its plot. I found the plot a bit confusing and convoluted. Perhaps, that was the intention of the film from the beginning, and I respect the decision to let it end that way, but that doesn't mean I like it.

What director and writer Makoto Shinkai wanted to show with "Kimi no Na wa" was the fact that love can transcend time, and that was expertly depicted through the revelation later on that the main characters and romantic duo, Taki and Mitsuha, lived in different timelines. Yet, despite their differences, they found a way to each other's hearts.

The only painful part of their love story was that, every time they returned to their own timelines, they would forget about the other person. I think that may be the only realistic part of the story, considering how they are from different periods, though not completely distant from each other, but they experience their time jumps like one would experience déja vu. Still, throughout the film, you are taken into a journey with both of them, and you end up cheering for them, that in the end they would get together.

However, despite all of its development and momentum, the film took a very tragic bittersweet ending with Mitsuha surviving the meteor blast but not being able to remember any of the moments she had shared with Taki in their overlapping timelines. That to me ruined the whole story.

Taki and Mitsuha from "Your Name."

I wish they would have had something similar to what happened in "Lovely Runner." Sol retained her memories and later on, Sunjae would regain his. But in "Your Name.," neither of them ever regained their memories. They only retained this feeling of familiarity or nostalgia when they met each other at the end of the movie. And although that encounter was meant to be the spark that would probably ignite or rekindle their romance, we are never shown that. We are left to imagine it on our own. But, as a viewer, I don't want to simply imagine it. I would have wanted to see it happen.

And that's my lone gripe with "Kimi no Na wa." It would have been masterpiece had it only ended differently. I mean, I can say the same thing for "Your Lie in April." Of course, I respect the decisions that the writers and directors made for their respective stories, but again, we have already come so far with our suspension of disbelief. Why not go all the way and make it a happy ending? Anyway, I guess that is where realism takes over and crushes all of the audience's hopes and dreams.

Obviously, making it a tragic ending does have the effect of the story being imprinted eternally in viewers' minds, but still, the only reason why we still remember it is because it was such a painful and tragic end, and we all wish that it had ended differently. It is so bittersweet and frustrating, but alas, it is what it is. We can't really pressure the creators into doing what we want. That is how they wanted their stories to end, and we should simply accept it. Anyway, thank you for reading my rant about "Kimi no Na wa." I will no longer write anything more about it.