Weathering with You is a dazzling anime feature film by Makoto Shinkai. As Shinkai’s follow up to his 2016 anime blockbuster Your Name, his new film recaptures the magic with a story of a teenage boy, Hodaka, who runs away to Tokyo where he meets Hina, another teen dealing with her own personal crisis.
The story unfolds into a romance between the two set against the backdrop of severe climate change. Some reviewers have called Weathering with You an allegory about climate change. I don’t believe that’s quite right. There’s nothing allegorical about the climate change happening in the film. It’s literally happening. The film is about how our lives will change due to climate change—including our relationships.
The film is not so dark to be an apocalyptic story. Instead, like Your Name, Shinkai offers us hope despite horrific situations whether it’s the destruction of a remote Japan town or the flooding of Tokyo.
I’m struck by the nuanced difference between the films from Studio Ghibli and Shinkai’s work. Hayao Miyazaki is a master storyteller who transports us to magical places. Skinkai brings the magic to us. It interfuses with our lives. It’s sort of like those seemingly magical moments in our lifetimes, but on a grander, deeper scale.
I’ve been impressed with Shinkai since I first watched one of his earliest projects, Voices of a Distant Star, which he wrote, directed, and animated. His style and tone are long established. His mastery of combining prismatic lens flares and blinding rays of light with youthful, sometimes bittersweet, love is his signature.
Weathering with You is Shinkai’s most cinematic release yet. Beyond the glittering rays of sunshine, he brings a level of detail to Tokyo that, perhaps, does more to educate me about Tokyo than any other film. It’s up there with Lost in Translation.
The film is gorgeous in such a cohesive way, unlike Trigger’s Promare, which was a mesmerizing exercise in beautiful absurdity. The sky sequences and the locations around Tokyo feel authentic like a photograph on an amazing filter. The film is as much a love story about Tokyo and our planet as it is about teenage romance.
The film has done well in North America with $5,053,773 (as of Jan. 20), surpassing the $5,017,246 earned by Your Name in 2016. Weathering with You did not do as well internationally as its predecessor. Internationally, it grossed $177 million, less than half of what Your Name earned with $358 million.
Speaking of Your Name, you might spot some familiar faces in Weathering with You. Both Taki and Mitsuha make cameos. Taki joins his grandmother Fumi for a ceremony honoring his grandfather who passed away a year prior. Hodaka, Hina, and her little brother are there also. Mitsuha turns up as a sale associate in a jewelry store as Hodaka looks for a gift for Hina.
Last, we need to talk about the soundtrack. The light touch of piano keys and bittersweet melodies serve as the perfect companion to Shinkai’s ethereal animation. The Weathering with You soundtrack was produced and performed by the J-Pop band RADWIMPS. They also produced the Your Name soundtrack.
Weathering with You is wrapping up its North America release so try to see it while still in theaters. If you miss the window, definitely get the HD digital copy or Blu-ray when the film comes to the consumer market. Weathering with You is anime at its very best.
