North American anime fans will be able to soon enjoy Funimation’s official English subbed and dubbed versions of director Makoto Shinkai’s highly acclaimed film “Your Name.” starting on April 7th. The company held a special world premiere of the dubbed film on March 23rd in Yamashiro Hollywood under the night sky.

The young Mitsuha Miyamizu has a lot of on her plate since the autumn festival will be soon and she will be performing the shrine’s rituals among her peers. Sadly she recently has been not been able to keep track of her memories and her friends tells her she acts strangely on certain days. In her notebook, she has a name of someone she doesn’t know, the name of the boy who switches lives with her. Both Mitsuha and Taki Tachibana’s lives change when they both see a historic comet blaze through the Japanese sky. Little did they know how its crossing tangled their threads of fate. The two try to get closer but it seems they can never to directly communicate outside of the notes they leave each other while in the other’s body. Destiny has something in store for them as they try to figure out their strange situation and why they cannot meet.

“Your Name.” is a unique evolution of Shinkai’s works. Fans may be able to notices parts that are reminiscent of his past films, but he somehow elevates them all to another level in this movie. The mix of the detailed animation of “The Garden of Words,” the dramatic storytelling of “5 Centimeters Per Second” and the sparkling magic from his sci-fi/fantasy works makes a potent combination. He wraps it all in a lovely package with some comedy, heart-pounding action and a balanced narration between Mitsuha and Taki, showing both sides of the coin.

At the Hollywood screening, Mitsuha’s voice actress Stephanie Sheh spoke before the movie how she and Michael Sinterniklaas worked closely together, “coaching each other” in order to capture the other’s personality when the characters swapped. She also gave recognition to the translating/dubbing team who worked hard to make sure the English version stayed true to its original essence. They definitely tackled one of the films unique challenges, the Japanese language’s gender-specific, personal first-person pronouns. It is different when a guy talks about himself to what a girl would call herself. While the character’s slip-up was a brief scene, the production team found a way to make it seem natural in English. Rock band RADWIMPS who created the music for “Your Name.” also provided an English version of their songs. The deluxe edition of the movie soundtrack has both for fans to enjoy and is available digitally in the iTunes store. Many put in work to give this translated version of Japan’s all time fourth highest-grossing film and world’s highest-grossing anime movie to give it the quality it deserves. They delivered with flying colors and fans with a bit of hesitation should have no fear watching it.

“Your Name.” will be passing through selected theaters in both America and Canada for a limited time. Visit Funimation’s site for more information on the film and where your can find both subbed and dubbed versions.