"Watching a romance film alone on New Year's Day — this is the true romance of being single."
"I've booked tickets for three movies today, going for a triple feature."
"You've got stamina. I'd be totally wiped after just one movie."
"Well, besides that old bastard Jing Yu's film, there are actually quite a few others that look decent!"
"Like that movie called 'Glacier' — I thought the concept sounded pretty interesting."
In the line for 'Your Name', the audience murmured amongst themselves. Most of them were fans of Jing Yu, gathered together for some discussion.
Coming to the theater early in the morning to catch the first show — now that's real dedication. Though all they did was complain about Jing Yu, the way they dressed was anything but casual.
With the recent popularity of 'Evangelion' battle suits, many came decked out in cosplay from Jing Yu's past works. The line for 'Your Name' became the most flamboyant crowd in the entire cinema.
Chen Yushan followed the line into the theater. The darkness inside gave her a sense of security — but still...
So many people!
She couldn't help but be amazed. For most movies, a half-full theater was already pretty good. But now? At 10 AM in the Modo City, or rather the entire Great Zhou, 'Your Name's earliest screening already had over a 70% attendance rate. That said, everything about Jing Yu's star power.
Most of his fans were in good spirits, mentally prepared to be emotionally wrecked today.
Soon, the film began.
The low murmurs in the theater died out completely.
The movie opened with a visually stunning scene — a meteor with a graceful arc breaking through the clouds, trailing fire behind it.
It could be said that a good chunk of the movie's VFX budget went into that meteor. No wonder the audience collectively felt a sense of awe.
So beautiful.
"Sometimes when I wake up, I don't know why I'm crying. It just happens."
"I know I had a dream... but I can't remember it."
"It's just…"
"It's just that something feels like it's disappeared."
The opening narration and visuals gave Chen Yushan a strong sense of déjà vu.
Ah yes, this...
This was that old bastard Jing Yu's favorite type of scene — youthful and full of emotion.
Yu Youqing as Mitsuha Miyamizu, and Jing Yu himself as Taki Tachibana — they fit the screen with zero dissonance.
Despite playing high school students again after all this time, the audience didn't find it strange at all. In their eyes, Jing Yu and Yu Youqing were just those characters. Even though Jing Yu claimed he was already thirty and felt it a bit inappropriate to play high schoolers, the truth was — if anyone else took those roles, the fans wouldn't accept it. His works had proven it. His fans expected him to star in his own films. It had become a habit.
'Your Name's premise was novel, though not unique.
The soul-swap setup at the beginning? You could easily find over a hundred films with that premise in Jing Yu's past life.
So why did 'Your Name' become such a sensation in his previous life?
The original animation's stunning visuals helped, and so did the music. But it was mostly due to Makoto Shinkai's intensely personal storytelling style — subtle, emotionally rich. His weakness had always been large-scale storytelling, and 'Your Name' was the first time he overcame that, combining his strength in emotional detail with a more cohesive plot.
That's why the film managed to gross over 30 billion yen in its past life, on the small island of Japan with just 100 million people. That's over 2 billion yuan!
For comparison, even with a population of 1.3 billion, the highest-grossing film in his past life, China, only made over 5 billion yuan. And ticket prices in Japan weren't even that high — about 70 yuan on average — so the insane revenue came from the sheer number of viewers.
For the audience sitting in this Great Zhou theater, the opening minutes of 'Your Name' had already drawn them in.
A girl from a rural town — Mitsuha Miyamizu. Daughter of the town mayor. Best friend: the son of the town's power company chairman. She herself? The heir to a local shrine. These details were laid out early on.
Thankfully, Jing Yu had long ago embraced the concept of Blue Star in multiple works, introducing the Japanese setting as a consistent background — and his fans had accepted it. Otherwise, concepts like shrines and kuchikamizake would've been much harder to localize.
As for the male lead, Taki Tachibana — your standard city-dwelling salaryman's kid. Nothing too fancy.
But still — these two people, with completely different lives —
They suddenly start switching bodies?
This kind of plot had been done to death in Jing Yu's past life. But in Great Zhou, it was still relatively fresh. Not unseen, but rare — and past local attempts at the genre had mostly fallen flat.
So the audience, fully braced for another emotional gut punch from Jing Yu, quickly found themselves... laughing.
Jing Yu as Taki hamming it up like a stereotypical feminine boy, and Yu Youqing, normally so elegant on screen, now rough and carefree, playing a girl possessed by a male soul — starting her day by enthusiastically examining her own chest in the mirror...
People's perceptions really are shaped by appearances.
If a greasy-looking actor had done what Jing Yu did in the role, it would've been disgusting. But because it was Jing Yu — even imagining his soul inside Yu Youqing — it just came off as charming and funny.
Taki, usually cool and masculine, suddenly acted all timid and gentle, drawing the attention of his senpai.
Meanwhile, Mitsuha, once soft-spoken, now stomped around like a schoolyard queen — thanks to Taki's soul.
The stark character reversal was one thing. But more than that, it was the image reversal for Jing Yu and Yu Youqing themselves that had fans in stitches.
"Hahahahaha!!"
The whole theater erupted with laughter, and Chen Yushan laughed freely along with them.
"I thought this was gonna be a tearjerker — turns out it's a comedy!"
"Didn't know that old bastard had such a talent for comedy!"
"Unbelievable! My opinion of him has changed."
"I came here ready to cry — is he trying to kill me with laughter instead?!"
"This feels totally different from his past works. I mean, this Taki… sorry, I just can't connect him to 'Rurouni Kenshin'!"
"Right?! Who would've thought Gilgamesh would be playing a total softie in 'Your Name'?"
"Even though it's technically Mitsuha's soul in his body doing those things, still... Jing Yu's acting is way too convincing!"
The chatter picked up again, but the plot wasn't waiting.
The first half of 'Your Name' mostly followed the two leads swapping bodies at random intervals. And thanks to that, both their lives started improving.
Taki's awkwardness drew his senpai's attention, while Mitsuha's social life blossomed under Taki's influence.
Naturally, their feelings for each other started to grow through these exchanges.
Up to this point, it was a solid, well-executed romantic story. Not mind-blowing — especially compared to 'Voices of a Distant Star' or the first 20 minutes of '5 Centimeters per Second' — but competent.
Then came the shift.
Ancient shrines, strange rituals, cryptic murals in mountain caves...
Mitsuha's grandmother and sister entered the picture. The plot began to deepen.
Especially when Taki, in Mitsuha's body, carried her grandmother to the place called Yomi to offer kuchikamizake — everything was visually stunning. The style evoked the dreamlike imagery of Shinkai's earlier works.
And of course, fans of Jing Yu noticed his familiar obsession with time.
At this point, Chen Yushan realized: this film was going to lean into the same themes as 'The Girl Who Leapt Through Time', 'My Tomorrow, Your Yesterday', and 'Steins;Gate'.
"The old bastard really loves this genre," Chen Yushan murmured to herself.
She liked time-travel romance stories too — they always carried a certain inexplicable sense of melancholy beauty.
"Mitsuha... You're dreaming right now, aren't you?"
That one line from the grandmother snapped Taki out of his trance.
And the next day?
Mitsuha had arranged for Taki to go on a date with his crush and left detailed notes for him.
But during the date, he was distracted — unable to focus at all.
Why?
Because his feelings for Mitsuha had taken over.
The film began to twist expectations.
Mitsuha, regretful, cut her hair after returning home.
But here's the kicker — her timeline was three years behind Taki's. When she traveled to see him before the date, she found him still in middle school — and he had no idea who she was.
Heartbroken, she returned home. But this twist wasn't revealed yet — it was saved for later, hidden behind clever editing.
So when Taki messed up the date and never saw the meteor she said would appear that night, viewers were left confused.
Mitsuha did see it. The screen cut.
Same sky. One saw it. One didn't.
What was happening?
Then came the real blow.
From that day on, they never swapped bodies again.
This was the most confusing part of the story. The time shifts, the non-linear editing — it made it feel like things were happening in parallel, but they weren't.
And the one major logic hole?
If their timelines were really three years apart, how could they exchange phones, write notes, and never notice the date difference?
I mean, everyone checks the time on their phone multiple times a day. A one-time oversight? Maybe. But dozens of times over weeks?
So Jing Yu added a plot device — after body-swapping, the characters would experience memory fog, especially around time. Like dreaming — you know you dreamed, but not when.
That way, the plot hole didn't feel as glaring.
Eventually, Taki, desperate to find Mitsuha again, followed his memories back to her hometown.
Only to find...
A crater.
The entire town was wiped out by a meteor three years ago.
And Mitsuha? Dead.
The look on his face? Matched only by the shock on every viewer's face.
Wait, what?!
Did I miss something?!
How did the female lead just die?!
Chen Yushan's stomach dropped.
You've started again, haven't you, old bastard?
If it's not heartbreaking, if no one dies — Jing Yu just doesn't know how to tell a story.