Makoto Shinkai's Your Name (君の名は, Kimi no Na wa, 2016) was, at its release, the highest-grossing anime film in history and the highest-grossing non-Studio-Ghibli anime ever. The film's commercial success — particularly in China, where it became the highest-grossing Japanese film ever released — established a new commercial scale for feature anime outside Ghibli's catalogue.
Production
Your Name was produced at CoMix Wave Films, Shinkai's small Tokyo studio. The film's production length was approximately two years, with Shinkai writing the screenplay, drawing the storyboards, and supervising the background painting that has been his stylistic signature since his early career. Music was composed and performed by the band RADWIMPS, a departure from anime convention but already a Shinkai signature from his earlier works.
Box office
Your Name released in Japan in August 2016 and earned approximately ¥25 billion at the Japanese box office. Its release in China in December 2016 grossed approximately CNY 575 million, making it the highest-grossing Japanese film ever in China. International box office across Korea, Thailand, Taiwan, France, and the United States added several hundred million dollars more.
Critical reception
Critical reception was broadly positive though more mixed than the commercial reception. Shinkai's earlier melancholic short features (5 Centimeters per Second, 2007) had earned him a small art-house following internationally; Your Name's genre-conventional climax was received by some longtime Shinkai readers as a commercial concession, while bringing in a much larger general audience. The film's success substantially altered the trajectory of Shinkai's subsequent career: Weathering with You (2019) and Suzume (2022) were produced on the basis of Your Name's commercial demonstration.