Hi everyone. The wife and I were lucky enough to see the first showing of the Animated Feature Film, 天気の子 Tenki No Ko, or Weathering With You in The States, last night in my area. It was a fan preview of the film. My wife had previously seen it when it was released in Japan last Fall. She loved it. She naturally saw it in her native language, but last night we saw the English language version, mostly due to scheduling conflicts with my work schedule.
So, below I will give you my impressions of the Animated Feature Film by Makoto Shinkai, Weathering With You. I will do my best not to provide any spoilers. Also, I will give you a little background on Makoto Shinkai, the man behind the movie.
What’s His Name? Oh, Makoto Shinkai!
Makoto Shinkai, is a Japanese animator, filmmaker, director, writer, cinematographer, editor, manga artist, and even a little bit of a voice actor. His most famous work, 君の名は Kimi No Na Wa, or as we call it here in The States, Your Name was a huge success in Japan and across the world. Today it is still Japan’s #2 top-grossing movie next to Studio Ghibli’s Spirited Away, which is one of my all time favorites.
Makoto Shinkai’s movies all have a central theme of loss and recovery I’d say. They can be very emotional to watch/read/experience, depending on your sense of empathy. Most, if not all of his movies have brought me to tears at least once or twice. I do truly love all of his works, and was lucky enough to discover him right after his first release, Voices Of A Distant Star.
Makoto Shinkai is what some may call a “self-made man.” He pretty much made his first release, Voices Of A Distant Star, as well as She And Her Cat, all on his own. For 5 Centimeters Per Second, he brought in 2 animators, that are still with him today, and as they released more works, their team grew bigger after each success!
One thing I’ve always loved more than anything with Makoto Shinkai’s work, is the artwork itself! It’s some of the best you’ll ever see in an animated film/short/series! I say some of the best only because I know we all have different opinions on how we like our animation. Shinkai always uses real-world places, and usually does not stray from licensing issues when it comes to trademarked properties. His art work has always been very realistic, except for one thing….the characters themselves. Which to me, makes the surrounding art so much more amazing.
Ok, now to my actual impressions of the movie itself!
Weather Forecast
Weathering With You is the story of a young runaway, Hodoka, who meets a young girl, Hina, with a unique ability to change the weather. Together, they create a strong bond that crosses worlds(?) Together they struggle in the face of a real world where adults don’t always know best.
The story is often times magical, other times frustrating. When things seem to be going well, trouble rears its ugly head. When things seem bleak, a ray of light may be found. The story has it’s ups and downs, but all the while I was so into the movie that I felt drawn in to that world myself.
Most of the characters I really enjoyed. Even really quite adored. By the way, if you’ve seen Your Name be on the lookout for some familiar characters. Hodoka does his best to survive and make a life for himself. Hina is cheerful and bright even when things aren’t going right. Natsumi, well, she’s Natsumi and comes across without a care in the world, except for finding a job! Suga is complex and hard to understand at times, while other times quite transparent.
The setting is modern day Tokyo, Japan. Things are rough in Tokyo, especially for these 2 teens. Tokyo shows some of the ugly truths about the underbelly of Tokyo living. The rain just doesn’t seem to want to stop, and it takes something special to clear the clouds and let a little sun shine through the dreary grey life.
Weathering The Storm
The voice cast in charge of weathering this storm I feel did an admirable job. My wife preferred the Japanese cast, but I’ve not seen it in Japanese yet. Ashley Boettcher (Hina), Brandon Engman (Hodaka), Alison Brie (Natsumi), and Lee Pace (Keisuke Suga) all do well in their respective roles. I’ll be honest, I only know Alison Brie as a voice Actor, of the 4, but I enjoyed the English cast just the same.
Makoto Shinkai once again used Radwimps for this soundtrack, just as he did with Your Name. I’ll be honest, I really like Radwimps, so much so that I own several of their CD’s or digital releases. I really think they are a band to look into if you like what you hear in the soundtrack.
Shinkai said he let Yojiro Nada (singer from Radwimps) see the script for Weathering With You before anyone else. A little while later, he recieved 2 songs from Yojiro, that finalized his decision to make the film. Even during the scene planning he shaped the scenes around the songs Yojiro created. He sees this film being made by both himself and Yojiro.
The artistry in this movie is again wonderfully done by Makoto Shinkai and his artistic team! I really think no other studio comes close to their work, when it comes to animation. Yes, Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli, may tell a better story, and keep things a little more light-hearted, but when it comes to sheer artistry, I think Shinkai’s team his hands down hard to beat.
Sunny Skies Or Rainy Days
So, I think from what I’ve mentioned above, you can already tell my thoughts and impressions of the film. I loved it. The story is more like real life than Shinkai usually portrays, to an extent. Human behavior plays a big role in this story. Granted, we all may not bellieve in Sunshine Girls or Rain Girls, but the real-world elements in this movie are real for some people. It a little bit shows the dark side of humans.
Through all of the dark in this movie, a ray of light does shine. Wether that light comes from the story, the characters, the music, or the animation itself, I can’t say which it was for me. One thing I can say, is that I enjoyed this movie very much. It may be my favorite from Shinkai, and I’ve seen all of them! As a whole, this film shines the brightest of all of Makoto Shinkai’s work! Definitely a must-see in my opinion!
If you’ve had a chance to see Weathering With You, please let me know your impressions of the film, or any of Shinkai’s works! I’d love to hear from you!
Some of Shinkai’s other works:
I’ve watched this movie, both in English and Japanese, and I must say this was another masterpiece by the director, Shinkai. I truly loved it!
The artwork in this movie was absolutely stunning as always, and the orchestration of the visual and music was magical.
Many people commented on the similarity of this movie to Shinkai’s former mega-hit in 2016, Your Name. Yes, the atmosphere felt somewhat similar since both films centered around young love.
But in my opinion, these two movies focus on an entirely different theme. In Your Name, the main characters tried to save people from the disaster of a comet hitting the area. In Weathering with You, the main character chose the one he loves in place of flooding Tokyo. If it keeps raining for years to come, Tokyo will no longer be livable.
Then, we call the main character’s choice, selfish or love? What is love?
I felt Shinkai wanted to ask a significantly profound question to the audience.
Thanks for the review. I enjoyed reading it!
Masa, Thank you so much for the comment!
Shinkai’s work is always very well-made and thought-provoking.
I agree with you on the similarities and difference of both Your Name and Weathering With You. Both movies have some dark undertones, feature young love, and difficult challenges. It’s funny the things we do for love. Love can drive us to new heights, make us do crazy or unpredictable things, and even give ourselves up if it means to help protect the one we love. Selfish or love? I kind of think it was both in the case of Weathering With You.