How Your Name. Became Japan’s Most लोकप्रिय Film of 2016 

Video Games to Anime Series: What Worked in 2016

Your Name. Became Japan’s Most Popular Film of 2016

Filed to: 2016 in Review, Shin Godzilla, Your Name.

was released, nobody could have predicted the impact it would have in Japan. Even now, with so many product tie-ins, theatrical run extensions, spinoff merchandise, and regional collaborations, no one can really say where it will end.

With the news that has it broken 20.5 billion yen (approx. USD $170 million) domestically, and an additional 4.77 billion (approx. USD $40 million) in China during the first three days of its release, it has become the second-highest grossing domestic movie in history in Japan as well as the twentieth-highest grossing movie worldwide this year.

In the months since its release, the passionate following that the film has garnered has only grown stronger. It is now a worldwide phenomenon, and many have attempted to investigate the catalyst(s) contributing to such an outcome. Prominent among them was Japanese public broadcaster NHK.

Last month, an episode of the long-running current affairs program

on NHK tried to answer the question of what was behind the unparalleled success of

in the all-time domestic movie rankings and was holding the no. 3 spot.

In the show, analysts of big data point to one particular spark that lit the flame of interest almost two weeks before release. According to their research, the prominence of videos relating to the film on social media were a main cause. Amateur covers of Radwimps song 

), the theme song to the movie, helped the film to gain traction in the public mind. Thus, the release of the song right before the film’s release added to the word-of-mouth as fans made and shared their own song covers, serving as part of the film’s promotional campaign.

So, is the key to the film’s initial popularity simply because of the heavy rotation and re-appropriation of the theme song? Perhaps so. The Radwimps score is in many ways the backbone of the film aurally, complimenting the the brilliantly-crafted work of animation.

The NHK show also alludes to a similar phenomenon seen in another recent mega-hit, Disney’s

In it, too, the key to the seemingly-unstoppable spread in popularity was sparked by its hit song,

, in both its original English and re-recorded Japanese language versions.

Makoto Shinkai, the film’s writer and director, goes further and admits in a recent interview that he borrowed some plotting hints from Disney’s

–the pacing of the story and where to place the gags, in particular.

 TV show that the target of the movie is supposed to be young people in their teens and twenties. And for the first week or so after release, that aim held true. What happened afterwards, he still struggles to explain, however. Half of the viewership became people in their 30s and older. The program asserts through its own interviews with viewers that the film made a connection with old memories–e.g., a lost love or a close friend during younger days. The word-of-mouth is what drives these viewers to the theater, but the very real, emotional quotient is what brings them back and compels them to tell their friends and family, multiplying the effect.

In many ways, this year was the year when Japanese home-grown cinema was placed back on the map. 

are both movies which are typically Japanese but in their own respective ways. Both are about the Japanese psyche in the face of something enormous that upsets everyday life. While

was a rather impersonal, almost documentary-like probe into the political, practical, and bureaucratic challenges that Japan (and its institutions) faces in the future at the macro level,

is about the personal connections and relationships at a micro level which, when expanded, make up a harmonious, working society. Both deal with the aspect of Japanese identity by showing how it works within the social framework. You can even explore the juxtaposition of the relationship between Japan and United States as seen in

with that of the Tokyo metropolis and the rural region of Hida-Takayama in

was much praised until it was shattered by a whole order of magnitude when

Both are movies with uplifting messages for the future, but the more personal, romantic, relatable one clearly is the winner with the public. That is not to say that these two are in competition, however: This is really the year of Toho studios, since they distributed both of the biggest hits of the year in

may prove to be a milestone because it may have allowed the more conservative mainstream audiences to fully appreciate the possibilities of an animated movie and shifted the medium way beyond its subculture boundaries. Hopefully this is the start of a full-fledged trend.

shows zero signs of disappearing from the public scene. Quite the opposite, in fact. With the holiday season (a traditionally romantic season in Japan), 

The Ikebukuro and Nagoya Parco Café is recreating the food of

. so you can enjoy the food of the anime. And when you are done with that, you can take your date to see Tokyo’s beautiful night skyline at

in Roppongi, while the magic of projection-mapping plays out your favorite scenes from the movie on the glass of the observatory.

, which is an illumination event in the Tokyo Otemachi/Marunouchi/Yurakucho area (in fact, one of many such events in that particular area) that makes use of an augmented reality app to see messages from Mitsuha and Taki as they appeared in the film.

In the non-romantic department, the realistic background art has graced some special editions of electronic travel pass TOICA card, giving it a very trendy design, perfect to brighten your daily commute. A high school art teacher was recently an internet sensation when he responded to a student’s request to do a chalkboard drawing from

, and he came up with a masterful work of art worthy of display as a mural.

Rounding off the year, it is reported that the Radwimps will perform at the prestigious NHK

song festival to a special edit of the movie footage put together by Makoto Shinkai. When you are done watching that, immediately after, both

, the two hottest movies of the year, will be screened in super-high-quality sound LIVEZOUND format for a one-week period in Cinecitta in Kawasaki (Club Citta is originally a live house for bands, so they are experts when it comes to sound).

fever knows no bounds, a full IMAX release is scheduled to begin its run in January, meaning that it will still be proving its longevity into 2017.

This movie is a classic “date movie.” It is guaranteed to have couples renewed in affection, and it reminds people not in relationships how sweet the meaning of love can be. Everyone wants to see something like that.

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