When a person consumes something and it joins their soul, that’s Musubi

(SPOILERS AHEAD!)

“Your name” (Kimi no Na wa) is an 2016 anime that has a great acceptation worldwide. The story starts with an old plot of “switching bodies, between genders”, but it escalates into temporal things that reminds Nolan’s films. The plot give us concepts of the Shinto mythology.

First, we have to know what Shinto means. Straight off Wikipedia:

Shinto (神道 Shintō), also called kami-no-michi, is a Japanese religion. It focuses on ritual practices to be carried out diligently, to establish a connection between present-day Japan and its ancient past. Shinto today is a term that applies to the religion of public shrines devoted to the worship of a multitude of gods (kami), suited to various purposes such as war memorials and harvest festivals, and applies as well to various sectarian organizations.

Musubi no kami is the kami, or local god, that relates with union. Love, marriage, matchmaking. This god lives in the moon or in the kakuriyo, or hidden realm. A kind of supernatural realm not easily discerned from this world, similar to “the other world”. But there is a point during the day when both worlds collide: Kataware doki, that means during twilight. This kami is in charge of the red string of fate.

According to the Japanese legend, there is a invisible-to-the-eye red thread that connects people by the tip of the pinkie finger (or ankle). It connects your heart with others. No matter time or distance, the bond is unbreakable. May be with a friend, a sibling or a lover, a soul mate.

We can see a red ribbon in the movie. This is why Taki can connect with Mitsuha even time and space. They are meant to be together. Every person that is in our way must be for a (good or bad) reason.