20210504 Nqrse Twitcast : Live #supernaruse #676090143

Naruse started the cast with his wonderful singing. He sang “Begin” by Tohoshinki.

He explained that he didn’t stream on Saturday because of the low air pressure (i.e. he was having headaches).

He had posted on his instagram story that day, asking what he should stream. He then proceeded to pick up some replies he got that were “inappropriate/annoying”, or what he likes to call as ‘bald octopus’ (“hage tako”). Here are some of the replies he got:

1. Please post a selfie

2. Please increase the number of instagram posts

3. I want to see your sleeping face

4. Let me give you a massage

5. Let me see the selfie that was accidentally uploaded

6. Please drink alcohol

He then says that the most ‘hage tako’ reply he received was one that said “please rap a few lines about your current feelings”. There were also a few replies that were proper requests like - please play Monster hunter, Apex, ‘O e kaki no mori’ (lit. “drawing forest” it’s kind of like pictoria), Mario Kart - and then there are the weird ones that asked him to post selfies and to let them give him a massage. ‘Still,’ he says ‘I’ll accept all of you’.

He has recently subscribed to youtube premium, and says that he feels ‘lonely’ because there were absolutely no advertisements. He says that he forgets about the background play function that comes with youtube premium, and left it playing without noticing and thought it was weird that he was hearing voices.

He states that he wants to do a stream while making a youtube sub-channel in the near future, and when his fans ask him what he will do on that channel, he says that he’ll do the exact same thing he’s been doing on twitcast. He contemplates about it saying that it might be better to do podcasts on twitcast because they can lock their screens and just listen to the audio, but then he finds that it’s a lot easier to play archive streams on youtube.

A fan reminds him about the weekly AraNaruMei stream, in which he suddenly remembers he has not done the recording for the telepathy game (“ishindenshin” game).

He asks the fans about the weather getting warmer recently, but he thinks that it’s still cold at night. He then proceeds to warn the fans that what he’s about to say may sound ‘inappropriate’ and that he’ll try to use his ‘handsome (“ikemen”) voice’ to ask - ‘what do you usually wear at night?’ to which most of them responded with - ‘long sleeves, and long pants’. He then asks when do they usually change to short sleeves, and most of the early comments stated ‘when it gets hot.’ He replied with an analogy - it’s like when you ask someone “when will we meet again?”, and you get a reply “when we feel like meeting”.

He starts complaining and whining that people were calling him ‘pervy uncle’ (“kimoi ojisan”), and that those people who replied to him ‘I want to sniff you’, when he said that he was going to shower were more pervy (“kimoi”). He then proceeds to roast the comment section.

Suddenly AraNaruMei’s cover of “Darling Dance” started playing, and he starts advertising for it. He then pulls back the conversation to his previous question of ‘when do you change to short sleeves’. Most people replied June or July. He continues to ask if anyone wears long sleeves during summer when the aircon is cold, to which most people replied ‘yes’. He then teases that he’s thinking of releasing a pencil case. To which a fan jokingly says that he/she doesn’t want a pencil case, nor a smartphone case. He then took up the challenge and said that he will make the world’s best smartphone case.

A fan stated that there was no BGM, and he joked asking why they didn’t tell him as soon as they realised, and that he had ‘lost trust’ in them. They then said that it’s because he wasn’t looking at the comments section, and he said that he was looking and he tried to show them his screen to prove that he was properly looking at the comments section.

Some of them said that the words are too small, and he replied that his monitor is 4k so it wasn’t small for him. He then realises that most of them were probably watching from their phones, so it would look small for them. He says that he doesn’t really look at the usernames, and only looks at the comments itself. He explains that it’s because he doesn’t want to hold any bias-ness or anything towards anyone.

He suddenly starts talking about his hair, and how bad his hair looks after he washes and dries it, and that he looks like Bach. He says it’s because he cut his hair a lot shorter. But he told the fans not to worry, because he will appear with his usual hairstyle in concerts, and that there are a lot of ways to cover this. He then brings in the example of shaving bald, and wearing a wig, and says that it would be better for the fan’s hearts if he keeps it a secret, but he says that he’d probably say it anyway. A fan then commented saying “then i’ll let you know if it’s crooked.”

He then goes onto the topic of how utaites were ‘traditionally’ hidden figures who do not show their faces, but that in recent times, everyone’s been uploading selfies without hiding their faces. He brings up another analogy (yes, he loves analogies) that when people tell him to upload a selfie, it feels like when you're about to study and your mom comes in to tell you to study, and then you suddenly don’t feel like studying anymore. So he says that they are probably better off not telling him to upload selfies. But announces that he still wouldn’t upload any selfie either way (lol).

Somehow he links the conversation to growing mini tomatoes and morning glories (elementary kids in Japan have a class where they grow either mini tomatoes and morning glories), he says that he grew morning glories, and is suddenly interested in how strawberries were grown, so he took it to youtube and starts watching a video about growing strawberries. The link to the video he watched: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olgB0wFlYQM

He suddenly stops the video and comments on the person’s hands, saying that his/her hands are so pretty they could be in a commercial for hand cream. He wonders if he/she is a female or male.

The second video he watched: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YI9sAVoazOc

He suddenly gets really into river tables and proceeds to watch a bunch of them.

The third video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdrNA0dKf3w

Fourth video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ily_EXPtCpI

He asks his fans to guess the price of the table after the fourth video, and when he looked at the price, he thinks it’s too cheap for the amount of effort. 

Fifth video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYLf3HtnKLs&pp=ugMICgJqYRABGAE%3D

He says that the fishes are already alive in this video.

He ends the stream with his usual horoscope fortune-telling ranking from yahoo japan.

My Ikoma Journey

 Ikoma Language School is a school that specializes in teaching Japanese (and recently, Chinese in both English and Japanese). I've been with Ikoma from 2015 to early 2020, and have been to their full-time, part-time and prep courses, having graduated from Ikoma, and completed JLPT N3 to N1 with them. I decided to do a little post and hopefully give people a little insight on how Ikoma is like, for those who are considering joining Ikoma.

After graduating from Ngee Ann Poly, having completed the full EP Japanese course (and having taken N4), I was trying to find a place where I can continue my Japanese journey; and after doing a bit of research on my own, I was undecided between Bunka and Ikoma. So I went to Bunka to take the placement test, and see how things are like. By then, I had already gotten back my JLPT results, and had passed N4.

Placement test

Regardless, Bunka still requires you to take their placement test. Their test comprises of open ended questions that tests you on your grammar and Kanji.  I later then received a call that I failed the test (I was honestly not proficient in Kanji back then). Regardless, I was still considering if I wanted to go to Bunka. So I turned to my Ngee Ann Japanese teacher (whom I'm still close with), and asked for her opinion. She immediately told me to go Ikoma - the main reason being that she found that her students who went to Bunka couldn't really converse in Japanese despite being proficient in writing, while Ikoma students do not have that problem. (Disclaimer: This is only her opinion, and does not mean that all students from Bunka are not able to converse in good Japanese, or that all Ikoma students are 100% fluent in Japanese.)

So I went to Ikoma to take a placement test. Having experience the Bunka's placement test, I thought that they would give me a written test too. But Ikoma just have a teacher (usually one of the more senior teachers) to come and talk to you to figure out which level and which on-going classes suits your needs. They mainly asks me questions to try and see if I'm able to get the grammar right, and then check to see the classes that I'm eligible for. So right after the placement 'test' I immediately signed up for their full-time class (I was still waiting for my poly results and university emission, so I had time).

Ikoma Intermediate Full-time Classes

The full-time classes were conducted 5 days a week (from Monday to Friday) and in the morning-afternoon. The pacing is a lot quicker compared to the part-time classes, mainly because they spend lesser time revising the previous lesson's contents. So we learn a lot more for the same number of hours spent in a part-time class.

But because full-time classes takes up a lot of time, we had 2-3 teachers at any one point (so there wasn't a fixed teacher that taught us all the way).  Each teacher have a very different way of teaching - one of my teacher would always have conversations with us, and she would spend time at the beginning of the class talking to us one by one; another one of my teacher would be more focus on the contents, and focus more on the textbook progress.

All in all, I can say that there is a lot more conversation going on during class than actual writing. When learning new forms, they would use cards and ask us to say the correct forms (they will do this for a few lessons to get us familiar with the form.) When learning new grammars, they would always ask us to present our example sentences.

The only problem with the full-time classes is that most of the time, they don't last very long because of the lack of people. Ikoma has a policy where they need a minimum number of people before a class can start, so if there isn't enough people that sign up for the next term, the class will shut down (this applies to part-time classes too). But fortunately, my full-time class didn't close until university started.

JLPT Preparation Courses

In sight of the full-time class closing (and having completed all of the intermediate lessons), I decided to go for the N3 preparation course. The preparation courses starts during specific timings, aligned with the JLPT test dates. The JLPT tests are held semi-annually, and usually falls on the first Sunday of the month (June & December). They have a option for once a week and twice a week courses. I took the once a week course. For N3 and N2, once a week lessons lasts for half a year, while N1 lasts around 9 months.

In the preparation course, you will be given a vocabulary list, a kanji list, and a grammar list. You will be required to memorize a number of vocab and kanji each week, and you will be tested on those at the start of the lesson the following week, together with grammar. For grammar, the teacher will go through the example sentences with you near the end of each lesson (they don't usually go through with you the vocab and knaji because there is not enough time, so you will just have to memorize them on your own).

During lesson time, they mostly focus on going through with you the reading comprehension section. You will be required to complete a few questions of reading compre after the kanji/vocab/grammar test, after which they will go through with you.

Weekly homework will always include: Vocab, Kanji, Grammar, Reading compre sheet, and listening.

There will be a total of 4 mock exams taken throughout the course, to give you a better understanding of your current level, and the areas you need to improve on. (and also a mock test of the previous level. So for N3, you will be taking a N4 mock test and so on, to get you into the test mode).

They don't really focus on listening, and other than the listening homework they give you, they will usually cramp the listening portion in the last part of the preparation course. (I'm thinking this is because majority of the students do not have problems with listening).

If you follow their schedule, and have been diligently keeping up with the work they give you, you would have remembered all the necessary vocab, kanji, and grammar; and your reading compre skills should have improve up to your JLPT level.

Difficulty level of JLPT

I find that the difficulty level of JLPT grows exponentially - so N2 will be twice more difficult than N3, and N1 will be twice more difficult than N2. And you would have to be very familiar with the Kanji and vocab from the previous level, because you will be expected to already have know them.

So I do think that it's a lot better to progressively take JLPT from N3 onward than to skip levels (unless you are aiming for a just pass or if you are confident with your vocab and grammar repertoire.) In my opinion, it's okay to skip N5 and N4 since they are more like 'foundation' papers, which you should be able to cultivate them better with constant interaction with the language, and properly learning the different forms from their normal classes than from a prep course.

Part-time Classes

Nearing the end of the prep course, Ikoma will give you a list of on-going classes which you will be eligible for. Ikoma recommends that you still attend the conversational classes of that JLPT equivalent level, because it gives you a better idea on how the grammars are being used in a more natural setting. However, if you really really want to skip levels, then it's better to talk to your prep teacher about it, and they will advise you on it after taking into consideration your performance during prep course. Otherwise, it's not really recommended that you skip levels.

There are two types of part-time classes - once a week and twice a week classes. Twice a week classes are more prone to closing because there are lesser people taking twice a week. Usually for part-time classes, they will combine classes with other twice a week class (if there is) or once a week class (if there is no other twice a week classes).

For part-time classes, your teacher won't change, and will follow the class all the way form basic to the end (unless something unexpected happens).

I first took the twice a week class, but the class then got combined with a once a week class, so it changed to a once a week class. Fast forward a little bit, I stopped the normal classes to take N2, got back to normal classes after N2, and took N1 prep course together with the normal classes (so every week I will have one prep course and one normal class).

After having passed N1, I followed the further advance class all the away till graduation.

After graduating from Ikoma

At the end of N1 and/or further advance, they will ask us if we want to receive notification of any post Ikoma activities. From time to time one of the Ikoma teacher will send email just to talk about current affairs in Ikoma, and they will have some activities for Ikoma graduates from time-to-time. (but because of the covid situation they haven't organize any such activities yet, I may update this post again when that happens.) 

Overview / Summary: Sasaki to Miyano Volume 1

I came across this manga when I was scrolling the web, looking for something light and good to read. Although BL, this manga has a really light touch, and seem to focus more on the slice of life aspect. A good recommendation for anyone who is starting out on BL.

The story has two distinct layout style: the 4-koma (or 4 column) where by a page is divided into four rectangle rows, and within those four koma is a 'topic'; the other style would be the traditional style where the author is free to divide the page. This manga style switches between the two styles, and the author makes really good use of the two styles to tell her story.

The story follows the daily life of a high school fudanshi* Miyano (*fudanshi meaning boys who like to read BL), and his developing relationship with his senior, Sasaki.

In the first volume, the story focuses more on introducing the characters and how the two came to meet, and also heavily on the developing feelings of Sasaki towards Miyano. There were many flashbacks throughout the story that links back to the incident where they first met (which is also when Sasaki first fell for Miyano).

From Miyano's point of view, this volume focuses mainly on the two's friendship and getting to know more about each other, whereby Miyano introduces to Sasaki BL manga and the unintentionally showing this ways as a fudanshi. The author also seemed to place a lot of emphasis on Miyano's food preference which makes him seem 'manly' despite his feminine appearance. Miyano tend to prefer bitter food like wasabi and alcohol, and do not like to take sweet stuff. His hatred for sweets is then further emphasis by his strong rejection towards his people who try to feed him sweets. 

On the other hand, although having a rough appearance that makes him seem like a rebel, Sasaki is weak at fighting, and does do frequent baking as his parents own a bakery. He baked during home economics class, and gives his cookies to Miyano saying that it's not too sweet, in which Miyano accepts it.

Their way of speaking reflects and their personality very clearly, whereby Miyano speaks in very proper sentences mostly in 丁寧語 or 'polite speech'; while Sasaki speaks in a very typical high school boy way (you can see that a lot in many other high school stories). Miyano wakes up early, revise his school materials constantly; is part of the school committee and is seemed to be very put together (except for cooking); while Sasaki tend to oversleep and be late for lessons - he would usually come in after lessons has started or there was a scene where he is seen just reaching school during 2nd period - he is also seen copying his friend's (Hirano, who is also Miyano's senior in the committee he is in) notes.

Throughout the whole volume, Sasaki drops a few confessions here and there, saying that he 'likes Myaano' but Miyano takes it as a joke, always announcing that he doesn't swing that way even though he likes to read BL. Although the development was slow, towards the end, we can see Miyano paying more attention to Sasaki as a 'potential boyfriend' and not just a 'senpai'.

Parts that appealed to me a lot was how relatable Miyano was to me as a fujoushi* (the female counter part of a 'fudanshi'). How he turns every single opportunity into a BL scenario; going to the book store to by BL's ensuring to go alone and not with a male friend; listening to drama CDs; etc, etc.

The volume ends off with a valentine's day event where in food is being emphasized again. Miyano seems to be leaning towards Sasaki, giving in and being seemingly bias toward him as compared to his other friends, while Sasaki's feelings continue to grow.

Recommended Anime: Autumn 2017

After the past few disappointing seasons, I feel like the anime producers have finally started producing more interesting ones.

Autumn 2017

Shoujo:
3-Gatsu no Lion (2nd Season)
Himouto! Umaru-chan R (2nd Season)
Just Because!
Mahou Tsukai no Yome

Shounen:
Inuyashiki
Kekkai Sensei & Beyond (2nd Season)
Osomatsu-san (2nd Season)
Shokugeki no Souma: San no Sara (3rd Season)


On-going from Summer 2017

Shoujo:
-

Shounen:
Ballroom e Youkoso

View List of Recommended animes here: http://strawberryshortcake-reviews.blogspot.com/p/recommened-animes.html

*Highly Recommended for this season (Sequels not included)

Korean Webtoons Recommendations

Ok so before we get into the list of recommendations, I'm going to talk about my history with webtoons. Or you can just scroll down to the recommendations list if you don't want to read about my boring life. 

So basically, I was never a fan of webtoons, and I would avoid it as much as possible even though manga apps keep recommending me stuff. I think for most of the reason, it was because it looked nothing like the traditional manga style of representation, and also because the story-line mostly sucked, and not to mention too much scrolling gets me motion sickness.

So why am I doing a list of recommendation if I didn't like them? Well that's because I've actually grown to like a few webtoons, that I really think people should take a look at. So lets get into the list.

I will start off with the non-BL stuff, because well, not everyone reads BL. So yea.

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Korean Webtoon Recommendations

So first in the list is 'Why Did Men Stop Wearing High Heels?' 

This may sound like a very misleading title, I know. Some of you may think that this is BL or gay. But no think it actually under the genre 'romance', although I think it's more of 'drama' than romance. There is a little bit of lesbian scenes, or what they call as 'GL' in the website, but easily overlook-able.

It is a story of an average male employee who likes heels, and even have a blog about heels, which he posts picture of his gorgeous feet in different heels each week. He then finds himself tangled in drama when he met a genius shoe maker who lost his reputation and status in the company he was working for previously. 

Basically what I really liked about this webtoon is that it is very different from any story line I've read thus far, and it takes a very different approach on things. Much like most of the Korean webtoons, the characters are very honest, like Japanese manga where the characters are usually either on the good side or the bad side. It was really interesting to read about his life, and how it develops, and not to mention the urge to buy a pair of heels after reading this (RIP wallet).

I do highly recommend this webtoon, because it is one of my all time personal favorites. And I'll repeat again that this is NOT BL.

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...and that's pretty much all I have for non-BL stuff (oh god).

But the next one I'm going to recommend does have a portion of BL, but isn't classified under 'BL', but 'Drama' on the official site.

It's called 'An Uncomfortable Truth'

This webtoon is one that I found very recent, and I honestly clicked on it during on of those rare days where I didn't feel like reading BL, only to find out that it is part BL. (can't run away from my nature maybe?)

So this webtoon is about an adopted brother who has a lot of affection for his older brother, so much that he doesn't 'allow' people to take his brother away from him or upset his brother. He gets very obsessed and possessive with his brother, so much that he would do things to those he view as 'enemies' to 'protect' his brother.

This is more of a full on psychology, high school webtoon. Although it may seem like this type of stories were written before, what makes this story actually more interesting than most, it actually the development of the side characters. It doesn't only focus on the main story-line and the psychological disturbance which the younger brother is going through, but also other school life problems that other side characters are facing, which are somehow connected to the main story-line.

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A similar webtoon is this, 'Kiling Stalking'

I'm sure many of you have heard of this, or seen it in manga websites / applications, because it is always ranked quite high on sites. It is a full psychological, and dark webtoon, that is also full on BL.

This story shows a normal average male, that went to kidnap another man who was awkward and weak. The story shows how they 'stayed' together. And that is pretty much it for the summary.

The story involved many thought developments on the two characters mainly. There are hardly any other characters involved in this. It makes you curious because we never know what he is going to escape, or if he is going to escape. But it gets a little stale over time, so it doesn't go quite as high on my list.

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Ok this next one is called 'At the End of the Road' or 'What Lies at the End'.

This was the webtoon that got me to change my negativity towards webtoon. It is definitely a full on Shounen Ai, borderline BL story-line. But what drew me into clicking on this was the art. The art is so pretty, and I couldn't help but click on it even though I knew it was a webtoon. Now, the story is really interesting too, which made me continue reading.

The story-line starts off with two friends who were separated for some reason, but when one of them died, he woke up and found himself in another man's body (typical drama, I know). When he was in the other man's body he had a reunion with his friend, and also faced with troubles of the original owner of the body. It shows how he had overcome the difficulties (which were of no difficulties to him), with his 'new' personality. Things for complicated with him and his friend when more characters get involved in his friend's past, and the original owner's history at school.

This story is really interesting because there are many things in the story that gets you curious, and makes you want to read more. It draws you in with many mysteries, and makes you want to know more about the things that happen to the characters.

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One That is somewhat in between 'An Uncomfortable Truth' and 'At the End of the Road' is this webtoon called 'Moritat'.

It involves mystery into the plot, which makes it very interesting. Fortunately for most readers now who wants or will start reading this, is that it is completed, so you can read it to your heart's content.

The story starts out with the main character, having his memory wiped out, the first person he sees when he wakes up claims to be his lover / boyfriend. So he takes the main character back to his home, and try to restart his live. But after a while, there seems to be some weird inconsistencies within his life, and it becomes more apparent as times goes by.

Basically it is a mystery story. It is a very interesting read.

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Honorable Mentions

Yes, I know it says on the picture that is the '2nd winner', but I didn't quite like this one to consider it to be my favourite. It is title 'Royal Servant'.

It has a pretty weak story-line, and It didn't quite grab my attention very much. The development also seemed kind of messy so it was quite hard to understand what was really happening in full details. Yes, this is also a BL, so people who loves BL would probably love this.

Most people who read or have seen this would comment that the main character looks like Kuroko from 'Kuroko no Basuke'. Even his character seem really similar.

Another one I want to mention is the webtoon 'Warehouse' it is similar to 'Kiling Stalking', but more rated, basically.

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All the webtoons I have mentioned above can be viewed and read at the website: www.lezhin.com

All the pictures used above have also been taken from that website.

*Disclaimer! The website contains a lot of other content, some are mature content like BL, GL,etc so proceed only if you are 18 and above.

Recommended Animes: Summer 2017

Summer 2017

Shoujo:
Hitorijime My Hero
Katsugeki Touken Ranbu
Koi to Uso
Tsurezure Children

Shounen:
*Ballroom e Youkoso
Fate/Apocrypha
Kakegurui
New Game!! (2nd Season)
Jigoku Shoujo Yoi no Togi (4th Season)


On-going from Spring 2017

Shoujo:
-

Shounen:
Boku no Hero Academia (2nd Season)
BORUTO -NARUTO NEXT GENERATIONS-

View List of Recommended animes here: http://strawberryshortcake-reviews.blogspot.com/p/recommened-animes.html

*Highly Recommended for this season (Sequels not included)

Recommended Anime: Spring 2017

Spring 2017

Shoujo:
Natsume Yuujichou Roku (6th season)
Uchoten Kazoku (2nd season)

Shounen:
Boku no Hero Academia (2nd Season)
BORUTO -NARUTO NEXT GENERATIONS-
Busou Shoujo Machiavellianism
Rokudenashi Majutsu Koushi to Akashic Records
Saenai Heroine no Sodatekata Flat (2nd Season)
Shingeki no Koyujin (2nd Season)
*Quan Zhi Gao Shou (Chinese)


On-going from Winter 2017

Shoujo:
-

Shounen:
Yowamushi Pedal: Next Generation (3rd season)

View List of Recommended animes here: http://strawberryshortcake-reviews.blogspot.com/p/recommened-animes.html

*Highly Recommended for this season (Sequels not included)

Koe no Katachi vs Kimi no Na wa

 

Kimi no na wa and Koe no Katachi was shown around the same timing (about a month different?), and so there were many people who actually mistook Koe no Katachi as Kimi no na wa's 2nd season. So I thought I would do a little comparison of the two.

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Firstly, they are both made by very popular anime studios. CoMix Wave Flims (kimi no na wa's studio) is very famous for producing many breath taking movie animations like Kotoba no niwa, and Byousoku 5 cm (please do check them out if you haven't already watched them). They are usually known for their distinct art style with beautiful sceneries, and very touching story lines. They are also known for producing animation commercials. In this aspect, Kyoto Animation (Koe no Katachi's studio) is also very similar. However, unlike Kyoto Animation, CoMix Wave Flims do not produce animation series, and only limits to movies, short OVAs and single episodes.

Kyoto Animation is also known for their distinct art style, and recently, the realistically of their 'camera' work (which CoMix Wave Flims lacks in). Kyoto Animation is known for producing a lot of many popular anime series like Lucky Star, K-ON!, Hyouka, Kyoukai no Kanata, etc. Majority of their works were huge hits. Unlike CoMix Wave Flims, they do not have any specific set of types of works they produce, and range over comedy works like Nichijou, to mysteries like Hyouka, and action shows like Kyoukai no Kanata. Although Kyoto Animation focuses more on animation series, their movies are all very well received. Most of their movies are sequels to their animation series, but Koe no Katachi is a stand alone movie, which makes things a little different from their usual.

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While the two studios are known for their artistic backgrounds, and animation, the two are very different from each other. For me, CoMix has nicer backgrounds with more refined background effects and angles. However, if you are talking about more realistic-looking backgrounds (especially water effects), it's Kyoto Animation. There were times during the movie that I found myself staring at the background and wondering if it was real or not. Kyoto Animation also has a better animation of camera angles, and they add in scenes where the angles follow the character's line of sight, it gives it a very 3D effect. 

CoMix makes backgrounds looking more towards the fantasy side, and focuses more on the beauty of the animation as a whole. You would wish backgrounds in the movies exist in real life. The animation of the mentor in Kimi no na wa was really beautiful and you could only wonder how is it possible to produce such backgrounds.

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The casting of the two movies are also different. In Kimi no na wa, most characters are not voice actors but actual actors. Although Taki's voice actor - Kamiki Ryunosuke - has voiced in many popular movies like Piano no Mori, Summer Wars, etc. Some regular voice actors were also included in the movie (Shimazaki Nobunaga, Aoi Yuki, Ishikawa Kaito, Hanazawa Kana), but didn't quite play a big role in it. Which kind of follows studio ghibli's style. They try their best not to find voice actors to act in movies because they feel that voice actor's voices are too nice, which makes it less natural than non-voice actors.

On the other hand, Koe no Katachi was made up of popular regular voice actors. Of course Koe no Katachi was a lot harder to act because Nishimiya is deaf and can't really speak properly.

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As to which one is more popular...

The number of tickets sold in the first 2 days of release is as follows:

1. Kimi no na wa - 800,000+ Tickets sold - 1.76 Billion yen Box-office

2. Koe no Katachi - 200,000+ Tickets sold - 283 Million yen Box-office

Although some argue that Koe no Katachi didn't screen in as many theaters as Kimi no na wa, it is true that Kimi no na wa was more well known by both anime-watchers and non-anime-watchers. There was many information and social media coverage for Kimi no na wa because many people where talking about how good Kimi no na wa was, and many went to watch it a few times. For Koe no Katachi, however, was very popular amoung the anime-watchers. Many, like me, have been eyeing the movie since the day the PV was released (and we had to wait for like a year).

Kimi no na wa had a story line that makes people excited, while Koe no Katachi touches your hearts deeply (although it leaves you with a very heavy heart). Which also explains why Kimi no na wa was more well spread than Koe no Katachi.

Kimi no na wa's story line was more light hearted, while Koe no Katachi was more mature and had very deep contents. So Kimi no na wa catered to a wider range of audiences, both young and older, while Koe no Katachi was best related to the people above 16 years old, and the duration of Koe no Katachi was long so people who don't like long stories would probably find Koe no Katachi hard to sit through.

But for anime-watchers, Koe no Katachi seems to be a lot more popular.

After watching both shows, I feel that at first I preferred Kimi no na wa. But after awhile, I feel that Koe no Katachi left a stronger impression as some goes by. I found myself thinking a lot about the plot lines and meanings behind the different scenes, while Kimi no na was was just a 'very nice and touching story'.

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Kimi no na wa won many many different awards, their voice actors even won awards in the annual voice actor awards.

List of awards and nominations
Year	Award	Category	Recipient(s)	Result
2016	49th Sitges Film Festival[37]	Best Animated Feature Length Film	Your Name	Won
	60th BFI London Film Festival[38]	Best Film	Your Name	Nominated
	18th Bucheon International Animation Festival	Best Animated Feature Special Distinction Prize	Your Name	Won
		Best Animated Feature Audiences Prize	Your Name	Won
	29th Tokyo International Film Festival[39]	Arigatō Award	Makoto Shinkai	Won
	6th Newtype Anime Awards[10]	Best Picture (Film)	Your Name	Won
		Best Soundtrack	Your Name	Runner-up
		Best Theme Song Category	ZenZenZense	Runner-up
	41st Hochi Film Award	Best Picture	Your Name	Nominated
	29th Nikkan Sports Film Award	Best Film	Your Name	Nominated
		Best Director	Makoto Shinkai	Won
	2016 Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards[40]	Best Animated Film	Your Name	Won
	Women Film Critics Circle 2016[41]	Best Animated Female	Your Name	Nominated
2017	44th Annie Awards[42]	Best Animated Feature — Independent	Your Name	Nominated
		Outstanding Achievement, Directing in an Animated Feature Production	Makoto Shinkai	Nominated
	21st Satellite Awards[43]	Best Animated or Mixed Media Feature	Your Name	Nominated
	71st Mainichi Film Awards	Best Animated Film	Your Name	Won
	59th Blue Ribbon Awards	Best Film	Your Name	Nominated
		Best Director	Makoto Shinkai	Nominated
		Special Award	Your Name	Won
	11th Asian Film Awards	Best Screenplay	Makoto Shinkai	Nominated
	40th Japan Academy Prize	Excellent Animation of the Year	Your Name	Won
		Animation of the Year	Your Name	Nominated
		Director of the Year	Makoto Shinkai	Nominated
		Screenplay of the Year	Makoto Shinkai	Won
		Outstanding Achievement in Music	Radwimps	Won
	36th Anima Festival[44]	Audience Award for Best Animated Feature	Your Name	Won
	11th Seiyu Awards	Best Actor	Ryunosuke Kamiki	Won
		Best Actress	Mone Kamishiraishi	Won
		Synergy Award	Your Name	Won

Compared to Koe no Katachi who was overshadowed by the release of Kimi no na wa.

Year	Award	Category	Recipient	Result	Ref.
2017	71th Mainichi Film Awards	Best Animation Film	A Silent Voice	Nominated	[21]
	40th Japan Academy Prize	Excellent Animation of the Year		Won	[22]
		Best Animation of the Year		Nominated
	Tokyo Anime Award Festival	Anime of the Year (Film Category)		Grand Prize	[23]
	20th Japan Media Arts Festival	Animation division - Excellence Award		Won	[24]

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In the end, different people have different impressions and opinions on the 2 animes. Although they maybe similar in terms of their outlook, but they are 2 very different works which are both very well-loved.

Which one was your favorite? 

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Pictures from:

http://akibatan.com/2016/09/koe-no-kitachi-long-promo-and-cm/

https://myanimelist.net/anime/32281/Kimi_no_Na_wa/pics

Credits:

https://myanimelist.net/forum/?topicid=1555488

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Your_Name

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Silent_Voice_(film)