Reviews

小説君の名は。 by Makoto Shinkai, 新海誠

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dempire's review against another edition

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5.0

4.5*

musanima's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

4.75

The movie is a masterpiece, and the book is as well. I watched the movie first and bought the book afterward because I loved it so much but never got to read it. Now, a few years later, I finally read it, and it's amazing. All the beautiful pictures and scenes it brought back from my memory.
If you loved the movie, it's definitely worth reading the book as well as it narrates the whole story from the first-person perspective and you relieve the whole story as Mitsuba and Taki.
If you haven't watched the movie yet, I personally think you should watch it first as the book might be somewhat confusing with the fast and frequent perspective changes. Either way, go and enjoy Makoto Shinkai's masterpiece, whichever way you prefer ✨️

im_a_seal's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional inspiring mysterious reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

Good book but an even better movie. It’s pretty confusing to read because the book doesn’t tell you when the POVs’ are getting switched. People who didn’t watch the movie prior would have a harder time understanding the book in my opinion.

gettinglostinabook's review against another edition

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fast-paced

5.0

I LOVE THIS SO MUCH. Okay, time rewatch the movie for the nth time!! 🥹💖

mainereading's review against another edition

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5.0

I watched the animated movie before I read the light novel, but in all honesty it doesn't matter which one you pick up first. I loved this story, and thought it was so beautiful, and the artwork in the movie was breathtaking! I liked that it worked with the concept of the red thread of fate, and I really loved the characters.

gladiolus17's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

I read this in Japanese, so my opinion only is relevant to the source text, not the translation. However, I really wonder how this was rendered, because for better or worse, the Japanese book was exactly like the movie. It was split in two perspectives only with the distinction of personal pronoun to tell between Mitsuha and Taki. How did they do it in English when the perspective shifted between sentences or paragraphs between them? Hmm.

I have mixed feelings about this. I saw the movie three times and cried every time. But reading this was a chore in the beginning. Okay, I get it, I’m in a teenage boy’s head. But seeing his hormone-raging in a movie gives more distance than reading it! I also have gotten older and maybe have less patience for YA novels.

This book also has a mild case of menwritingwomen. In Mitsuha’s perspective she goes on a whole tangent describing Okudera’s boobs and hips!!! Mitsuha! C’mon, man.

But as I went on, I found myself getting into the groove of this and enjoying myself.

mehvo's review against another edition

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emotional

5.0

rebeccazh's review against another edition

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3.0

I try to read at least one Japanese novel in Japanese a year and I forgot that I hadn't read one until last week (lol) so the past two weeks were a mad rush for me to at least finish 2023's novel. I've finished it with one day to spare.

This novelization is interesting. I enjoyed the movie, especially the parts about the plot twist (time travel). So cool! This book filled in stuff the movie didn't. There's a bit more about the two lead's inner narration, and it is a lot more romance-focused than I expected. The second half read like a shounen romance tbh. There are more descriptions of the time when Mitsuha and Taki meet to cross the 3 year time gap, their daily lives, etc. It was interesting.

Language-wise, this book is understandable with N2 proficiency with massive amounts of help from the dictionary. I did skim / skip some pages and scenes. Their daily life narration was kinda boring ngl. The prose is very much a 'tell not show' kind of writing but it was good for my intermediate Japanese proficiency because I could understand it.

Overall, a good book for language learners imo.