Your Name is one of the highest-grossing anime movies ever and for a good reason. The bitter-sweet love story combined with the unique plot makes it a truly amazing experience. Not to forget the beautiful animations by CoMix Waves. It is easily one of the finest anime films and the best work of Makoto Shinkai yet.
So here we are with my 2nd “Top 5 Anime like x” list. We have Your Name today so I am guessing someone who liked Your Name would be into romance anime of course, that is not all though. This once the list is in random order though because it is really tough to find something close to Your Name. Well then, let us get started.
I Wanna Eat Your Pancreas
In old days, it was a common practice to eat organs of the dead to cure diseases. The movie’s title is a reference to these practices. It is the story of a girl who is suffering from a pancreatic disease. One day a guy finds her diary and discovers that she will die soon. The girl decides to spend the last days of her life with the guy.
I Wanna Eat Your Pancreas is a bitter-sweet love story like Your Name. The ending will probably leave you crying but the movie is definitely worth it. The movie is simple and extremely easy to understand. There’s no complex plot or psychological stuff but, this simplicity is what makes the movie great. People often underestimate what simplicity can do.
Violet Evergarden
Violet Evergarden is set in a world like early 20th century Europe. The war just ended and Violet lost both her arms in war. She starts writing letters for people, putting their feelings into words in hopes of one day understanding the meaning of “love”. You see the major she worked under, told her that he loved her in his dying breath. As someone who grew up on the battlefield and was treated as nothing more than a weapon her entire life, “love” was a foreign concept to Violet.
This is again a very bitter-sweet anime focused more on the bitter part. It is just 12 episodes and a movie but the magic this anime creates is just amazing. And Kyoto Animation, god they worked hard on these animations. Go check Violet Evergarden now. Violet’s character development is just beautiful.
AnoHana
One of the anime that actually made me cry. AnoHana is again on the bitter side of the bitter-sweet scale. It is not much of a love story but it is again a really beautiful anime. it is about a group of friends trying to get over the death of their friend. The girl who dies held all of them together as after her death, the group drifted apart.
It is amazing how in just 12 episodes AnoHana shows the pain of growing up and how we desperately try to cope up with the death of our loved ones. There is not a lot of complexity in the plot but the characters are really relatable. AnoHana is perhaps the only anime that can make you cry over the “death” of an already dead person.
The Garden of Words
One of the lesser-known works of Makoto Shinkai, Garden of Words is still a really beautiful movie. It is half as long as Your Name and none of the complex plot. It is just about 2 people meeting each other coincidently and slowly growing close to each other. This is a a proper love story with a really sweet ending.
This movie shows how creative Makoto Shinkai can really be. Without any complex plot or setting, he managed to create 2 very good characters that you can relate to. Again, it is the simplicity of the plot and other things that make this movie great. Simplicity is really underrated.
The Shape of Voice
Of course, this is here. People often compare The Shape of Voice with Your Name. Some like one over the other then there are people like me who love both. The Shape of Voice has a fairly simple story when combined with Your Name but do let that fool you since The Shape of Voice has one of the best character developments I have ever seen. The social problems the main character faces and how he slowly overcomes them is a joy to watch.
It is again a beautiful bitter-sweet love story. The ending may make you cry from the feels but, the ending will make you really happy as well. It is a little longer than Your Name but believe it’s easily one of the best anime movies of all time even if it doesn’t have a box office collection even close to Your Name.
Well, those were my picks for the top 5 anime like Your Name. For maintaining similarity, I tried to watch as many movies as I could on the list. Technical it is an all movie list as Violet Evergarden anime has a sequel movie and AnoHana has anime has movie retellings as well. As always, stay tuned for more content and check out our awesome art section. So, with that being said, I will take my leave here. See ya!!
