Click on the 'Listen' button above to hear this interview. 

The plot of the new movie "Your Name" may initially sound more like a spin-off of "Freaky Friday" than it does Japanese anime film: A teenage boy in Tokyo swaps bodies with a teenage girl in the Japanese countryside, the two eventually fall in love, and the story builds from there.

But unlike "Freaky Friday," "Your Name" has garnered international acclaim. It's already the highest grossing anime film of all time, currently raking in over $330 million worldwide, and that's before hitting U.S. theaters this week. Additionally, it has a near perfect 97 percent Rotten Tomatoes score.

It's so big that the director Makoto Shinkai said the popularity and hype around the film is "not healthy.”

“I don't think any more people should see it,” he said back in December.

Susan Napier, a professor of Japanese Studies at Tufts University and author of "Anime from Akira to Howl's Moving Castle: Experiencing Contemporary Japanese Animation," joins The Takeaway to discuss why "Your Name" has struck a worldwide chord, and why anime is becoming increasingly popular in the U.S.

Click on the 'Listen' button above to hear our full conversation with Napier. Interested in the anime music you heard in this segment, and throughout the show?  Check out our playlist of featured songs below.