Review: #767
Title: your name. Another Side: Earthbound
Series: your name. - companion book
Author: Arata Kanoh
Read Before: no
Comments: Earthbound contains four short stories based on the film Your Name, these stories fleshes out the characters and the background of Mitsuha a lot more. The first is “Thoughts on Brassieres”, which chronicles the events of when Taki inhabited Mitsuha’s body. The film mainly focused on Misuha’s time in Taki’s body and we only got snippets of the other side, however, here, they are greatly expanded upon. Just like the novelisation of the film, Earthbound benefits heavily from being able to display the character’s thoughts. The events slot neatly to the brief scenes from the film and it really nails home the difficulties Taki had trying to adjust to Mitsuha’s life. The second is “Scrap and Build”, which follows Tesshi. We glimpse into his feelings of how he is trapped in Itomori by responsibility, and how much he wants to break away from it. Again, it integrates the short scenes from the film into the narrative which allows it to work extremely well in putting things into perspective. The third story is “Earthbound” in which is takes Yotsuha’s view, Mitsuha’s little sister. Once again in first person, we see how Yotsuha’s mind works, and how weird she finds when she stumbles into her sister acting oddly from time to time. It’s quite funny but also because she is at an elementary age, it’s somewhat cringeworthy as well. It takes a turn to the more supernatural side towards the end as the Miyamizu shrine bloodline shines through. Once again, it fleshes out some of the background such as how Taki accustoms to Mitsuha’s body, to the little things like their different cooking styles. The final short story is “What You Joined Together” and it takes the perspective of Mitsuha’s father, the major of Itomori, Toshiki. It tells the backstory of how he and Mitsuha’s mother met, how they fell in love and what happened once they were married. It starts off with some heavily Japanese-focused concepts which can be confusing at first. It’s quite a melancholy story since you know it is not going to have a happy ending. Despite that, it is one of bittersweet since the circumstances were sad and you finally understand why Toshiki rejects the shrine’s traditions the way that he does. The sad love story is strong enough to carry on longer since you’ll feel that it would be wonderful if they could flesh it out even more. It manages to convey a strong sense of deep pure love and neatly wraps it back to the ending of the film. Overall, Another Side: Earthbound is a fantastic companion piece to the film as it greatly expands the backstories of the side characters. You feel that a lot of thought has gone into it and it doesn’t feel superficial at all. It successfully greatly expanded the scope to beyond the film, leading you to appreciate the deep and rich world it had created. The only thing that feels missing is a foreword and afterword.
Rating: 7.5/10
