Join us as we discuss the movie, 'Your Name', unearthing its profound themes of predestination, unity, and connection. As we delve into the captivating story of Taki and Mitsuha we'll muse about the intriguing phenomenon of their body swapping and their compelling quest to find each other,
Ever pondered about fate versus free will? The conundrum gets even more intriguing when viewed through a Christian lens. In this episode, we'll grapple with these complex concepts, drawing parallels between the unique bond of 'Your Name's' protagonists and Christian principles. We’ll offer insights on how our choices, even if known by God, embody our free will, and how trust in God can provide clarity on our destiny.
We're also going to immerse ourselves in the rich symbolism and cultural nuances that make anime films like 'Your Name' so fascinating. From the significance of the braided cord to the biblical undertones of Ecclesiastes 4:12, we explore the meaning that lies beneath the surface of this remarkable film.
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Join us as we discuss the movie, 'Your Name', unearthing its profound themes of predestination, unity, and connection. As we delve into the captivating story of Taki and Mitsuha we'll muse about the intriguing phenomenon of their body swapping and their compelling quest to find each other,
Ever pondered about fate versus free will? The conundrum gets even more intriguing when viewed through a Christian lens. In this episode, we'll grapple with these complex concepts, drawing parallels between the unique bond of 'Your Name's' protagonists and Christian principles. We’ll offer insights on how our choices, even if known by God, embody our free will, and how trust in God can provide clarity on our destiny.
We're also going to immerse ourselves in the rich symbolism and cultural nuances that make anime films like 'Your Name' so fascinating. From the significance of the braided cord to the biblical undertones of Ecclesiastes 4:12, we explore the meaning that lies beneath the surface of this remarkable film.
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Follow us:
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Welcome to the Analuia podcast, bringing you redemptive analogies each week, everything from Disney to Naruto. We're here to present the gospel in a more animated way. Get ready to raise a hallelujah. This is the last time for Analuia.
Speaker 2:And you're watching to the Analuia podcast. My name is Josh and we are thankful and very gracious that you're the loudest back into your listening ears for another week of fun discussion and of the spiritual perspective. Next Saturday, we're going to be live streaming and we're going to go for an hour. So send us your questions on threads, send us a Facebook message. You can also send us a DMS on Instagram, you know. So contact analiacom and you can also feel free to ask your questions during the live, because we'll be having a time for Q&A. We'll kind of periodically go through questions as they come up. We're really excited to talk about the movie for this episode. It was one of the first animated movies that Rebecca, you and I both saw in theaters back in 2016.
Speaker 1:Wow, really, that's when it came out. Yeah, wow, yeah, that was way in the beginning of our anime journey, way, way back, when I think that was we we had just started watching Sword Art Online, I believe. Yeah, the SAO Around that time, yeah.
Speaker 2:So, rebecca, since you are so good at synopsises, I'm going to go ahead and let you explain, tell our audience what the movie is, and then give a short description.
Speaker 1:Okay, well we are. First of all, we are going to be talking about your name, as I'm sure you saw from the title.
Speaker 2:I know my name it's Josh and you're Rebecca.
Speaker 1:That is true. So we're clear on our names, but the characters in the movie are not entirely clear. They're not entirely clear on each other's names. So the whole premise of the story is that there's this boy who lives in Tokyo and a girl who lives in the countryside in Japan, and for some strange reason they keep periodically switching bodies and switching lives, which is very confusing and hilarious and really fun to watch them go through this random switch. It's like, I think, two or three times a week or something like that, for a whole day, and at first they think that it's a dream, but it's not. It's real. So they go through this switching and then at some point they realize that there's this disaster that's going to happen in the countryside, and so the boy in the movie, he goes on this journey to save the town and save the girl that he ends up falling in love with.
Speaker 1:Ooh, I know spoilers. It's really short synopsis, but that is your name, because they keep forgetting each other. They keep forgetting. It's like I know, it's almost like a dream that ends up happening and they want to keep remembering who each other are. So what's your name?
Speaker 2:That is the question throughout the entire movie, and they go through great lengths, you know, riding on their hands and sending like text messages.
Speaker 1:you know do's and don'ts, while you know you're basically switched with me and a lot of them keeping daily diaries so that they know what's happened during the day. Yes, it takes a while for them to figure that out, but eventually they do.
Speaker 2:Yeah, a lot of the comedy and soothes from this. One thing I want to touch on briefly is the soundtrack for this movie. Oh my gosh, it's a wonderful amazing. Rad Wimps, who is the band that does basically the whole soundtrack, aside from the scores, because the movie is both a sub and dub. Rad Wimps did both a original Japanese rendition of their songs sorry, the original Japanese version of the song and then an English rendition of the song for the, for the dub version. So I thought that was pretty cool.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that doesn't happen often.
Speaker 2:No, no, no.
Speaker 1:It reminds me of Bell, where they did that with Bell.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes.
Speaker 1:I think I've been in a lot of sense with that one, because music is such an integral part of the story Right right, but yeah, it was cool to see here too.
Speaker 2:Because with Bell, well, it was sent by two different artists. They had the, so it wasn't done by the same person.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, it was different, but there was a yeah, at least the music was in English. A lot of times they they just keep it in Japanese for the dubbed version of whatever.
Speaker 2:And I appreciate that because I mean, I just like how it sounds. They did the same with One Piece, the red film, even though On the Lee, who was the English voice actor for Utah, they still kept Otto's original scene, which again, she's amazing. So you know, no fault on that one, but don't want to dwell too much on that, because it's just a very small part of the movie. It's not actually, you know, even part of the plot, it's just something I want to write out. This whole movie we see the theme of like, unity and connection, especially with our main characters Taki and Mitsuhara, and so those are our NCs, if you will.
Speaker 1:This like idea of destiny as well.
Speaker 2:It is because Taki goes through great lengths when trying to find Mitsuhara goes to. I haven't written down here Himatori is the city name.
Speaker 1:The town in the country.
Speaker 2:Yes, I honestly, just remember, I can't even read my own handwriting. That is awful. Well, not going to worry about that, but yeah, I think it was. Himatori was the little town that Mitsuhara is from and she hates it there Because there's nothing. What was her friend Tenshi, her guy friend? And he says let's go to a cafe.
Speaker 1:The two girls are like, yeah, where's the cafe? And I'm going to a vending machine and sitting on a park bench. He's like, yeah, this town doesn't have a cafe. Well, you're crazy.
Speaker 2:No. And so Mitsuhara wants to move from the small town to the big city of Tokyo, which is where Taki is from. But he doesn't have it so great either. He goes to school, he's working many hours at like as a waiter and it's like very upscale restaurant destiny. So I want to spend a little bit of time on that. From the spiritual perspective, we see that destiny because you're familiar with what we call predestination.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:And so, for those who may not know, or they can just give a quick description of what predestination is and your personal thoughts on that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so predestination is this idea that God has already chosen the people who are a part of his family, like he's already. He already knows and predestined those who would be Christians, basically who will be saved, and that's a belief tightly held by Calvinists, I believe is this idea of predestination. So it's a very Calvinist idea. But I will say I believe that there is evidence in the Bible I'm pretty sure it's in Romans where Paul says that we were predestined, literally says that word we were predestined, you know, basically to be children of God. And I think it can be a bit of a complicated issue because God gave us free will and a lot of people think that predestination means that we no longer have free will because we are predestined. My personal thought is that God is omniscient and omnipresent and all the omnipresence, all the omnipresence, and so he knows, because he's God, who will choose to follow him and who won't, and I think that's the idea of predestination that the Bible talks about.
Speaker 2:I've always found that interesting because, as you mentioned, God is omnipresent and so he knows organizing before asking, before we think it.
Speaker 1:That would be omniscient.
Speaker 2:Oh omniscient.
Speaker 1:Yeah, omni present is like he's always present, he's always with us, and omniscient is like he is all seeing, all knowing. And there's another omni word that I can't remember, but it's not important right now.
Speaker 2:Omni potent.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, that would work, that would work.
Speaker 2:For those of you who don't know, it's part of the anime title.
Speaker 1:Oh, I wasn't even thinking about that that's funny.
Speaker 2:What were you thinking about?
Speaker 1:Well, I mean, I just didn't know that. I mean, that would make sense, though, that God is omnipotent, he is rich, and he is deep and is.
Speaker 2:Adonai his fragrance.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:That are better than dulce for those of you wondering. But when I was presented with the idea of predestination, well, that kind of negates. I mean, ok, we sell free will, but if he already knows who is going to follow him and who's not, then I guess what's the point then in trying to spend time evangelizing, was my question on that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that can be really hard for some people to wrestle with. And the thing is and Calvinists talk a lot about this too that, well, you don't know who's been called, you don't know who's predestined. So, reach out and evangelize to everyone, share the good news with everyone, and, yeah, you never know who that's going to be.
Speaker 2:Could be your next door. Neither Could be somebody you meet out shopping, or we're meant to be the salt and life of the earth. We got really lower and lower than I plan to, but sorry, sidetracked. But going back to the movie, your name. Yes, very important, we're actually changing the destiny of both people, not just Musa, where this for those of you who may not seen it in spoiler alert a meteor comes crashing down to her hometown.
Speaker 1:Well, it's a comet, that's passing over.
Speaker 2:Oh, it's a comet, yeah.
Speaker 1:And the comet breaks apart. It breaks in half and a piece of it falls onto her little town and completely destroys her town.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's so obliterated yeah.
Speaker 1:I mean, I do like that you brought up the whole predestination conversation, because I do think it ties in of can we change our fate Is a big question in the movie. And are we predestined, I guess, to be saved, or are we destined to die?
Speaker 2:I mean, we're all destined to die one day.
Speaker 1:Well, yes, josh, that is true.
Speaker 2:But in this particular instance, musa, her destiny was to die when that comet broke off and just destroyed her hometown. But it was like some people will say oh, the universe is given them a second chance. I don't know if God would ever do something like that, like they had two individuals that would create a certain scenario like that, because it is time travel. But again he's outside of time so he can do what he wanted to.
Speaker 1:I think a good way to kind of explain this in Christian terms would be more so that the connection and the unity that they share could be explained, at least in outside the movie terms, as the connection of the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1:So Holy Spirit is speaking to us all the time. If we would just stop and listen, and if we take that time to stop and listen and to be in relationship with God and to communicate with Him, then we could make different decisions in our lives a little sooner. I don't think there's any way that we can derail God's plan for us Because again, like we were talking about predestination, he knows what we're going to do. He's omniscient, he knows Past, present, future, always there. So I don't think there's any way to go off plan. If you will, I've wrestled with that quite a bit in my life, with this idea of oh my goodness, because of the choices that I've made, does that mean that I'm no longer in the will of God and that I've gone rogue, basically, and that what God had planned for me will not happen anymore because I made stupid decisions? That's scary. That's a scary thought.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, it is a scary thought, but the great thing about God is we can go off plan, as a lot of times Well, our off plan is his on plan, I think Correct, yes. Just as I was about to say.
Speaker 1:Oh sorry, I'll be too to it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because he knows the choices we're going to make and he knows and we'll come back and know when we add them flow kind of in that relationship with him.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So I think that we could fairly reasonably say that that connection, that unity between Mitsuha and what's his name Think of the snack food. Taki.
Speaker 2:Yep, why did that?
Speaker 1:help, I don't know. Yeah, taki and Mitsuha, they're connected through this mystic power, if you will, of the Holy Spirit, and you could even say a gift of prophecy, of being able to see the future and being able to change it and to do something about it. I think that's part of prophecy is, I don't know, kind of like knowing what could happen. We still have free will, like we could choose not to do whatever it is, which, at face value, seems to go against what I was just saying about all of that. But again, god knows where we are.
Speaker 1:He knows what we need when we need it, and that's what I trust in. You know, I find it really interesting to go back to the movie. So their cord, that braided cord that they have, oh yeah, the rib strain.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. So Mitsuha's family runs a shrine in their little hometown and they make these really pretty braided cords and I think they do it for unity. I think that's literally like the meaning of this braided cord and it reminds me of I'm pretty sure it's definitely like a Korean, not folktale, but like this belief of a red string. I, at least I'm pretty sure it's Korean. It shows up in Korean webtoons that I read, so if that's anything to be believed, anyway, it's this idea that everyone has a little red string tied to their pinky and that that's connected to our one true love and that that's how you know you're connected. That reminds me of the movie, where it's this braided cord of unity. That's kind of, you know, connecting these two characters as we find out through time to save them. I thought it was really interesting.
Speaker 2:That is really interesting because the that braided strand that the red string is you. We see that multiple times throughout in the movie. Yeah, in the movie, because it's a new so has a pair of rhythm. It's what they tie the the sake in and the grandmother goes on about it. We see that flashback where new so is throwing the string to talkie.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it reminds me of Ecclesiastes 412, which is a cord of three strands, is not quickly broken and and those three strands, for those of you may not be aware, thought they're a sun and holy spirit.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. And it's also used in marriage between husband and wife, and god being the center. I think we have that somewhere in the house. Like that, ecclesiastes, we do. We have that. Yeah, I thought we did Maybe.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I know that my grandmother, at one point she printed out my sisters and I, that verse and gave us a, a cord that was braided with three strings, because I have I have two younger sisters, and so that was that's kind of a special verse for us. That a strand of three chords is is not easily broken, and so being strong, being unified and you know all that's, it's really important and you know, it's kind of it's the strength in numbers. I mean, if you're just one, that cord can pretty easily be broken. Two is better, but man, something happens. It's really special when you braid three strands together. It's like extra, extra strong.
Speaker 2:Because we hear all this talk about unity and the grandmother says multiple times you know, when we do this it's a union, when this happens, it's a union, and we had that literally going on throughout the whole movie between Take and Lisa, both in their separate lives and then come together in a union.
Speaker 1:Oh, yes, oh my gosh, one of the last scenes, oh yeah.
Speaker 2:On the. On the mountain top yes. On the mountain top yes.
Speaker 1:Where a previous meteorite had fallen for ever and ever ago, like thousands and thousands of years ago. But yeah, they're like running, so they're displaced. They're three years apart, is the idea in the the movie. At one point they get on the same mountain top and they're yelling each other's name. And there's this really cool idea in the movie oh, are you?
Speaker 2:going to say magic hour, yeah, magic hour.
Speaker 1:Or some people call it like golden hour.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, golden hour. Well golden hour and then some people refer to it as magic hour. But yeah, it's twilight, yeah.
Speaker 1:It's like it's not it's not really golden hour, I don't think it's where everything is golden and golden. It's like everything is golden and perfect. Anyway, it's twilight or magic hour, or dusk or whatever. Not quite day, not quite night. It's this in between transition and because of this transition period, the two characters who are out of time and space, you know, they actually get to meet face to face for the first time, even though they've seen each other's faces because they've lived in each other's bodies. But yeah, it was so beautiful. They get to see each other, finally be connected.
Speaker 2:And you got to think I mean anybody with the emotional actor going through all that. And then what broke my heart is, you know afterwards, you know he's trying to remember, like what her name is.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh, that was the hardest part.
Speaker 2:They were like we're going to write it on our hands so that when this time and he goes to write it and then, like Twilight, hour ends, and so what was I going to write?
Speaker 1:And then it was just like yeah, and then they end up spending the next five years, I think.
Speaker 2:Eight years actually.
Speaker 1:Yeah, thinking about I was looking for something or someone or a place and they couldn't quite remember. Like what? What was that person's name? Oh man. And then that beautiful moment where they're passing on the train and they see each other and they're like it's you, I was searching for you the whole time and they finally meet up. They didn't serendipity us too bad. It's one of the more frustrating movies.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Keep missing each other.
Speaker 2:At least there was some type of satisfaction in the end of the movie. They didn't just like pass each other and then goes flying.
Speaker 1:They almost did. That was frustrating. No, I was like you, better turn around somebody, somebody turn around. But they finally did, which is good.
Speaker 2:This is why I love like anime films and there's just so much depth to it, lots of Japanese culture to like, kind of like, really immerse yourself in.
Speaker 1:If all of the movies can be believed as true culture, well, I have no idea. I've never been to Japan.
Speaker 2:The art can be believed as reality because a lot of those art pieces are from the actual places.
Speaker 1:That's really cool. That's such a cool thing to know that, like literally, these artists will get source material from the different places around around town, so that's really neat.
Speaker 2:Your name. I didn't think anything could like beat it. I'm trying to remember the director saying like can't think of the top of my head they did do one better. Well, kind of on the same thing, because a few years later, whether it would be, you came out which is on the same lines. There is always seems to be that like that kindred sphere relationship between a guy and a girl is the things I've seen, because, because, as you say in your name, whether it be you ride, your wave was another one.
Speaker 1:That's a very yeah. These characters are having very spiritual connections, which I find really interesting. I mean, I've heard it said before that we are spiritual beings, or that yeah, not humans having spiritual experiences, where spiritual beings have a having a human experience.
Speaker 2:Oh, I've never heard that before.
Speaker 1:Oh really.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I kind of like it.
Speaker 2:It's like I've always heard the notion of you know, we're just, we're just visitors passing through.
Speaker 1:Same idea. Yeah, yeah, well, and this spirituality is woven throughout. Well, all of the religions. Yeah, all of the religions, which reminds me this is kind of off topic, but really fascinating. I only watched part one of this little TikTok thing, but it was this Christian who was interviewing someone who is a Satanist and the Satanist had made a movie. Apparently that was all about. I was something like recovering your soul or something like that. It was a really interesting interaction between the two of this. The Christian saying, like you know, we believe in a body, soul and a spirit, and you know, most of the world doesn't believe in that. And this guy was like well, I believe in a soul, I, it's literally the name of my movie. And it was just so interesting because the Christian was like you know, tell me about your movie, and then I want to talk about how there's Christian elements. And he was like, oh, the Satanist was like oh, no, no, no, no, no, it is, it's not Christian. No, I, I'm not affiliated with that.
Speaker 2:Oh, we got this and this. It's just like oh, we do, we do. It's not always there, though we can get those correlations.
Speaker 1:Well, I mean particularly with Satanism. I mean that is, that's pretty Christian. Not that you know, hear me, satan is a character in the Bible and the like religion of Satanism. I see that in the Bible too. Not that it's right, just that I mean it's a part of our worldview, this idea that there is God, who is who is loving and good, and there are Satan, who is bad and destructive, and these two forces, you know, are kind of opposite basically. But anyway, I just thought that was an interesting, interesting little video. I was like, oh, I'm kind of want to watch part two, but I didn't.
Speaker 2:Nice, yeah, the really I really enjoyed this discussion with like this unity and destiny and really really have enjoyed this movie. I've watched it, you know, quite a few times after it's been released.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but I want to give their heads up for next week, because you guys said that you wanted more Bible story oriented episodes and next week you're getting it. Won't tell you which one that involves a whale. I hope that helps, and Eric down a bit.
Speaker 1:A whale and an asparagus.
Speaker 2:Oh, you just gave that a little. Well, you knew, you knew what we were doing. You knew what we were doing, oh gosh. But as a reminder, live stream. We are going to go live on both YouTube and Facebook on the fourth, so next Saturday, and it will be at 6 pm central, 7 pm Eastern, and we're going to just have. We have a couple of announcements, we're going to be doing some Q and A. It's just going to be a really fun time and a giveaway.
Speaker 2:And a giveaway. So if nothing else, at least at least show up for the giveaway. But all that to say, I highly recommend your name, Even if you're not a fan of the anime. It's a great story. The artwork is great, the soundtrack is great.
Speaker 1:There's so much more we could have said about it, but there's just like not enough time really. I know.
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, what we do I mean we're, we're not. Our mission is not to give you, like all these elements that we could talk about for this whole movie. We usually pick, you know, a couple subjects and then we relate that to certain aspects of the movie. We're primarily wanting it that we're going to the analogy and part two to encourage you to maybe check it out. Well, until next time, keep those hello, shani, and stay holy, my friends.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to the Analuia podcast. Be sure to follow us on Instagram, twitter and Facebook. You can also see more on our website at analuiacom. Thanks for listening.