Yearning for someone... Searching for someone you have never met... Just a name written on your hand... This is a film about two teenagers body swapping. Taki who can't stop touching Mitsuha's breasts to the disgust of her little sister, Yotsuha, and Mitsuha who has to deal with Taki's crush on Ms Okudera who he works with. They learn about each other from the inside and then return to their own bodies leaving each other messages on their mobile phones so that they know what is going on.
Mitsuha lives in Itomori, a small country town beside an enormous crater. Her family take care of the local shrine where Mitsuha is one of the shrine maidens. In her town there is a tradition of weaving that goes back centuries. It teaches that through weaving, threads are bound together in profound ways that resonate throughout life. Her grandmother explains that:
"Musubi is the old way of calling the local God. This world has profound meaning. Tying thread is Musubi. Connecting people is musubi. The flow of time is Musubi. These are all the God's power. So the braided cords that we make are the God's art and represent the flow of time itself. They converge and take shape. They twist, tangle, sometimes unravel, break, then connect again. Musubi - knotting. That is time."
And so the narrative thread running though the film links the two teenagers in ways which transcend them across time and across their different experiences as boys and girls and geographical locations, one living in the city and the country.
The crater is a reminder of a time in the past when a meteor struck the region. Since that time Mitsuha's family has been blessed with strange powers. In her case she can swap bodies with Taki. When a second meteor hits the town, Mitsuha and her friends and most of the townspeople are killed. Taki decides to go and find out what happened. He draws pictures of the town and the mountains to identify the regions. Together with his friends, Tsukasa and Miki, he searches for the town until they visit a small restaurant where the chef recognises the town from the drawing. He drives Taki to Itomori where Taki sees at first hand the devastation.
Taki visits the ancient shrine hidden beneath a huge rock in the middle of the crater and drinks the kuchikamizake that Mitsuha made with her own mouth. Taki loses consciousness and wakes up in Mitsuha's body. Together with her friends, Teshi and Sayaka, he goes back in time and tries to save the town before the meteor hits. Despite Mitsuha's father, the local mayor, who refuses to listen to their warnings, they commandeer the local high school radio station and declare an emergency. They direct the local townspeople who are attending the local matsuri to evacuate to the high school. Mitsuha's father tracks down the illegal broadcast and reassures the people that everything is okay. When the meteor hits, Mitsuha and her friends don't appear to have survived but there are far less casualties?
Later, when he returns to Tokyo, Taki sees a mysterious girl with a ribbon in her hair. After he and Mitsuha see each other from passing carriages in separate Tokyo trains they search the streets near the station until they meet on a staircase. Despite their yearning for each other they are unsure and greet each other with uncertainty. Cue for music and the titles...
Mitsuha lives in Itomori, a small country town beside an enormous crater. Her family take care of the local shrine where Mitsuha is one of the shrine maidens. In her town there is a tradition of weaving that goes back centuries. It teaches that through weaving, threads are bound together in profound ways that resonate throughout life. Her grandmother explains that:
"Musubi is the old way of calling the local God. This world has profound meaning. Tying thread is Musubi. Connecting people is musubi. The flow of time is Musubi. These are all the God's power. So the braided cords that we make are the God's art and represent the flow of time itself. They converge and take shape. They twist, tangle, sometimes unravel, break, then connect again. Musubi - knotting. That is time."
And so the narrative thread running though the film links the two teenagers in ways which transcend them across time and across their different experiences as boys and girls and geographical locations, one living in the city and the country.
The crater is a reminder of a time in the past when a meteor struck the region. Since that time Mitsuha's family has been blessed with strange powers. In her case she can swap bodies with Taki. When a second meteor hits the town, Mitsuha and her friends and most of the townspeople are killed. Taki decides to go and find out what happened. He draws pictures of the town and the mountains to identify the regions. Together with his friends, Tsukasa and Miki, he searches for the town until they visit a small restaurant where the chef recognises the town from the drawing. He drives Taki to Itomori where Taki sees at first hand the devastation.
Taki visits the ancient shrine hidden beneath a huge rock in the middle of the crater and drinks the kuchikamizake that Mitsuha made with her own mouth. Taki loses consciousness and wakes up in Mitsuha's body. Together with her friends, Teshi and Sayaka, he goes back in time and tries to save the town before the meteor hits. Despite Mitsuha's father, the local mayor, who refuses to listen to their warnings, they commandeer the local high school radio station and declare an emergency. They direct the local townspeople who are attending the local matsuri to evacuate to the high school. Mitsuha's father tracks down the illegal broadcast and reassures the people that everything is okay. When the meteor hits, Mitsuha and her friends don't appear to have survived but there are far less casualties?
Later, when he returns to Tokyo, Taki sees a mysterious girl with a ribbon in her hair. After he and Mitsuha see each other from passing carriages in separate Tokyo trains they search the streets near the station until they meet on a staircase. Despite their yearning for each other they are unsure and greet each other with uncertainty. Cue for music and the titles...
