Your Name (2019): Characters, Voice Actors, Analysis & Character Map

Taki Tachibana’s Basic Information & Profile

Our central protagonist, Taki is a 17-year-old high school sophomore navigating life in the bustling heart of Tokyo.

He balances his studies with a part-time job as a waiter at the Italian restaurant “IL GIARDINO DELLE PAROLE” and harbors a natural talent for sketching landscapes.

His ordinary life turns upside down when he starts inexplicably swapping bodies with Mitsuha Miyamizu, a rural shrine maiden from Itomori, Gifu Prefecture, whenever he sleeps.

These chaotic, dream-like exchanges ultimately forge a miracle that saves the entire population of Itomori from a devastating comet strike. Yet, for all their heroism, both Taki and Mitsuha are cursed to forget everything the moment they wake up.

Taki undeniably saves the world, but he pays a heavy personal price. By surrendering his body to Mitsuha’s control, he inadvertently:

Taki’s connection to Mitsuha was sheer, blind luck. While saving thousands of lives makes the body-swapping undeniably “right,” you can’t help but feel that Taki was, in many ways, an unwilling victim of a grand, cosmic design.

Playing the hero is a thankless job.

Mitsuha Miyamizu’s Basic Information & Profile

The co-protagonist of our story. Mitsuha is a 17-year-old high school girl suffocating in the rural confines of Itomori, Gifu Prefecture.

As the heir to the Miyamizu Shrine, she performs duties as a shrine maiden (miko). Following her mother’s tragic early death, her father abandoned the shrine to enter local politics, eventually becoming mayor. Consequently, Mitsuha lives a strict, traditional life with her sharp-witted grandmother Hitoha and pragmatic little sister Yotsuha.

Desperate to escape to Tokyo, swapping bodies with the city-boy Taki is literally a dream come true. But while enjoying the city lights, Mitsuha subconsciously set a massive domino effect into motion:

It is genuinely terrifying how she executed this monumental survival plan almost unconsciously. Taki gets credit as the hero, but he was merely a piece on the board. Mitsuha—and by extension, the ancient power of the Miyamizu bloodline—pulled all the strings.

Yet, if we dig deeper, the Miyamizu Shrine had been warning of this exact tragedy for generations through their braided cords (kumihimo) and sacred dances (kagura). The miracle of the body-swap was only triggered as a fail-safe because the town had forgotten the true meaning behind these warnings.

In this light, Your Name is actually a profound tale of cultural amnesia and rebirth. I explore this controversial theory deeper in the article below:

Your Name (2016): The Dark Truth and Hidden Meaning Behind Mitsuha and Taki's Final Reunion

An in-depth analysis of the final reunion scene between Mitsuha and ...

Be sure to read it if you want to understand the true lore of Itomori.

Yotsuha Miyamizu’s Basic Information & Profile

Mitsuha’s pragmatic 9-year-old sister. She grounds the magical realism of the film by acting as the perfect, deadpan comedic relief.

Early in the film, Yotsuha casually suggests they sell the sacred kuchikamizake to fund Mitsuha’s Tokyo dreams, only for Mitsuha to snap back that it violates the Liquor Tax Act. The sheer absurdity of two kids debating bootlegging sacred alcohol never fails to get a laugh.

During the climax, when a frantic Taki (in Mitsuha’s body) screams about an incoming comet, Yotsuha obviously thinks her sister has lost her mind. Yet, she quietly absorbs the warning. Later, she is seen confronting their estranged father, the Mayor, demanding he evacuate the town.

She may be young, but the fierce intuition of the Miyamizu bloodline runs strongly in her veins.

Hitoha Miyamizu’s Basic Information & Profile

The matriarch of the Miyamizu family. After her daughter Futaba passed away, her son-in-law abandoned his shrine duties. Left to pick up the pieces, Hitoha raised Mitsuha and Yotsuha with traditional discipline and deep spiritual wisdom.

Throughout the film, she drops massive, philosophical hints disguised as casual folklore:

Wait a minute—Grandma Hitoha knew exactly what was happening all along! You don’t just look your wide-awake granddaughter in the eye and say, “You’re dreaming right now,” unless you implicitly understand a foreign consciousness is piloting her body.

Hitoha is the ultimate shadow-master of this story, breadcrumbing the truth to Taki. Her cryptic explanation that the sacred sake is “half of you” gave Taki the exact cheat code he needed to rewrite reality and save everyone.

Furthermore, her admission that both she and Mitsuha’s mother experienced these “strange dreams” confirms a chilling reality: body-swapping is a generational curse/gift of the Miyamizu women. But who did Grandma swap with during her youth?

I dive into the massive implications of Hitoha’s past in the bonus section of this analysis:

Your Name (2016): The Dark Truth and Hidden Meaning Behind Mitsuha and Taki's Final Reunion

An in-depth analysis of the final reunion scene between Mitsuha and ...

Could Hitoha have her own untold Your Name epic?

Toshiki Miyamizu’s Basic Information & Profile

Mitsuha’s estranged father and the uncompromising mayor of Itomori.

Blink and you’ll miss it, but newspaper clippings shown late in the film reveal a shocking detail: Toshiki was originally an academic folklorist.

While the film glosses over his romantic origins, it’s highly likely he met Mitsuha’s mother, Futaba, while doing academic fieldwork on the Miyamizu Shrine.

Despite his limited screen time, Toshiki’s psychological arc is arguably the most complex in the film. Two massive questions loom over his character:

There is a deeply hidden reason behind his political ambitions, and I break down his true motives in our exclusive theory hub:

Your Name (2016): The Dark Truth and Hidden Meaning Behind Mitsuha and Taki's Final Reunion

An in-depth analysis of the final reunion scene between Mitsuha and ...

Did Toshiki finally figure out the Miyamizu secret?

Futaba Miyamizu’s Basic Information & Profile

Mitsuha’s late mother. We only catch fleeting glimpses of her through Taki’s time-bending visions, but her presence casts a long shadow over the Miyamizu family. It’s clear that Toshiki was hopelessly devoted to her.

Given Hitoha’s cryptic remark that “your mother had a time like that too,” Futaba undeniably experienced her own body-swapping phenomena. Who was the boy on the other side of her dreams? Discover our wildest theories here:

Your Name (2016): The Hidden Worldline and the Real Reason the Mayor Saved Itomori

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Voice Actor: Michelle Ruff

Michelle Ruff voices the ethereal Futaba. Her extensive resume includes brilliant and iconic roles such as Rukia Kuchiki in Bleach, Fujiko Mine in the Lupin the Third series, and Sinon in Sword Art Online.

Katsuhiko Teshigawara’s Basic Information & Profile

Mitsuha’s loyal classmate, commonly known as “Tessie.” He is an unapologetic occult nerd and a mechanical prodigy.

When Mitsuha claims a comet is going to obliterate the town, even her own family doubts her. Yet Tessie barely blinks before agreeing to commit domestic terrorism by blowing up the local power substation to force an evacuation.

What drove him to such extreme measures? Two things: A deep-seated resentment toward his pre-planned future, and an unspoken crush on Mitsuha.

Early on, he cynically sighs, “I’ll probably just live a normal life in this town forever.” But his melancholic eyes tell a different story. As the heir to his father’s suffocating construction empire, Tessie feels trapped. He lacks the courage to rebel openly, so he quietly resigns himself to his fate.

When the impending comet offers him a “justified” excuse to literally blow up his suffocating reality, he seizes it. He channels his repressed destructive urges into saving the girl he loves.

Director Makoto Shinkai explicitly confirmed Tessie’s unrequited love for Mitsuha in the film’s storyboards and the Blu-ray commentary booklet. Shinkai even admitted that Tessie is the character he feels the strongest personal connection to, likely pouring his own youthful anxieties into the role.

Tessie is introduced as the goofy sidekick, but he is secretly battling the heaviest existential dread of any teenager in the film.

Sayaka Natori’s Basic Information & Profile

Mitsuha’s fiercely loyal, broadcast-club-president best friend. Just as Tessie harbored a secret crush on Mitsuha, Sayaka harbored a not-so-secret crush on Tessie.

In a revealing early scene, Sayaka watches Mitsuha perform the kuchikamizake ritual and maliciously mutters, “I wonder if the gods are actually happy. Getting sake like that.” She wasn’t just teasing Mitsuha—she was testing Tessie to see if he would defend his crush.

Tessie, being utterly oblivious, replies, “Of course they’re happy,” entirely missing the venom in Sayaka’s voice.

Thankfully, the epilogue shows Sayaka and Tessie looking very happily engaged in a Tokyo cafe, proving that time heals all teenage love triangles.

Yuki-chan Sensei’s Basic Information & Profile

Mitsuha’s classical literature teacher who lectures the class on the meaning of “Kataware-doki” (twilight). Fans immediately recognized her as Yukari Yukino, the tragic heroine from Shinkai’s previous film, The Garden of Words.

According to the official timeline, Yukino should have been in Tokyo during these events. Shinkai himself admitted in the Blu-ray commentary that her presence in Itomori is essentially an alternate universe cameo—”a secret gift for fans of my previous works.”

Miki Okudera’s Basic Information & Profile

The breathtakingly elegant university student who works at Taki’s restaurant. Every male employee is hopelessly infatuated with her, Taki included.

Thanks to Mitsuha’s aggressive, feminine charm operating Taki’s body, Okudera begins to see Taki in a new light, leading to an awkward but pivotal date. Okudera is ultimately the first to realize that Taki’s heart has been mysteriously stolen by someone else.

During the film’s climax, Okudera flashes an engagement ring. Director Shinkai dropped a bombshell in the movie pamphlet: she actually gets engaged to Taki’s wingman, Tsukasa!

Tsukasa Fujii’s Basic Information & Profile

Taki’s sharp, bespectacled high school friend. He gives off an intellectual, reliable aura. When Taki blindly rushes off to rural Japan to find a girl he only knows from dreams, Tsukasa tags along to make sure his friend doesn’t do anything stupid.

…Or so it seems. Let’s be brutally honest: Tsukasa absolutely used Taki’s mental breakdown as an excuse to go on a trip with Ms. Okudera. And since they end up engaged, it was the greatest tactical play of his life.

Jokes aside, his loyalty is real; he remains close friends with Taki well into their adult lives.

Shinta Takagi’s Basic Information & Profile

The gentle giant of Taki’s friend group. He radiates “best bro” energy. While Tsukasa goes on the trip, Takagi stays behind to heroically cover Taki’s grueling restaurant shifts so his buddy won’t get fired. Taki truly hit the jackpot when picking his friends.