Kimi no Na Wa is pretty bad and Plastic Memories is a better love story

Plastic Memories is the best show I watched in 2016. Yes it came out in 2015, and I am always late to the party, but I don't care. But it was also a year of many great animes like the second season of Arslan Senki, Mob Psycho 100, Boku no Hero Academia; and I got to catch up with some 2015 shows like One Punch Man and Ore Monogatari! too.

For anyone who has watched PlaMemo, I believe they will agree that plot is not the show's strongest point. As someone who has repeatedly emphasised the importance of narrative over a show's plot, and expressed disdain over over-reliance on plot twist to keep a show or movie engaging, it does not really concern me. The plot twist at the end of episode 2 won't come as a shocker as long as you paid attention in the first episode, and the ending to the series was nothing unpredictable either. The brilliance of PlaMemo therefore lies in how the story was being delivered through dialogue, presented through imagery, and layered with symbolism. PlaMemo may be my favourite love story of all time, beating the 4-way love square in Rave Master that I absolutely have to talk about one day, the adorable Gorilla and Princess pairing of Takeo and Rinko in Ore Monogatari!, and even Li-en and Wonrei from Gashbell - all tales that will probably make me cry again when I revisit the material.

What makes PlaMemo stand out is its strong adherence to its theme - the idea of memories - in its writing, dialogue writing, use of symbolism and imagery that never comes across as too direct or forceful. It is a show about people with horrible, horrible pasts trying to live as normal, happy individuals while bearing the curse of their memories. It is a show that questions where memories go when one dies, whether one can distance oneself from pain if they do not try to remember anything, and whether we can actually be able to not create any memories, and thus not feel any emotions for the world and the people around us if we try our hardest. It is hard to explain things without spoiling the presentation of the narrative, which I think everyone should have a privilege of experiencing first hand, especially in the last few episodes where we see main characters Isla and Tsukasa finally getting together and making the most out of Isla final days (I have no qualms about spoiling the plot, it is so generic you will see it coming from the first episode). To love at all is to be vulnerable, says C.S. Lewis, and PlaMemo reminds us to remember anything is to bear a curse. A curse of longing for people who have passed on, a curse of having to live in a future that desires the past where things were better; a memento is a curse, a promise is a curse, and an anniversary is also a curse. I will never forget Plastic Memories, and that is perhaps also a curse.

And this was when I went to watch last years highly acclaimed, perhaps most hyped movie of the holiday season, the No Man's Sky of movies, Kimi no Na Wa, aka Your Name. The movie looks great and sounds great, but everything else was a total mess. It relied on shock factor to keep the show engaging beyond the first hour - the first act was great with lots of very organic and believable character interaction going on and really helped build the main characters relationship as friends under strange circumstances. But that was where the show went downhill. As much as I don't care for the plot and thus not as concerned as some about why certain systems in the movie were unexplained, but the inclusion of so many unrelated elements into a single 2 hour feature film, from body swapping, time travelling, premonition, the spirit world to iPhone diary malfunction, it does add to the mess and the more you think about it, the less sense it makes. It requires severe suspension of disbelief and shutting down of the brain to appreciate, and generally speaking I think no observant audience likes it when they spot an obvious plot convenience that exists for plot advancement sake; and in Kimi no No Wa's case it is as clear as the symbolism with the strings is. And I think all of this compounded together resulted in the eventual failure of Kimi no Na Wa as a love story - it tried include every weird shit that exists and stuff it into the film. The film had strings to symbolise people's fate being tied together. The event was the result of a meteor landing, which feels like it was selected as an adversary because it was absolutely stunning when animated - while an earthquake or a volcanic eruption would have served the same purpose. The meeting on top of the mountain during twilight was supposed to be emotional until I realised I wasn't cheering for them as a couple - they suddenly started swapping bodies one days, they suddenly lost contact with each other, and they suddenly forgot each other's name - there wasn't nearly enough time and material to build up those two as a couple. People don't fall in love with one another just because they miss each other, and if the film is trying to suggest the only relationship that can develop between a boy and a girl is love, that will be very silly and unrealistic. I just saw them as good friends and nothing more. Perhaps the film would have benefited from going with a simpler plot. Mitsuha's disappearance from Taki's life and the film at the beginning of the second arc was great, until you realise it the rest of the film offers no satisfying explanation for why things happened. Loneliness becomes boredom upon the big plot twist which is honestly, as generic as one can imagine, and so much poorly written than other stories with similar structures because of its reliance on the explanation that 'things happen because its anime magic.'

And the name, the title of this film, what in the world does it have to do with the film at all except serve as a nice sounding title and used as a cheeseball ending scene dialogue (I have no qualms spoiling anything about a bad film). In short, what does the idea of 'name' have to do with 'Your Name'? Frankly speaking a title that related to strings, bonds, spiritual connection would have served better and parts that tried to force feed the audience about the importance of 'name' could have been rewritten for the film to have a stronger central theme. The scene where Taki writes 'I like You' in Mitsuha's palm instead of his name was really touching but it has nothing to do with the film in its entirety at all. And its not like their names hold any symbolism either. Ironically, a film all about fates being intertwined and tied together is all over the place, is missing many important links and fails to tie up loose ends. I started this review with the title saying 'Kimi no Na Wa is pretty average', and eventually changed 'average' to 'bad' because I felt it suited the content better - and this is what Kimi no Na Wa should have done with its title too. My guess would be it was concepted to feature that scene on the mountain where they meet, and the ending scene (which was dragged out for another 3-5 minutes for no good reason) where they ask for each other's name first, and everything else was shoved in to make the film lead to that scene. It is ok to want to make a film with cool shots, touching scenes and an impactful ending - but without a strongly knit together plot (which can be generic and not so reliant on hard twists like this film) and a consistent theme to drive the narrative, it just feels like the director didn't put much thought about those other scenes and other parts of the plot that did not involve the theme of 'name'. Just like how the film fails to establish why Taki and Mitsuha love each other in the first place and make the audience cheer for them as a couple, and the only reason why we assume they will be together is because they are the main characters, it also fails to build up to the twilight and ending scenes for them to have any impact or feel rewarding to watch. The film's aesthetics are mindblowing, the art direction is phenomenal and the animation is top-notch, but like a catchy title that also doubles as a powerful punchline, the surface beauty contrasted with the lack of any substance within the film itself makes it look even worst. Lastly, I am anticipating criticism of my comparison of full-blown anime series with a film, but I will argue that the longer an anime runs, there are more risks of losing sight of its core theme - it is easier for a 2 hours long feature film to be consistent than a 5 hours, 13 episodes anime and yet every one of the animes I've mentioned at the start manages to keep to the point better than Kimi no Na Wa.

Plastic Memories' core question was 'What are memories', and explores the meaning to be human together with that central theme. Ore Monogatari! went with the simpler question of 'What is love?' and challenges the perception that people should be paired based on their looks and not by how well they work as a couple. One Punch Man and Mob Psycho 100, questions the idea of 'What does it mean to be strong?', with overwhelmingly powerful main characters trying to fit themselves in their respective worlds littered with people who think they know the answer. But their perceptions are challenged once they face the respective main characters. Arslan Senki asks, 'What's in a King', which not only threads the main story together from the perspectives of 3 'kings' of the same kingdom, but also seeps into side stories such as the Shindra arc in season 1 cour 2. Hopefully, we will get an even better answer once season 3 is out. And in Boku no Hero Academia we search for 'What does it mean to be a hero?', a question that is constantly being asked and answered through the actions of every character we meet, and because of their individual experiences in this world everyone has a different answer from the next person. It doesn't make these stories flat and one-note, instead it keeps seemingly unrelated stories tied to a single theme, to explore the complexity of these questions. Questions that may look short and simple, but can be answered in so many ways one starts to question whether there can ever be one good, definite answer to any of these questions. Kimi no Na Wa just makes you ask, 'What the hell is going on here?', and that only works when you are a gag anime that uses that surprise factor as part of its comedy - like Osomatsu-san, which has probably the best pilot episode of all animes with its on point gags, comedic shots and moments, and parodies. In fact at this point, I think Kimi no Na Wa is literally the pilot episode of Osomatsu-san but not funny, it feels like a parody of other equally convoluted plots and messily themed shows, but takes itself way too seriously.

Once again, like everything I shit on, I don't care if you like it. This review is less about why I think Kimi no Na Wa doesn't work, but more about why I think you should be checking out the other shows I have listed. If you like it, good for you - I also want to like it but I really can't do it.

[Afterthoughts: I've been meaning to start a series where I regularly shit on things that people really love but I can't seem to like, and will be tentatively titling it 'Making Enemies on the Internet'. List will include Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood, Berserk (even the manga), HunterXHunter (Manga); and for video games I people seem to hate my Valiant Hearts review a lot so that should count, and Dishonored review should be coming up soon (only using the American spelling because that's how the developers spell it).]

Ori and the Blind Forest – My Ex-Girlfriend the Video Game

Ori and the Blind Forest is not fun. It is filled with imaginative and excellent puzzles and level design, but looking back all I can remember is frustration and anger. But despite me never wanting to return to that world ever again, there remains a longing of that journey, and a lingering desire to just launch the game to listen to that calming and wonderful title theme. 

The game’s visual cues (or lack thereof) are probably my biggest problem with it. The backgrounds have backgrounds and despite loving the depth in the background environment, it is undeniably overly cluttered at times especially when you are trying to identify how to solve a puzzle and which rocks are safe to jump on, during a long and difficult timed platforming sequence.  Granted, failure does not set you backwards too much, and from each failure you learn how to navigate that puzzle better. But the knowledge one obtains from one puzzle does not seem to carry on to other puzzles, as new elements are being tossed at you when you enter a new area, and the Bash-and-Fly system seem to be the only one that is useful to master since it appears in almost all the future puzzles. Two of the puzzle solving skills, Light Burst and Charge Flame are neither useful in combat, nor are they ever used other than one off obstacles that require no skill or technique to pull off. The game also contains mechanics like allowing one to Bash a Light Burst to propel one upwards, but by the time I had any use for that I already have the Charge Jump, which made that technique obsolete. The game forces you to learn way too many things, that you must keep at the back of your head in case a random puzzle that requires that solve pops up. And it punishes you with backtracking and confusion when you forget. Sometimes searching for a guide on the Internet helps, sometimes it doesn’t as you spend hours running around the huge map to try and figure out what to do next.

Traversing the map would have been more enjoyable if Ori controlled better. The first problem is the dash button. You use WASD to move, and Ctrl to dash and air dash. The human hand is not designed to WASD+Ctrl. This would have been better with key rebinding, or if I could afford a controller, but with a mouse and keyboard it just feels awful. The Charge Jump, the final ability Ori obtains, has a mode that allows Ori to charge off walls. It requires the holding down of the Shift key, pressing a directional key, then pressing space – I feel that this could have been simplified because having a three button move (Or more specifically it is A, Space, Hold Shift, Hold D, Space) during a speedy platforming sequence is really not a good idea. Ori sometimes stops himself during a stomp attack for no reason, and doing a wall jump without first getting the ability to cling onto wall is a pain in the ass because the game requires an insane amount of precision to get certain portions right. And this is where the poor visual cues come back to haunt you; landing at a bad spot because you are in a rush, and you cannot see what is coming at you, kills you instantly because the game loves death traps.

It is just like when we were still together. It was not a game that I could play for hours because she pissed me off so frequently, that I would just shut it down for a while to clear my head and deal with the problems later. And every time I return to that title screen, with that song playing at the background, it just makes me want to forgive her again. Never mind the invisible death traps, never mind long platforming stages that only gave you one try or risk restarting a three minutes sequence – I’ll do better this time. You will not change, you are programmed this way, and therefore I am always the one that needs to improve and adapt to become the person you need me to be. I will do so to ensure that I can be here till your game ends. Perhaps I am curious of the ending. Or perhaps, I just loved you more than you loved me.

And you can’t be so harsh when I fail all the time. Some sections are long and gruesome without chance for breaks, and some problems exist because she wants to make my life even more miserable. There are times that I genuinely want to stop playing the game, but every time I see the title screen my heart softens and I return grudgingly to continue the journey. Sometimes I hope that she treated me better, but then again, maybe I’ll not have moved on so easily from her if that was the case. The ending was cliché, but beautiful in its own way. I’d probably forget this game a few years later, simply because our brains are tuned to cover up bad memories as we age. I’ve had enough of trying to make things work, and I think I’d want a dumb fun game like Doom for the time being. In fact, I’m going back to play Doom again.