Manga: Your Name. Another Side: Earthbound

Your Name. Another Side: Earthbound Vol 1 

Rating: 4/5

Buy or Borrow: Buy

Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher! 

During the events of your name., Mitsuha and Taki's miraculous encounter forever changed their lives. But they weren't the only ones affected by their body swapping -- Mitsuha's friends and family have their own sides of the story to tell! 

I completely loved Your Name, it surprised me and wasn't at all what I was expecting! Ever since I heard about this spin off, I've been excited to get back to the characters and explore them more than we did in the initial three volumes of the main series! 

We get a brief recap to remind us what happened in the main series and then we dive in to exploring the characters! I loved getting to see what it was like for Taki adjusting to being Mitsuha and being in a girls body which I had been excited for in the main series. It provides plenty of funny instances, like interacting with her friends and telling off some mean girls for the first time. Plus the hilarious "bra issue" he had. We also get to see some more of her sister and the strangeness that she noticed going on with Mitsuha, when Mitsuha was actually Taki. And of course we get to see some more of Mitsuha's friends. 

This volume focuses on Tesshi, for the most part. He's the heir to the contracting business and I really felt for him. Mitsuha and he are quite similar in the family duty and business duty that they have, but while Mitsuha is planning to leave, Tesshi feels like he can't because of the workers. 

I feel like his struggle is quite relatable, and I admired his determination to change things in the town. But I loved getting to delve in to his character more and see how Taki and Mitsuha interacted with him respectively, and how Taki helped him in his own way. It not only expands the characters, but also expands upon the world a little bit and lets you see more of it and brings the town more to life.