君の名は

I want to start off by saying i’ve never actually watched your name before, and reading the novel was my first time interacting with it, and then i watched the movie afterwards.

i liked how the novel showed the inner thoughts of taki and mitsuha compared to how the movie shows that visually. theres a specific scene where in the novel it’s done from taki’s pov, yet in the movie you see the other peoples pov of taki’s action.

it was relatively okay to read, it was moderate at first, got hard in the middle and became moderate at the end again. the hardest bits were the complicated astronomical vocab, but the parts that are heavy on them are not long and there are only a few astronomical words you have to memorize that are used throughout the middle to end of the book. and like some other reviews mention, mitsuha uses a dialect and it confused me at first but as long as you can recognise it, you’re able to pick it up pretty fast.

overall i recommend it as a second or third novel, maybe not a first one but you could definitely try!

Better than the movie

Absolutely loved the story and the writing style, so many beautiful descriptions and symbolisms about love, longing and loneliness that moved me despite the difficulties i faced reading this as a lvl N3. Would definitely reread in the future when i improve my reading skill.

Great Step Up

The story is fine, if a bit childish at times, it is still an entertaining read and definitely something to read again on a slow afternoon.

For language learners, it is not a good firstnovel as it contains a lot of dialect specifically from Mitsuha's perspective but occasionally Taki's dialogue is decidedly non-standard. The writing style is artistic and you don't get a full understanding of some of the scenes until the last chapter. However, there is clear repetition throughout of key moments and introspection, which is great the purpose of learning. Some pages, specifically the ones about the comet are a difficult read but there aren't many.

I recommend this to people who have at least two or three easier novels already read and are looking for a step up in difficulty.

Great story but a bit of a curveball for beginners

The vocab ratio is really good in this manga. There isn't a TON of things you'll pick up, so this means your reading speed will pick up a lot after the first volume.

The curveball is that since part of the story is in another region, grammar will slightly differ, and dictionaries won't always be able to translate it. Make sure to get some context on "kansai dialect" to be able to pick it up.

Pros

• The version with furigana is good for learning a lot words, even though some of them are written in kana most of the time
• For someone who hasn't watched the movie, the plot twists were well-timed
• Overall an interesting read
• Metaphorical, but not to too flowery language

Cons

• For someone who watched the movie, probably not worth reading
• Some sequences are a little too long and the book feels heavily padded by monologues and inner thoughts
• The ending was quite weak. With all the build-up I was expecting a much stronger finale.

A classic

The anime can be considered a classic and so is the book. It does not tell anything that isn‘t covered by the movie. However, it is excellent for learning as you learn a lot of slang and when you know the Anime it is pretty easy to follow along. The first half of the book felt a bit lengthy, but after that, it got way better and I finished it fast. For learning, the slang is hard at first and I was also a bit confused about the Kanji for the names but after the first few chapters, it‘s managable.

I feel like I just read a really long and detailed spoiler for what’s probably a good movie, and I wish I’d just watched the movie instead in the first place.

My opinion is similar to cat’s. Since I haven’t seen the movie I didn’t come in with any attachment to the characters or story. The book never really pulled me in. It did get more interesting in the middle, but I still felt like I wanted to be reading something else.

It’s obvious that this is a story originally conceived as a movie. I’ve seen 天気の子 so I know Shinkai is excellent as a filmmaker, and I’m sure that the movie 君の名は is beautiful. (probably) But something about the book always felt flat to me, most likely because it doesn’t have the lush animation and soundtrack it was imagined for. I don’t think I will read another novelization.

I have not seen the movie and had not read any plot summary of this before reading. I picked it up because I was curious about its popularity.

Dialect was a bit hard to follow at times. Had a lot of trouble getting into the story and kept dropping it for other books. It overall felt really juvenile at the start. I'd say I was about 50% done when it actually become interesting to me...and I still kept choosing it last compared to my other reading options. Just not my style I guess.

Pretty good spread of vocabulary, but a lot of it is repeated over and over which should make for easier reading.

I'll start by saying that if you haven't seen the movie, the best thing to do would be to read this book and then reward yourself by watching it. The story is engaging and emotionally powerful, but the book doesn't add very much to what the movie already gives you. If you read 君の名は you'll gain some insight into characters' thoughts and motivations, and you'll have an easier time understanding certain plot points. However, the outstanding music and scenery in the movie make it a more powerful medium for telling this particular story. We read the book in a Wanikani book club, and I got the sense that those who had not seen the movie got a lot more out of it.

From a language-learning perspective, of the four (non-manga) books I've read so far, this is the most difficult. New vocabulary is regularly introduced all the way through to the end. Dialect and "teenager speak" make some of the dialogue very difficult to follow. The style often changes drastically between dreamlike, literary, and straightforward expositional.

The bottom is, if you're unfamiliar with 君の名は, this is a must-read. If you've seen the movie countless times like I have, then don't expect to gain a lot by picking this book up.