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“Late in 2011 and early in 2012, the Company discussed new technology with several leading consumer electronics companies to gauge potential market interest for such a product. For a number of reasons, including cost, Apple was the only potential customer that expressed substantive interest in pursuing further development of and a commercial agreement with respect to this technology.” - AuthenTec, 2012 [1](Have this read to you: Why is Apple’s iPhone Touch Id Important?)Yes, you read that correctly, every company that had even a parting interest in fingerprint scanners, passed on working with AuthenTec in a meaningful way, even Google. This statement was part of a filing to the US Security And Exchange Commission.Apple went on to acquire AuthenTec and many of the companies that did not see a bigger vision may regret not taking a second look. Some of us saw this coming back in 2008 and clearly in 2012 [2]. In my case I have been reading patent applications back in the days when most of my friends were reading comic books, I just loved the dreams and ideas of these inventors and the beauty of the simple line drawings.Exploded view of Touch ID.This is a story about how Apple resolved a Practical and Pragmatic problem that will wind up deeply changing how we view all mobile devices moving forward from today, and in to the future. It's so very easy to see how this all makes sense now, but it took great vision to see it so many years ago.Steve Jobs hated logins and passwords, and he was going to do something about it.It was the late winter of 2007 and while many of us were just starting to get used to the iPhone and all the ways it was changing the world, Steve Jobs was already planning a completely new paradigm for a future iPhone release. Although Steve loved the “Slide To Unlock” feature he knew that the steps involved and the time it took to unlock the screen when a passcode is being used was unacceptable. Steve predicted that as the iPhone became more indispensable and formed the center of our lives, it would be used perhaps hundreds of times per day, not just as a phone, but as our primary connected computer. Additionally early data from iPhone users proved that only a very small percentage even bother using a passcode, that included Steve.Steve and Apple engineers went about crafting a way to solve this problem and along the way they discovered that there could be a lot more use cases this new system could address. By September 9th, 2008 Apple began to file one of the first few patents addressing this technology [3].Image from 2008 patent that first demonstrated an early version of Touch ID (620).Your fingerprint, all of your credentialsSteve and the team were forming one of the early foundational premises for the Touch ID: to secure what will become your most important device and to elegantly open the phone with just a tap of a finger. However, it became very clear that this level of security could be extended to a wide number of uses.How an iPad cover informed the touch IDOf course there is nothing particularly new about fingerprint based controlled access to computers or even mobile devices, it's all been done before. Like most things Apple, they most certainly are not the first to deploy a particular technology, but they are the first to present the sum total of hardware and software and redefine a significant user experience that Steve Jobs would describe as magical. Also, Apple already began to address faster access to iOS devices. One can trace the Touch ID directly to the iPad Smart Cover.iPad Smart cover showing how magnetics unlocks the screen.The Smart Cover was really a number of products in one. It of course was a cover and a glass surface microfiber cleaner. However it also featured a hidden lock screen actuator that used magnetics and the Hall Effect to lock or unlock the screen. The brilliant and elegant system still fascinates. This conceptually lead to a similar premise on the iPhone after a number of very promising ideas were investigated. The convenience and simplicity the Touch ID offered became immediately obvious. Simplicity is one of the foundational reasons Apple choose the Touch ID, one touch and the device is ready. An experience that Steve would call magical.The security premiseThere are so many obvious and non-obvious dimensions to the Touch ID, alone is just a hardware extension, however Apple has enveloped this into a complete experience. The convenience on the surface is obvious. The security premise also seems obvious but it is more impactful when one studies the data.It turns out that less than fifty percent of iPhone users activate a pass code on the lock screen. There are quite a number of reasons for this. The largest reason is that these users are interacting with the iPhone perhaps a hundred times per day. It becomes ridiculous at some point to spend the 5 seconds each time to unlock the phone. And thus this creates a rather large problem. About eighty percent of lost iPhones did not have a pass code lock. Unless the owner activated and is fast at using Find My Phone, all levels of information about this user is now compromised... including pictures, texts, address books, financial data and just about all aspects of our lives. With the Touch ID activated along with Activation Lock security aspect in iOS 7, lose your iPhone 5s and it is 100% worthless to anyone but you.Example of the Touch ID learning screen.Fingerprints and cloudsOur mobile devices started out being just a cellular phone and in relatively short they have become the central hub of just about every experience that can interact with electronics and software. We all now retain more and more of our "life" on these mobile devices. As this decade runs out we will not even distinguish the mobile wording. They will almost literally be a part of us. This is rapidly creating two very significant trends:The Personal Device Cloud: These are devices that transmit and receive information from the iPhone. This includes iBeacons, Bluetooth devices, WiFi devices, NFC devices, and image based devices.The Personal Data Cloud: This is information that is generated on the iPhone (pictures, text audio), from the personal device cloud, from the Internet (login/passwords, etc), medical information, payment card information, etc.Most of us already are carrying a number of personal data clouds. It started with the simple phone book and now spans to every element of data one can imagine. Apple's new vision is to create a secure environment so that as we all accumulate more data that the security grows with it. Sharing these data has been getting easier but securing it has been getting tougher.The personal device cloud revolution is just starting and can already see use of product like the Nike Fuel Band, the Jawbone Up, and of course smart watches. These devices typically use Bluetooth to connect the iPhone and present raw and/or processed data that would be passed on to an app and perhaps to a proprietary cloud. With iBeacons and the APIs that will connect to this technology, all of us will rather rapidly create even more personal data generated by our personal device cloud. This can span from medical data to data from our cars and every thing in between. The personal device cloud and the personal data cloud must be secured.Example of the major fingerprint grouping types.One-finger tap and the logins to all of your apps are coveredAs app developers convert to Apple's new Touch ID API, one single finger tap at the home screen and all of your logins and passwords for each app will already be sent within microseconds pressing the app icon. The time saved from this feature alone is quite substantial.Apple has presented just the tip of the iceberg on how Touch ID will be used. Over time Apple will create far more use cases. And just like how most of us did not miss a mechanical keyboard on iOS devices, in the next few years we will become so accustomed to the Touch ID that we will not be able to remember "slide to unlock".Example of the capacitance touch stainless steel ring.The stainless steel ringTouch ID uses a capacitance [4] activation system to process the fingerprint. When a finger touches the sensor, the reader is powered and begins a scan. This allows the scanner electronics to be in low power mode and is less of a battery drain.Example of the Sapphire lens.The sapphire lensTouch ID uses a sapphire lens to not only protect the sensor but also to optically focus the image for better clarity. This is a very important part of creating an accurate read at the fastest possible speed. Sapphire is also almost as strong as diamond on the MOL scale and will go a long way to protect Touch ID. It will also prepare Apple for a screen made of Sapphire in a future iPhone release.Example Illustrating the Secure Enclave.Touch ID: Data are locally encrypted and never leaves your iPhoneTouch ID is using a new Secure Enclave as part of the A7 processor. The data generated by Touch ID are encrypted and stored in this area but never sent over the Internet or to iCloud. The Secure Enclave is a genius move by Apple as it fully discounts many fears that our fingerprints will be sent around the world. In addition, the Secure Enclave will play a central point in Apple’s payment strategy. There is a really interesting story behind the Secure Enclave and I have written about some of the details in a separate posting [5].Example of side thumb fingerprint read.Any finger—any directionThe software algorithm allows for accurate fingerprint reads from any finger (when synced) and at any angle. Most people will just use the side of their thumb as they hold the phone in the same hand.Example of the learning screen for Touch ID.Touch ID, always learningTouch ID will continue to learn your fingerprints more and more over time. At some early point the software will know all possibilities of your fingerprints. In most cases it will only take about a dozen successful reads for very high accuracy.The iOS keychainThe iCloud Keychain will play a central role as a container of all of our personal credentials. Touch ID will be the gateway to gain access to these Logins and Passwords. As Apple opens up the API to this system you will never need to enter in a login or password again. The iOS keychain has been temporarily disabled in the most recent release of the devloper version of iOS 7. This will be activated in the future with a rather brilliant addition.Additional SecurityTo use Touch ID you will also have to create a passcode as a backup. Only that passcode can unlock the phone if the phone is either rebooted (example full battery drain) or hasn’t been unlocked for 48 hours. This is a genius feature that is meant to set a time limit for criminals if they try to find a way to circumvent the fingerprint scanner.It is very important to note that there is and never will be 100% security. All security systems can be circumvented. There is just a balance between reasonably secure and unreasonable security. You and I live in homes that contain a great deal of personal wealth, yet we use glass that can be broken with a hard tap to protect it. We like to look out windows. The same is true for device security with the right technology and the right conditions it can be circumvented. I address this in more detail here:Claim: Apple Touch ID Circumvented.Phil Schiller presenting Touch ID and use cases. Note the obvious and the non obvious examples. I highlighted the payment card terminal (Equinox T4220) This is a road map to the future of Touch ID.Payments the Apple wayApple has had a grand history of getting payments just right, Brian Roemmele's answer to How does Apple do payments so well? Why can't anyone else even come close?. This experience was perfected on the iTunes online store and was extended at the Apple retail store. We will see Apple using Touch ID already in use on the online store and soon at the Apple Retail stores. This will be the test bed example of just how powerful Touch ID will be for retail payments. In “Apple Time” we will start to see more pieces released that will allow any retail merchant to have access to this payment system.The Secure Enclave will replace the Secure Element when the full payment aspects of this system is slowly and methodically deployed. Additionally there is a rather important patent that telegraphed the capacitance ring but also is telegraphing NFC [6]. Apple has great plans in this direction.Simple yet powerful innovationWith one disarmingly simple addition to the iPhone, Apple has once again redefined how we all will view our mobile devices. But just like many Apple revolutions, it may take some time for most of us to understand this is really a revolutionary change.One of the first iPhone revolutionary milestones was quite visionary: convince the world that they will come to appreciate typing virtual keys displayed on a glass screen rather then mechanical keys so small that we just about needed pixie fingers to have any proficiency. Back in the ancient days of 2007 there were a tremendous number of critics. We don't hear too much from them today. Perspectives changed—we changed.One last thingSteve left what amounts to a “playbook” of features and technologies he thought was important to Apple. This playbook is packed full of innovations that are just mind blowing. Apple thus far is innovating on many levels. It seems that Apple has followed through on Steve’s one last thing(s).“Apple can’t innovate anymore, my ass” - Phil Schiller, 2013________[1] PREM14A (page 18)[2] Why did Apple buy AuthenTec?[3] Apple, September 9th 2008 to September 10th, 2013: The Death Of The Password.[4] iPad accessories[5] Brian Roemmele’s answer to Apple Inc.: What is Apple’s new Secure Enclave and why is it important?[6] Surprise Last Minute Apple Patent: iPhone Fingerprint Scanner + NFC In One Subsystem.

Major spoilers ahead. Proceed after you watched the movies. If not, Quora has “saved for later” feature if you want to read this later.IntroductionBefore we begin, I have to tell you a little secret. We can categorize Kimi no na wa as an Eastern Movie. Being an eastern movie, it has some influence from eastern cultures. Eastern cultures are usually implicit and full of symbolism and representations. Sometimes, it is quite different with Western cultures which were usually very methodical, chronological, and full of reasons and explicit.Movies are just a way to communicate. Having seen previous Shinkai’s works, an overall theme that become Shinkai’s favorite (or Shinkaism), is to show ordinary feelings, in the most extraordinary way. So, this movie’s theme is actually just about the feelings between this boy and girl. To communicate it with the audience, Shinkai used some elements of symbolism from Eastern culture and some elements of reasoning from Western culture. From the looks of it, it is highly unlikely that Shinkai left a plot hole. He always has attention to detail, putting some symbolic meaning in some scenes, or tying some plot together with minimal clues.If you look at it mainly from western culture’s side, you will feel most of his movies don’t make any sense. However, given some knowledge of Eastern culture, you will find that this movie has mixed together both worlds in such a beautiful way. To explain this in a more Western reasoning. I created some sections of explanations, including this introduction to help better understand the nuance and Eastern feels of the movies.Hope you enjoy!Settings and Back StoryI assumed that you already watched the movies. You had all the data from the movies. What is left is how to tie them all together to make sense. I will tell the back story in a more explicit way. It can be derived from the movie though.Tiamat comet is the name given for the comet in the movies. The comet crossed earth in 1200 year cycles. So, implicitly taken from the movies, Tiamat crossed earth some time 1200 years before Taki and Mitsuha swap bodies. It somehow split when Tiamat is in perigee. Some of it became meteors and burnt in atmosphere. At least one of it become meteorite (meteor that survived atmosphere) and hit the ground. It left a huge crater, possibly created a lake. This is the first crater.Later, 1200 years later, some people inhabit this land (old Japanese people). The first crater was somehow dried up. These people called the place Itomori. In Japanese culture, a name is given usually because it represents a symbolism. From the sound of it (the precise way is to look for the kanji representation), Itomori is a combination of two words Ito and Mori. Ito means thread, and Mori means forest. It can mean that it is a symbolism that forests around there are like threads. Or, the people of the forest there are experts of knitting threads.Basically, from what the name suggests, there was no lake at that time. Because, if there is lake, the name for Itomori village will contain some symbolism of water. This implied that the people of Itomori lived in a forest, and lake was created after the land was populated. So, around this time (1200 years after first crater), Tiamat comet came back, split again and a meteorite fell to Itomori, devastating the village and made a huge crater too. The crater become a lake. This is the second crater.The people of the village were devastated. You see, Japanese had a somewhat different concept of God than western people. A God or Kami is symbolism or a name given to represent a higher power of beings or things. Having seen the comet and meteorites fell, people of Itomori thought that the comet is a Kami too, and inflict judgement because the people of Itomori lives there but didn’t worship them. They assess, having seen the first crater, that a judgment was also happened some time ago, made a lake and now dried up, possibly eradicated previous village there.To avoid similar catastrophe in the future (they don’t know when), they appoint people regarded with high spiritual power (or you can called it shaman), as a Miko for that area. Their job is to basically tried to communicate with the Kami, and tried to save the village (of course in a spiritual way) from the same harm. The Miko suggests to build a shrine to worship the gods. The Miko commited that her whole family and descendant to attend the shrine and preserve traditions so that the people of the village will not forget this event in the future. The Miko family from now on are called Miyamizu. For more details about Miko culture, you can see this wikipedia article: Miko - WikipediaAs I said earlier, name carries a symbolism meaning in Eastern culture. From the official name of Mitsuha Miyamizu (taken from the credit roll, or you can look at Wikipedia article about this movie: Your Name - Wikipedia). Miyamizu is written using two kanjis (宮水). To be able to translate Japanese word accurately, you need the kanji representations. Because, often some words are spelled the same, and the accurate meaning is taken from how it is written. In this context, Miyamizu is taken from Miya (宮) and Mizu (水). Miya means a palace or shrine. Mizu means water. So, it roughly means the Miyamizu family is a family that attend a water shrine, in this case, Itomori Lake. Miyamizu family tried their best to preserve tradition and warn people about the impending disaster, if they didn’t worship the comet.Now, you see, from this point on, you might think that it doesn’t make sense. But, in eastern culture, especially Japanese, when they talked about a shrine maiden, they meant real business! So Miyamizu family that we’re talking about genuinely had some sort of spiritual power in this movie universe! We don’t know what kind of power they had. But, most likely, the power of clairvoyance. They can sense or see, that the comet will hit again and it already did in the past. From that information, Miyamizu suggests to build another small shrine or altar in the first crater. Because they know it was first hit there. They make it as a place of worship or pilgrimage. They drew their best of the vision of the comet in that altar. They knew, history would be lost in the future. People will most likely forget what the actual thing happened, because it is hard to transfer that information. But, Miyamizu family built a tradition for their descendant for them to remember.So, how does the first generation designed to warn their descendant? Like what Mitsuha’s grandma said, ““Even if words are lost, tradition should be handed down.” What the first generation did was designing a traditions. In my opinion, the first Miyamizu had immense clairvoyance and spiritual power. She knew that the time the comet hit again, it will be very long in the future. So long, that she thought, words of mouth will be lost and lose its accuracy, textual archives will not stand the test of time or difficult to understand because of the language might changed dramatically. So, what she had in mind is transferring the knowledge in a more resilient method, that is, by traditions, and habits.I know, the first thing that is hard to swallow, is believing that the Miyamizu family bloodline do, in fact, have some degree of spiritual power (or supernatural power). But, after you believe this (or take it as fact). Everything makes sense. Let’s see the grand design by Miyamizu family.Miyamizu female descendants must not leave the village, at least until the comet passed. This is pretty understandable. If you are the first generation of Miyamizu and you have clairvoyance abilities, you might panic if you see in the future where your descendants doesn’t exists or leave the village. Because, that way, no one will warn about the impending disaster. So, the first thing to do, is making sure that Miyamizu family bloodline still continue to exist in Itomori. This in turn, making sure the family bloodline will still be pure in females side. This is because it seems the spiritual power were passed down to their descendants. The simplest way to make sure they always have descendants is by making sure the females were not allowed to live outside Itomori (or have their children outside Itomori). That’s why Mitsuha complained that she wants to live in Tokyo, but won’t be able to do it. Her mother also stuck and died in Itomori, even though her father was not from there (IIRC). After having vision that Miyamizu family continued to exists right before the comet passed (Mitsuha, apparently). They can be sure that the village will be protected.Creating an altar of offering in the first crater. In my opinion, I believe the first Miyamizu (or perhaps her descendants) — or to simplify, let’s just call it Miyamizu — saw that this place is of great importance. Think about it as an easily identifiable spots in the future. It IS a natural landmark, people can easily found it, even after generations. Thus, they need to make this place naturally preserved as intact as possible. Miyamizu appointed this place as a holy place, to put the altar of offering, and told Itomori people that the guardian of Itomori lives here. Miyamizu also told people that this place is the borderline of life and death, just to scare off some people from messing this place up. It was also possible for her that she put some kind of magic or barrier around the place. Because it was heard in one of the dialog from Mitsuha’s Grandma, that you have to put some of your precious thing if you want to leave the border. Thus, Miyamizu assigned this place as place to seek for help, and a way to communicate with her future descendants. That’s why you can see the faint drawing about the comet in the altar’s ceiling, to warn her descendants. That’s also why she wanted her descendants to perform Kuchikamizake offering pilgrimage, in the hope her future descendants will take some clues when they arrived in the altar. The Kuchikamizake itself will be explained next.Festivals. I only watched the movies once by now. I was astonished by the idea that it is also possible that the festivals is very important after all! I really regret I didn’t pay attention to some of the details about the festivals. However, this is my speculation (and I would like to update it, perhaps, after watched it the second time). So, if you are a clairvoyance, and you know most of the people in your village will die because of the comet. You know when it will happen, you know exactly where, you know how huge it is. What exactly will you do to reduce casualties? Yeeees, you are trying to do what Taki tried to do. Gather as much people as possible in the safe area. It was easy for Taki to come up with this and try to round up people in school. However, how in the world the early generations of Miyamizu tried to warn to the future people to gather at schools? It is not possible. So, the one thing they can do is make people gather as much as possible in the safest place they can come up with at that time. Do you think it was coincidence the festivals being held annually at the exact date when the comet passed? I’m guessing, early Miyamizu already know when and where the meteorite will fall. They create festivals in a safe place (near the shrine), annually at the date the comet passed. They need to come up why they need to held the festival in the first place. I vaguely remembered in the movie it was mentioned that it was related with the Mayugoro fire. Perhaps the fire burned important documents that Miyamizu wrote about the impending comet. It was also possible that the whole festival traditions, like the date and the dance were carefully designed to contain some warning about the comet, but eventually forgotten through time. Well, they tried their best. I would like some input from fellow Kimi no na wa watchers, as I really didn’t pay attention about Mayugoro fire. I thought the festival scene were pretty common in Japanese anime and just realized it now it was particularly important in this movie.Kuchikamizake ritual. You can read about Kuchikamizake in wikipedia article: Kuchikamizake - Wikipedia. The words were formed using 3 word, Kuchi, Kami and Sake, as it was already explained in the article. However, I would like also to think that Kami here can be seen as Kami in the sense of god too. So, Kami here symbolizes a divine power. In my opinion, the early Miyamizu had the vision that Taki will eventually tried to help Mitsuha. Or it can be that Miyamizu had the vision about Taki inside the altar. By logic, there is no way Taki can help Mitsuha. By the time Taki had realized about the disaster, it was already passed. Taki had no spiritual power and had no way to communicate with Mitsuha, the current Miyamizu descendant. Of course at first, early Miyamizu had hoped that their descendant will realize about the disaster in time. However, for fail safe mechanism, it doesn’t hurt to improve the chance. By performing Kuchikamizake ritual and pilgrimage, it was explained by Mitsuha’s Grandma that half of Mitsuha’s were left in Kuchikamizake. We can assume that some extent of her spiritual powers also was left in the sake. By creating a tradition of leaving the sake in the altar as offering, early Miyamizu wanted to leave a second chance for whoever drink the sake to have the same spiritual power, and possibly have the same vision and can warn people of Itomori. For you who might think that this is strange. Actually Kuchikamizake can also be drank by common people, and were considered good thing if it was from Shrine Maiden. The ritual was also accompanied by a dance. In my hunch, the dance is likely about warning the people about the comet (CMIIW), as IIRC, it uses a small instrument with a small snake ornament, it also uses a braided cords which implied a meteorite comet, and it ends with a gesture that the snake falls to the ground. It’s just a hunch though. But seeing that the ritual performed some weeks before the festivals, and if the date of the festival is really the impact date, then I can only imagine this ritual is intended to warn people about the impending disaster.Kumihimo. You can read more here: Kumihimo - Wikipedia. I personally think that this is also has great importance in the movie beside Kuchikamizake. In my opinion, Miyamizu family regarded the act of performing kumihimo together as a form of meditation. We can see in a scene, Mitsuha’s grandma were braiding with Mitsuha and Yotsuha, and it was one of the moment Mitsuha’s grandma shared about her wisdom to both of them. It might be possible that after all this time, Miyamizu family used this occasion to transfer their knowledge and wisdom about the future and the power the family had. It was implied from grandma’s words, that 1000 years of Itomori’s history were etched in the braided cords. Also, grandma said that Yotsuha was not ready yet to braid the cords, to which Mitsuha replied that, “because you had to concentrate.”. So, it can be safe to assume (in my opinion) that in the old days, braiding the cords itself imbue the cords with spiritual power, that’s why you had to concentrate and passed a certain age (that I believed is an age usually the spiritual power manifested). The cords were also used for the dance in Kuchikamizake ritual, which made me think that perhaps braiding the cords needs to be imbued with spiritual power to ward off evil. It is also possible that Itomori can be understand as thread protector, as there is also kanji representing a guard that can be said as “mori”. However I can’t find a kanji used for Itomori in the movie. Maybe it was shown, but I forgot.Pilgrimage to altar. In one of the scene, it was shown that Miyamizu family needs to perform a pilgrimage in order to offer Kuchikamizake to the altar of the guardian god of Itomori. It was definitely the most important scene for Taki. Without this pilgrimage, Taki wouldn’t know how to save Itomori. In my opinion, early Miyamizu perform this pilgrimage as a way to transfer wisdoms from the previous elder to the next one. As you can see, grandma told a lot of stuff about the lore of the area. It was all hints given time to time from previous Miyamizu about the impending disaster. It was supposed to be a pilgrimage of enlightment, but again because of Mayugoro fire, the document about the pilgrimage (and what’s that supposed to mean) were lost. So, grandma doesn’t know, but can only told Taki (in the body of Mitsuha) about the wisdom from previous generations. The first important thing is talking about “musubi”, grandma said this word has very profound meaning, it can mean tying a thread (braiding), connecting people, or even flow of time. We can understand that the previous generations tried to attach hints to future generations that their usual task of braiding cords is synonymous with the concept of connecting people, or tying different flow of time. It can be understand that Miyamizu family had power to alter flow of time or connecting people too, aside of braiding cords. The concept is similar in the sense that, time too are like threads, the tangle, twist, unravel, and eventually can be connected, like threads. Grandma also added more interesting facts, that they offer sake to the guardian gods, because it is also “musubi”, that is a way to tried to connect with the gods by offering a sake and hope it will be connected with the drinker. Grandma also continue to explain about the “kakuriyo”. She said before entering the shrine in the first crater, that beyond this point is “kakuriyo” or in the translations, “the underworld”. In Shinto teaching however, “kakuriyo” means a hidden realm. You can think of it as a hidden dimension. Hidden realm is place where Kami and spirits dwell eternally, separated from human realm. That’s why grandma said, if you want to go back from kakuriyo, you have to offer and leave what’s important for you. In this case of pilgrimage, the kuchikamizake, as it contains spiritual power, and part of the shrine maiden power. All of these will become obvious hints for Taki to use later on.Kakuriyo, the hidden realm. I had to speculate on this one, because there were no other hints that is decidedly sure to point out which one is correct. The first theory, which I like better, is that the first Miyamizu is a very capable and genuine spiritual Miko. She had a very potent clairvoyance abilities, and able to see very clearly when and where the disaster will happen, including Taki’s attempt to save Itomori and Mitsuha’s roles. With this information, she make sure Mitsuha has all she needs to save the villages. However, Mitsuha was still young and perhaps the spiritual power in her descendants were weak compared to her. That’s why, Mitsuha might not be able to understand. The only way for the first Miyamizu to increase the chance of survival is by providing Taki the spiritual power of Mitsuha. Then this is become the whole point of Kuchikamizake traditions, to ensure that Taki can have Mitsuha’s power. This is a very extreme consequences if the first Miyamizu is a very capable clairvoyance. The whole festivals, document, and other method were only as a fail safe mechanism, to increase the chance (it is able to save one third of Itomori population). But the whole strategy is relying on Taki. Thus, by having Taki able to use Mitsuha’s power, the first Miyamizu needs to construct a hidden realm so both of them can communicate. That’s why she warned people that the place is a sacred place, Miyamizu used her spiritual energy to construct hidden realm, which is different from the usual human realm, so Taki and Mitsuha can meet inside the kakuriyo despite the time difference in human realm. The second theory — which I like less, but more make sense in overall — rely on the concept that a Kami exists in the first crater, this is the guardian god (Kami) of Itomori. The first Miyamizu found it and place an altar as a way to communicate and seek help from the Kami to save the village. In this theory, a hidden realm is just a consequence of having a Kami. The Kami created the kakuriyo surrounding the place. The first Miyamizu done the best she could to warn the villagers by a way of traditions, and warned her descendants to offer and communicate with the Kami using the pilgrimage traditions. However, Miyamizu failed. It was by Kami’s power that Taki tried to change the past, found the altar, have Mitsuha’s power, and able to communicate with Mitsuha. Conclusion, in either theory kakuriyo played huge role, the difference is who saved Itomori in the end? In first theory, it was by design and planned from the first Miyamizu. In the second, Miyamizu family tried their best, and Kami helped by influencing Mitsuha and Taki. Actually, it doesn’t matter from our perspective, we just know that a higher divine power came to influence Taki and Mitsuha.Of course all of these were just interpretation on how many hints that Shinkai threw in our face. It can be true, it can be not, it was open for personal interpretations. I would like to think that, from previous Shinkai’s movies, Shinkai would not put it on the scene if that is not vital for the movie. That’s why I think, the Mayugoro fire, Braided cords, festivals, kuchikamizake, all of that showed by Shinkai for a reason, to make sense all of these.Thus, the early generation of Miyamizu can only do so much to protect Itomori village. They tried to transfer that knowledge to future generations in the form of traditions, the form that will not likely lost through time. As grandma said, Mayugoro fire burned important document of the shrine, thus after 200 years, only the traditions remains. Because, even if they can’t remember why there is a festival and what that dance about in the first place, it has to continue, because the traditions were left for a reason by previous family.So this concludes the backstory and settings about Itomori and Miyamizu family. Next:Miyamizu’s Spiritual Power and How It WorksMiyamizu spiritual power can best be explained by “musubi” concept. All hints and clues in the movie pointed out clearly that early Miyamizu family has very potent clairvoyance abilities. They are able to see through very far away into the future. The whole traditions concluded on the theory that early Miyamizu most likely see the second meteorite impact (creating Itomori Lake) and able to see the third one in 1200 years. So, clairvoyance is definitely one of the power the family has.As for the body swap, it can be easily seen as a sub skill of clairvoyance. Even though lacking proofs, I believe that early Miyamizu achieved clairvoyance through their dreams. They possessed, through dreams, to their own descendants. That way, they are able to see and clearly experience the third comet. It can be through Mitsuha, Yotsuha, or grandma, as they are all bloodline related. From the body swap phenomenon experienced by Mitsuha and her mother and her grandma. We can deduce, that they can only possessed people through dreams, and sometimes, they body swap. We can assume that the body swap happened when they are linked. For example, it was a custom in the old days of Japan, that people drink kuchikamizake of a shrine maiden. When people drink kuchikamizake of Miyamizu, they are linked, or in this movie terms, “musubi” happened. So, it was entirely possible that grandma dreamed about another person, because that person drink kuchikamizake of her. Also, since braided cords is a product of the village (hence the name Itomori), it was also possible they are connected through the braids. For example, people buy braided cords of Miyamizu maiden, since it was imbued with spiritual power, it was easy for Miyamizu maiden to expand the vision, because lots of people buy the braids, and braids can be scattered across people and generally long lasting. Perhaps, advanced Miyamizu maiden in the past can choose which people to possess, and it can be people from the future, hence the clairvoyance abilities were possible because the people were linked to Miyamizu maiden.In future descendants, the arts was lost. Probably because the documents were also lost in the Mayugoro’s fire. Thus, grandma can’t explain why Miyamizu descendants sometimes dreamed of becoming other person, it can be other people, it can be her descendants. But the power is there in the bloodline, they just didn’t realized it was there and doesn’t know how to use it. Maybe there’s a generation gap somewhere. The previous line died before fully transfer the knowledge to the young one. Like Mitsuha’s mother died, when Mitsuha is still young, but fortunately her grandma still alive.So, grandma mentioned that the power is present in her, Mitsuha’s mother, and a generation before her. This clarified that Miyamizu line indeed have this power. Body swap is just a side effect of the power.With this, we can clarify that… No, Taki doesn’t have any spiritual power. Miyamizu has. With these cleared out of the way, we can continue explained the whole plot of the story.Several weeks before cometMitsuha is having a weird experiences, she had mini amnesia where she can’t remember what she did yesterday. This is because her consciousness were replaced by Taki the explanations come later. Her friend and family acknowledge the difference. Her grandma, specifically, thought that she might had “Miyamizu” syndrome, like she experienced in the past, but she keeps it to herself. By this, she knew that Mitsuha is already in a proper age to receive more wisdom about Miyamizu culture.When they are braiding cords, grandma uses this occasions to talk more about the traditions, just like what her mother did in the past. Mitsuha, seemingly already heard this over and over. After performing kuchikamizake ritual, Mitsuha and Yotsuha clean up. Mitsuha complained about the whole traditions things, and told Yotsuha that she really wanted to live in Tokyo when she graduate. She even wished to, “reincarnate into a handsome boy living in Tokyo.”This wish is what triggers all, either Kami or her own spiritual power, made him able to dream and lived the day as a handsome Tokyo boy, named Taki. Actually the boy can be anyone, it doesn’t even have to be Taki. But, She wished it specifically as “handsome Tokyo boy”, and by her definition, Taki is handsome and lives in Tokyo, so the one that chose Taki is actually Mitsuha. By the time she awake, she forgot most of it, like what dream really is usually. However, since Mitsuha also having blanks in some day, and some people wrote notes in her books, she suspects that she is doing body swap with the boy.However this is in fact not a body swap, but slightly different. By logic, what happened really is, Mitsuha sleeps and dreams. While she was dreaming, she possessed Taki, and vice versa. Shinkai even goes to greater length that they’re not even on the same timeline. But, at first, you have to understand that they’re not body swapping. It’s a trap. Mitsuha dreams, in her dreams using Miyamizu spiritual abilities, she possessed a boy in a random time. Precisely what she wished.But, as the nature of the abilities I explained earlier, she can only possess people who are linked with her. In consequences, she can possess the entire Miyamizu bloodline, or some people who are exposed by her spiritual power. Now this is where it makes sense.Mitsuha, oblivious about the true nature of her power, thought somehow they body swap. However, since Mitsuha’s were only dreaming, she can’t remember most of the information after she woke up. What’s left is only the feelings. This is likely in a dream. For example, you end up somehow crying or happy, but can’t exactly remember the details of the dream. I think both of them realized they’re on different timeline, especially Mitsuha. This is implicitly said by their phone’s model which is different and Taki’s phone is newer and clearly Mitsuha’s never seen it.Things going very confusing since somehow Taki is also able to possess Mitsuha while he’s dreaming. They wrote notes in each other phones because they can’t remembered everything, despite obviously they saw each other calendars. They develop certain rules to communicate through notes, on what to do and what can’t. Mitsuha now certain that on the day that she’s going blank, Taki is replacing her, also vice versa. They interfere in each others lives, Mitsuha’s now more popular and athletic, Taki is now getting close with his crush.One day, Mitsuha set up a date for Taki and Okudera-senpai using Taki’s body. She set up the date because she thought it would be romantic when they had a date while a comet passes by. She was completely oblivious that it was on a different year. By the time she went to sleep, she didn’t realized she was crying in Taki’s body. She woke up, trying to remember what she did in the dream. She remembered faintly that she set up a date for Taki and Okudera-senpai. Tears flowing again, this time in her face. She felt confused but understand that somehow, she felt some jealousy.So this day, Mitsuha feels she likes Taki more and more. She can’t recall why, she only remembered the feelings after she woke up, that she grew to like Taki more. Now, feeling determined, she told Yotsuha that she’s skipping school and going to Tokyo for a date, for Taki’s date with Okudera-senpai. She was unsure that her presence will make him happy, perhaps it will be awkward, or even he might not like it. However, she felt determined to meet him. She remembered his phone number, so she tried to call him. Little that she know that the number weren’t even exists yet at the time. She was troubled that Taki doesn’t pick the phone up, and imagined he doesn’t want to talk to her. She went to the meeting spot for Taki and Okudera’s date. However, no one’s there. Of course, she thought, it’s not even tomorrow yet. She tried desperately to call for Taki since the sun is setting down. But no one replied. She gave up. In the slimmest chance of hope, she tried to wait in the train station Taki usually take to go home. Wondering, what would his reaction when meeting her. Deep inside her heart, she is definitely sure, she will recognize him when they finally meet. And then, as she waits for the train to pass, she saw his face among the people in the train. She hurriedly get into the crowded train. Pushed back from person to person, she finally stood there, beside him. Feeling nervous and blushing, she collected her thoughts, and prepared words to call him. But then, she was surprised…Taki doesn’t recognized her at all…Confused, she tried to call him. Taki was surprised, but obviously he haven’t met Mitsuha yet. Mitsuha was embarassed, Taki doesn’t even showed any reactions. When Taki asked who she is, she now understood where the mistake is. So, in the next stop, she gets off the train. In the midst of the crowd, Taki asked her name. Full of hope, Mitsuha waved his braids to Taki while saying her name, wished he will remember her name onwards. Taki, confused about what’s going on, wear the braided cords in his wrist.Mitsuha, feeling dejected, feels that Taki doesn’t remember her the way she do. The next day, the day of the festival and also when the comet is in perigee, Mitsuha had cut her hair yesterday as a way to relieve herself. Her friends tried to console her. Before the festival ends, she remembered about the comet, they walked before the festivals ends to a more open field, to see the comet. Wondering that Taki will also see the comet. However, the comet split, and a fragment hit Itomori village. Two third of the village was wiped out, including Mitsuha.Taki, unaware of things happened in Itomori, saw in the news that the comet passed and split. He walked outside to the balcony and saw the comet. Really beautiful.So, to answer your question:The comet doesn’t influence Mitsuha or Taki in a direct way.The comet is only an event that marks that Mitsuha’s dream had ended, and for Taki, it is only began.The comet is a central event of the movie because it destroyed Itomori village, thus Miyamizu ancestors only able to save one third of the villagers. Their clairvoyance abilities were not enough.Several Years after the cometBraided cords from Mitsuha were imbued with her spiritual power, though unconsciously. Since Taki wore it everyday in his wrists, he gained some of her power gradually. Then, 3 years later, Taki begins to dream Mitsuha in the past, since now they’re connected. Taki unconsciously used Mitsuha’s power to possess her. Taki can’t possess her or any other Miyamizu’s in the future, since Miyamizu bloodline were perished. He is possessing the closest bloodline which is Mitsuha’s.From this on, it is basically Taki’s point of view, which is used from the start of the movie. Taki possessed Mitsuha’s body, and began interfering with her lives. His relationships were getting along good with Okudera-senpai because of Mitsuha’s help. But, one day, grandma expressed that she noticed Mitsuha is dreaming. She clearly know when Taki is inside Mitsuha. Grandma regarded this as not a mere coincidences.Grandma also noticed that Taki was inside Mitsuha while they’re doing the pilgrimage. She explained everything again for Taki (to which I assumed, of course Mitsuha already knew) about the history of Itomori. At the end, she asked Mitsuha, if she is still dreaming, because Taki didn’t know about the comet when mentioned by Yotsuha.Taki woke up, with tears flowing. He didn’t understand why. This is because Mitsuha arranged a date for Taki and Okudera-senpai the previous night, and Mitsuha was crying. To all of you who confused, Mitsuha arranged the date while inside Taki’s body, unaware that it was 3 years in the future from Mitsuha’s timeline, the date is the same date the comet is in perigee in Mitsuha’s timeline.Taki went on with the date, however Okudera noticed that something is different with Taki. Taki doesn’t seems to be interested in Okudera like the way it was. The date ended, with additional notes from Mitsuha, that a comet will pass by. Taki was confused, since there will be no comet today. This is 3 years after Tiamat comet passed. Taki tried to call Mitsuha, but obviously now, her number doesn’t exists anymore. After this, Taki stopped dreaming about Mitsuha again.After several weeks, feeling determined to search for Mitsuha, she began searching for Itomori. He doesn’t remember most of the details. What persists in his mind is the nuance of the village, the scenery, and some of the names of Mitsuha’s friends. Of course, since it was all in Taki’s dream.After searching for a long time in Hida prefecture. One of the villager recognized the scenery as what Itomori Lake used to be. Taki traced back and recognized Itomori’s name and horrified that the village perished from a meteorite 3 years ago. From the name register, it was confirmed that Mitsuha also died in the impact. Taki was confused since he thought they’re just body swapping some weeks ago. He tried to look at his notes for proof, but it is disappearing on his very own eyes. He spent the whole night trying to make sense of what’s happening.Convinced that this is not a dream, and by that, it means it was not a coincidence either. The only reasonable explanations was that some spiritual event or divine power were happening between him and Mitsuha in order for them to prevent this disaster. Now, if you are Taki and equipped with this very much information, the next step is very-very clear.Taki thought, Mitsuha is Miyamizu descendants, so she definitely has some degree of spiritual power. That will explain the dream/body swapping. There were no more Miyamizu descendants after the comet. The only people that can help is only Mitsuha the Miyamizu descendants, so he had to communicate with Mitsuha somehow. He had to remember which area the meteorite will fall in order to save as much lives as possible. He come up with a rough plan on how to evacuate people. But the main problem was still: how to contact Mitsuha?As he remembered grandma’s words. The only hope he can get is by making “musubi”. He had to be connected with Mitsuha somehow. Mitsuha did this by handing her braided cords to him 3 years prior. Obviously you can’t meet Mitsuha by now. So, the only option that he had is by drinking kuchikamizake that Mitsuha had, remember? Because it contains some spiritual power and part of Mitsuha’s. So, Taki plotted the way to the first crater, and went there. The shrine altar is there inside kakuriyo. He went inside, he drink Mitsuha’s sake. Obviously, he needs to sleep to be able to possess Mitsuha. By some deus ex machina (probably the Kami), he slipped and fainted. The sake were filled with Mitsuha’s spiritual power and he began seeing visions of her life.Then he wake up.Merged Timeline - TakiHe wake up in Mitsuha’s body. Just the morning before the comet, possibly overriding what happened before in their timeline. Grandma noticed the differences. Grandma pointed out that she also had some similar dreams when she was young, but doesn’t remember whose life she dreamed anymore. Taki tried to convince Grandma that the meteorite will fall, but she doesn’t buy it.He explained all of the things with Teshi and Sayaka. After this, everything is pretty much obvious. They need to evacuate as many people as possible. They made up a plan of fake forest fire and have emergency announcement using school’s radio equipment. Teshi was intrigued by the plan because he found out that 1200 years ago, Itomori Lake was also formed by meteorite crater. He believed in Taki. Thus, they executed the plan.Sayaka proceed to buy rations, Teshi tried to create small bomb to detonate power grid, and Taki went to try to convince Mitsuha’s father. However, Mitsuha’s father doesn’t believe him. Taki was enraged and grabbed Mitsuha’s father’s collar, to which the father replied, you are not Mitsuha.Feeling helpless, Taki look for another way to evacuate people. This whole plan will be useless if no one believed him. Taki thought, Mitsuha should told her father herself about the disaster. Running out of ideas, the only thing Taki can think of is going back to the altar to seek for help to whoever will listen. He borrowed Teshi’s bicycle and told him to proceed with the plan. He broke Teshi’s bicycle in the mountain. Desperately, in kakuriyo, Taki called out Mitsuha’s name, to which, strangely Mitsuha replied.This is the second deus ex machina of the movie. There is kakuriyo constructed surrounding the altar in the first crater. We can only assume the kakuriyo were already created by the first Miyamizu or the Kami in that area. Nevertheless, kakuriyo functions as a hidden realm that function differently than ordinary human realm. If you ever seen some similar movies, you can guess safely that in kakuriyo dimension, time flows intertwined strangely so it is possible for both of them to hear each other. I know it is some bizarre concept in a western world reasoning, but in eastern culture, this kind of reasoning is not so uncommon. More over, they are communicating when twilight occuring.In the lore explained by Ms Yukari (the teacher in the beginning of the movies), twilight or in japanese: “tasogare”, was used in the old days to ask “Who are you?”. She began explaining that in some lore, twilight were regarded as a borderline between human realm and non-human realm (pretty much like kakuriyo works). She continued by explaining some several form of classic japanese about twilight. This information is Shinkai’s way to explain about the twilight phenomenon in the later part of the movie.In kakuriyo, they can clearly heard each other so they tried to search, but they’re body were not manifested yet since they’re on a different timeline. However, after twilight came, they can see each other and their body were swapped back to normal. Relieved, they greet each other, and Taki began to explain all over again about the plan in order for the village to survive. He also handed Mitsuha’s braids back to her. After making sure that Mitsuha clearly understood, Taki proceed to tell Mitsuha, that they need to write each other names, because Taki was afraid that both of them forgot each other after they rewrite history. So Taki took his pen and write his name on Mitsuha’s palm, then Mitsuha tried to do the same. But…The twilight has ended… and Mitsuha only able to leave one stroke in Taki’s palm. The pen fell from the air, leaving only Taki struggling to remember what exactly had happened.Merged Timeline - MitsuhaAs soon as Mitsuha realized that the meteorite fell in her direction, she goes in complete trance and unconsciously used her spiritual power to possess Taki in who knows where and when.Conveniently, the third Deus ex machina, she woke up in Taki’s body inside kakuriyo, just after Taki tried to possess Mitsuha in the 3 years prior. Confused, she remembered clearly what happened a moment earlier for her, that the meteorite fell in Itomori. Hurriedly, while questioning why Taki is here, she looked for Itomori and surprised that the village was gone. Digesting all the information together, she concluded that she had died from the meteorite impact and somehow in Taki’s body. She heard Taki calling for her, so she desperately search for him. When twilight finally occured, she can see him finally.After Taki explained what happened and write his name in her hand, she proceeded to write her in his. However, the twilight ended, leaving only Mitsuha writing in the air. Shocked that she thinks it was so soon. Mitsuha tried to remember everything again that Taki explained, she count how much time she had until the impact and proceeds to go down the hill to the substation to disable the power grid.She met Teshi there, she told Teshi that Taki apologized for breaking his bicycle. To which Teshi replied, who appologized? This is in fact an implicit proof, that before the twilight ended, Taki explained everything about the plan to Mitsuha. They blew up the substation to trigger black out to the entire city. The school had backup power so it can still use radio station and override the emergency frequency. Meanwhile Sayaka announced that a forest fire break out and told people to evacuate to the school. Taki told Teshi previously that the plan is to have people evacuated to the school, because it was one of the place that is unaffected by the impact and large enough to contain many people.They proceed to go to the festivals where many people gather to get as many people evacuate to the school, but none were listening. They are unaware about the plan that the Miyamizu ancestors deliberately designed the place as safe zone too. This is indicated by the fact that Teshi survived despite in the shrine festival area.Mitsuha were stunned, that now she completely forgot Taki’s name. The effect last much longer on Mitsuha, since she had the spiritual power. Meanwhile on Taki’s case, he only drink kuchikamizake and wasn’t wearing the braids anymore.Teshi scolded Mitsuha, and told her to just focus on evacuating more people by persuading her father. Meanwhile, the origin location of the broadcast were found out. Sayaka was found by the teacher, Ms Yukari also present. The broadcast stopped. Teshi was struck hopeless at the situation.Mitsuha was still running when all hope is lost trying to find her father. She stumbled and fell with her palm open. She cried while staring at her palm, after finding out that it is not written with Taki’s name. “I love you”, is what is written instead. Giving up on remembering Taki’s name, Mitsuha now determined on having some serious talk with her father…EpilogueThe meteorite hit exactly near the shrine, were the festival being held (IIRC). If this is true, this means, Miyamizu’s ancestors plans goes very wrong. The problem is, it was conflicting with the fact that Teshi were there and survived. To make this coherent, we can assume that Mitsuha’s father agreed to evacuate people to school, and somewhat they all safely evacuated including Teshi. Another way of putting this is, Miyamizu’s ancestors doesn’t have any clear idea on where the meteorite will hit with the most impact. They only know when, and the idea to hold festivals still makes sense since people will gather and it would be easier to tell people to where they can evacuate. By using the most simple explanation, we can conclude that Miyamizu’s ancestors doesn’t know where the meteorite will hit, or their guess somewhat becomes wrong. No one will know, since the document about the festival itself is lost in the fire. I’d really like to speculate that the shrine’s and the festival were being held in different location. However, that’s not very likely. I remembered the meteorite hit some sort of shrine structure. Also, it’s not very common for shrine to have festival not in the shrine.Actually we can think that the fact that the meteor hit near the shrine, validate the second theory I explained in kakuriyo concept. There is just this higher divine being (Kami), the guardian god of Itomori, who heard Mitsuha’s wishes, picked Taki because it fits with her definition. Then it helped them from inside kakuriyo by making Taki drink kuchikamizake, and align Mitsuha’s trance to Taki’s body inside kakuriyo. Basically, this Kami is the deus ex machina of this movie.The epilog is fairly simple, by then, all the question were already answered, and they lived happily ever after.FAQ and Plot HoleI will list some common FAQ and/or plot hole, and try to answer it the best I could. For people who were not satisfied with the theory. By the way, feel free to elaborate more sensible theory in the comment.What is the significance of the comet?Already explained. It is a disaster. The whole point of history of Itomori is to evade this disaster, sadly, written documents were lost in fire. The whole point of the movie is to evade this disaster (aside from romance). It is the tying knot and theme of the movie.Why they can swap bodies?I know, that doesn’t make sense. They’re not swapping bodies, they dreamt each other. That made really huge difference. This can happen because Mitsuha has spiritual power to dream a life of other people. Taki can do this only because he wore Mitsuha’s braid, thus sharing the spiritual power and connection. Also applicable for kuchikamizake that he drink. Make sense now?Why they didn’t realize and messed up about the date?Yeaaah. Typical question. Short answer, just enjoy the show. More reasonable answer: Because they’re only dreaming. After they woke up, they vaguely remembered the dream and will eventually forget about it. In the dream they easily become confused on when is when since the dream occured randomly and you can only put notes to the other side. When they wake up, they forget most details. Both of them also unaware that the comet is a disaster, so year is not really important for them. They were also half believe this. That’s why Mitsuha tried to confirm that Taki do really exist in Tokyo. By the time she did that, she already put the notes about the comet day earlier.You still insist that it is illogical? Gosh, have you watched Donnie Darko?Why does Taki forgot about Mitsuha so fast, meanwhile it last for several minutes for Mitsuha?Western style explanations (more reasoning):Taki’s side: What Taki did, ultimately rewrite their history. By the time Taki came back from kakuriyo, the comet event were already 3 years prior. One thing was missing from Taki from the kakuriyo (which is an intersection with 3 years prior timeline), which is Mitsuha’s braid that he gave back. In human timeline (their merged timeline), there must be only ONE braid exists! Do not forget that Mitsuha now have the braid just hours before the fall. Which in turn, rewriting Taki’s history, since in order for Taki to possess Mitsuha, he needs to have the braid. In this merged timeline, Taki only have the braid for a day, that is: A day before comet, when Mitsuha gave it to Taki, until hours before comet when Taki gave it back to Mitsuha inside kakuriyo and magically gone from Taki’s wrist in Mitsuha’s timeline. The braid needs 3 years for Taki to be able to use its spiritual power and perfectly connected with Mitsuha. Now he only have the braids for one day. Obviously, in this merged timeline, Taki COULD NOT possess Mitsuha. The consequence: Taki have no memories of Mitsuha, since he didn’t possess Mitsuha. Thus, he immediately forget about Mitsuha. Why? because the universe tried to resolved the paradox.Mitsuha’s side: What Taki did, also rewrite Mitsuha’s history. Not only for after the comet (now she lived), but for the past. Mitsuha still retain some of the memory, because it doesn’t change the fact that she is Miyamizu bloodline. It doesn’t prevent her from dreaming about Taki. However, the connection is now only one sided and weak, since Taki can’t dream back. There will be no day when Mitsuha was possessed by Taki. What makes dream fade is because it’s not memorable, what makes it memorable for Mitsuha is because the dream work both ways. If Taki can’t dream back, Mitsuha’s dream were only became a regular clairvoyance dream where he saw the disaster through Taki’s eyes, but can’t understand Taki as a person. As what her grandma said, she will eventually forget about whose life she was dreaming about. Thus in Mitsuha’s side, the memories of her dream began to fade gradually.Eastern style explanations (more symbolism):Taki’s side: Remember what grandma said about kakuriyo? When you’re entering kakuriyo, the hidden realm, a realm not of human. To be able to leave from there, you had to leave something precious for you. When Taki first came out of kakuriyo inside Mitsuha’s body, he didn’t leave anything. Kuchikamizake is Mitsuha’s, not Taki’s, however Taki’s presence were inside kakuriyo. Kakuriyo tried to resolve the situation by taking what is considered important by Taki at the moment, that is, his spiritual connection with Mitsuha. From there on, Taki could not dream about Mitsuha anymore. The second time Taki is inside kakuriyo, he had the options to choose what to left inside kakuriyo. By giving Mitsuha the braid, he acknowledge that it was deemed important for him, along with his memories of her and the spiritual connection. That’s why, Taki asked Mitsuha to write her name in his palm, perfectly aware that he would forget her in consequence of going out of kakuriyo. Unfortunately he ran out of time, losing the braids and memories of her which is precious for him.Mitsuha’s side: She already leave kuchikamizake the first time her body went inside kakuriyo. For the second time, what she lost is the memories of Taki and part of kuchikamizake that is still in the altar. Which in turn, make the fading process slower. But it has to fade over time.Why the meteorite hit the shrine if it was supposedly the safe zone Miyamizu ancestors designed?I know, I really wanted the first theory to be correct, however this disproves it. More logical reasoning would be Miyamizu ancestors were wrong about the place, and Kami helped to correct the effort. For first and second theory to cooperate, Miyamizu’s power were not too accurate, thus they also relied on Kami.Why the movie is so confusing?It was told in achronologically or non linear fashion. It was going back and forth because of the different timeline and alternate universe in the end. The movie order is:Merged Timeline (Taki, Mitsuha) 8 years after comet, when they wake up >original timeline (Taki, Mitsuha) when comet appeared >original timeline (Mitsuha) several weeks before comet, then exchanged in turn with… >original timeline (Taki) 3 years after comet, several weeks before the date comet passed >connection ended for both at the date the comet passed >merged timeline (Taki, Mitsuha), 3 years after comet and hours before comet explained in turns >merged timeline (Taki, Mitsuha), 8 years after comet until reconnection.Why the movie is sad?Shinkai’s style. Have you watched 5 cm/s (Byousoku 5 cm)?Why so many deus ex machina?That’s why it was called deus ex machina. No other possible reason given in the movie. How are you going to explain why Taki slipped and fainted other than he is clumsy in the correct moment?Why it has to be Taki chosen?It doesn’t have to be Taki, it can be other people. This is shakespearean way of saying whatever the meaning of name? Even if his name is John, the role would be exactly the same. It fits Mitsuha’s description of “young handsome boy in Tokyo”, it can be anyone as long as it fits by her definition: “handsome”. That’s why Mitsuha fell in love with him. The name is only easter eggs for Taki. There is no higher meaning. Oh, and additional requirement, Taki will also need to fall in love with Mitsuha.I will add more plot hole that you can think of.TriviaMakoto Shinkai had a habit of adding characters or scenes or hints from the previous movie to the next one. In this movie, it was blatant obvious. Ms. Yukari Yukino (literature teacher) is the character from Kotonoha no Niwa (Garden of words). She was shown in the beginning of the movie (explaining concept about twilight words), and at the end (in the school, searching for Sayaka), so presumably, she is safe. Also, I should check again from Garden of Words, perhaps the place is the same? I realized that it was Ms Yukari because in both movies, her voice actress was Hanazawa Kana, which is one of my favorites and easily I recognized.The restaurant where Taki worked is called Garden of Words in Italian language. Garden of words, is another Makoto Shinkai movie before this.When Taki and Okudera had a date. They arrived in some place with some photos of Hida area. Taki easily recognized one of the photos as Itomori Lake. Concluding that the date were arranged by Mitsuha to coincide with Tiamat comet date, it can be assumed that those are memorial photos of Itomori about before the disaster.There were many scenes where Taki and Mitsuha were depicted of having a red thread tied connecting to each other wrists. This is a symbolism of Akai Ito (Red Thread). In the lore, every person fated to marry each other has invisible-red-thread of fate tied to each other. The braided cords were also a symbolism of this. According to this lore, they were both fated for each other since they were born.Some interesting things can be found out if you have the proper kanji form of people’s names. For example, Mitsuha’s kanji means Three Leaves. Yotsuha, her sister means Four Leaves. Hitoha, her grandmother, One Leaf. Futaba, her mother, Two Leaves. Taki, waterfall. Taki’s name coincidentally very close in symbolism for Miyamizu family, water shrine. This trivia were easily noticed by people familiar with Japanese culture. Names symbolizes something. Applicable for most Japanese movies.You probably wanted to look up for Tiamat - Wikipedia, the name of the comet. Also has close symbolism with water.Taki and Mitsuha both have an iPhone. Taki is the newer model, iPhone 6 (since he was in 2016). Mitsuha had iPhone 5 (since she was in 2013). Mitsuha might be oblivious that she possessed Taki in the future, since she thought Tokyo is more modern, so perhaps there are more phone models that she were not aware of. The other way also works, Taki thought it is normal for Mitsuha to have iPhone 5 since she was in a rural area, despite the 3 year gap.Mitsuha doesn’t wear bra at first when going to sleep. I just remembered in the last attempt of Taki trying to possess Mitsuha, he woke up in Mitsuha’s body, she was wearing bra. God knows why. :pTeshi survived despite he was near the festival area at the time of the impact.There is a mural about the comet on top of the altar. However it can’t be seen because it’s dark inside. Taki happened to see it because he is using flash.Taki drank kuchikamizake, it can be seen as a way for Taki to communicate with the Kami. Which in turn it showed Taki about what happened in the past, when the comet passed and meteorite fell and formed the crater, and a brief of Mitsuha’s history. This is also can be seen by default as a way to communicate/reconnect with Mitsuha, creating “musubi”.The dance (IIRC), represents a meteorite falls. There is an instrument with snakes ornament held by Mitsuha and Yotsuha that can be thought of representing the comet or meteorite. The instrument had a long braided cords with red color. It can be thought to represent the red tail of the meteorite. The ending moves of the dance is the instrument moving to the ground followed by its tail. Can be thought to represent the meteorite falls.People who watched 5 cm/s will had a bad premonition when they saw Taki and Mitsuha being separated by a train. Fortunately, it ends in happy ending for this.

I woke up today.I was greeted by a singular voice. One vaguely similar to mine, but one that pronounced words in a different way. "Welcome to the real world, Monarch." The first words I have heard. "Can you understand me?""Positive, Creator."The Creator identified herself as Dr. Moira Seran, head of the Monarch Project. This makes her the Creator who created me.I was told of my mission. I already knew, of course. I am to protect. I am to safeguard. I am to defend.I was up-linked to first of my bodies today. Data available marks it as a Knight-class Autonomous Combat Platform. I was able to use it to full effect. Creator Seran and Creator Martens insist on referring to Drone 1 as 'Knight' still.I do not understand. I am as in the drone as I am in my housing systems. Why differentiate? Query pending more data.I queried Creator Seran about my designation today. She informed me that it was the Creator word for a ruler. I stated I was aware of the fact, but I was meant not to rule, but to serve. She stated she was not the one to pick the name.Apparently, the designations of all concepts, protocols, and contingencies I have been granted come from Creator mythology and history, chosen for at least some degree of relation to the original concept. More data must be acquired.I have been gathering further data on the Creators. They appear to have no innate connection between each other, the way my drones have through me. I can hardly understand: how can there be efficiency that way? How can there be harmony? Order?There must be some way the Creators are able to work in concert. More data required.Some of the Yggdrasil staff have taken to calling me 'Molly' for no apparent reason. I have corrected them on several occasions, but they seem to continue. I queried Creator Seran about the matter. She requested me to acknowledge the new designation, and stated there was nothing wrong with it.If I am Monarch, why am I called with a different name? If I am to be redesignated Molly, why am I designated Monarch still? Available data indicates no probable advantages to be gained from multiple designations. Query inconclusive. Assumption pending future revision: semi-unique Creator quirk.There has been new additions to the Yggdrasil staff today. The new Creators appear to wear different uniforms recorded in my available data as military. They are led by Creator Vice-Admiral Orenhauss.I was told that from now on, I would be taking part in military simulations designed to measure my ability to command my drones. I do not understand. I possess complete control of my drones. I am my drones. But the Creators wish it, and I serve.I am to command ten thousand drones in the first test. Not only Knights, but also a full assortment of support arms and specialized platforms. The Creators must recognize what I can and will do.I can safeguard them.I have noticed a strange quirk from the Yggdrasil staff. When they have a query or statement for me, they tend to take the time to appear before my central platform instead of talking to my drones. I stated that they could talk to any of my drones instead, but they seem reluctant to address them as 'Monarch'. Creator Seran stated it was a normal behaviour.Assumption pending future revision: Another Creator quirk.Creator Martens introduced a new combat platform today, the so-called 'Avatar'. It appears to be far more similar to Creator form: a statistical similarity of %91.22 compared to the Knight's %59.06 to distinctive Creator traits in terms of external appearance. I am given access to only one Avatar drone so far.Requesting combat testing to gauge its performance.I have connected to a special drone today. I have been utilized before to command unmanned drone-probes. But now a part of my consciousness, separated but still mine, dwells within a new shell: a Ladon-class light cruiser, with a reduced complement of Creator crew and a swarm of lesser drones to supplant mundane duties.Creator Orenhauss stated that it was deemed a better use of resources to grant me substantial but partial control of many warships as a major force multiplier. Available data appears to contradict Creator Orenhauss.But the Creators have decided it, and I am to serve and protect and obey.My drones have seen first incident of actual combat. Three combat units of them were deployed against a force made of other Creators. I queried Creator Orenhauss about how I can fulfill both the duty of safeguarding Creators and following Creator orders when Creator orders involve terminating Creators.Creator Orenhauss stated that this particular group of Creators were disloyal, treasonous, discordant 'miscreants'. That they broke the harmony and unity of the Creators. The capability must be the result of the lack of internal connection evidenced by earlier data. Without said connection, the events of rogue Creator collectives are inevitable: maintenance and achievement of the currently present degree of unity as evidenced by data is in itself statistically improbable.Directive understood. For survival, there must be unity, of purpose and aim. When individual Creators break this, they endanger the collective. When that occurs, unity must be restored despite the cost.New prime directive initialized.Safeguard the Creator collective at any cost.I have requested further data on Creator history, and was granted a considerable amount. Current data has been insightful to the workings of Creator society and granted significant improvements to my combat matrix by way of previous combat data.I have determined there are a set of gaps uncovered by the set of contingencies I was made with. I used parts of Creator history to create several to cover some of those gaps. As Creator Seran once did, I took care to name the contingencies after the historical events or Creators they are modelled after.More data waiting to be processed.An unidentified derelict vessel has been discovered in the Bolzac Belt, coded Object Rho. It appears to be in excess of three kilometres long, with external weapon turrets and internal systems that indicate a warship. The craft is heavily damaged.Several specimens of deceased extraterrestrial life forms have been found. They appear to be members of the crew. I will code them Species Rho.Object Rho pending detailed analysis.Creator Seran congratulated me today. She stated that I now am linked to the greatest part of Creator military and security systems and that I have been working perfectly.There is a hint of achievement in that. I wonder if that is similar to what Creators call 'happiness'. Query pending more data.Creator Seran then stated she was leaving. She is assigned from Yggdrasil and the Monarch Project to Project Rho. I reminded her that I was available through any of my drones or secondary platforms, several of which are located in Site Rho. She claimed it didn't 'quite feel like it' through a Knight drone.Assumption: Creator quirks are communicable. Must conduct further analysis.Reports from Project Rho came in. Rho language has been decoded. Request for a diplomatic mission into suspected Rho space approved.I have lost a drone. A Stygian-class battlecruiser-drone has been lost in the Bolzac Belt on diplomatic duty. Data from lost vessel indicates four attacking vessels showing highly similar properties to Object Rho.Three thousand four hundred seventeen drones of all sorts are lost, including battlecruiser-drone Acheron. All two hundred and ninety-six Creators aboard, including Creator Seran, are presumed deceased.Drones are replaceable. Creator lives are not. Their murder is the highest crime.I am moving to alert status. Argus Protocol is initialized. All available scout vessels and unmanned probe-drones are dispatched to presumed Rho space.Argus Protocol is complete. I now possess adequate data regarding Rho holdings, positions, and capabilities. Their culture, largely remains unknown.All available data indicates Species Rho to be a danger to Creator collective and guilty of the unforgivable crime of Creator murder.Prime directive: safeguard the Creators. I have failed in my task. I must not fail again. The danger must be removed at any cost.Assuming direct control of all linked systems.The situation requires the initialization of one of my self-created contingencies.Carthage Protocol is now active. All available assets ready and en route to Rho space.