You Might Have Missed: 'Weathering with You'
Weathering with You reflects the darker side of Tokyo life.
By YUN HAO DONG
Your Name, the iconic 2016 anime film with a 98% Rotten Tomatoes rating, has gotten a lot of attention. But Weathering with You, director Makoto Shinkai’s 2019 follow-up, has gotten a lot less hype, and it really deserves a longer look.
This animated movie is filled with surreal and breath-taking details all the way. The sound effects, voiceovers, and mix of computer and hand-drawn animation are pleasing to the eye and ear. Calming music accompanies the peaceful scenes, and gorgeous transitions demonstrate the replacement of a vibrant summer with supernatural gloomy phenomena.
In an early scene, Hina, a teenage orphan, stands in the rain praying, and a patch of sunshine brightens up the roof of the building. She gains the ability to control the weather as a “sunshine girl,” but still must work to support Nagi, her younger brother. Meanwhile, Hodaka, a teen boy disillusioned with life in his hometown, runs away to Tokyo and encounters Hina in a McDonald's.
After Hina is fired by McDonald’s, Hodaka suggests the two open a business using Hina’s ability to bring sunshine temporarily. Endless rain in Tokyo makes the enterprise successful, as the business brings bright smiles across numerous faces amidst a dark summer. The movie takes a turn when Hina disappears into the cloud realm, and the country declares a national emergency from the ensuing extreme weather crisis. With snow falling in midsummer, characters wonder if current conditions are signaling the end of the world.
Weathering with You and Your Name are alike in the misfortunes and challenges that characters encounter. Hina and Mitsuha, the heroine of Your Name, both cope with their mother's deaths, while Natsumi (Weathering with You) and Taki (Your Name) struggle to find better opportunities after several unsuccessful interviews. Weathering with You also features easter eggs with characters from Your Name, depicting Mitsuha as a sales clerk in a shopping mall and Taki as the last customer in Hina's business before termination.
Weathering with You is interesting in the ironies it incorporates. Keisuke, a former runaway himself who runs a publishing company, encourages Hodaka to return home so that the police will stop asking Keisuke if he has seen Hodaka around the neighborhood. Hina lies about her age to take on greater responsibility because her experience with tragedy has prepared her to make more rational decisions, while Hodaka has a more impulsive and reckless nature. The personality of each character is well-portrayed in the film, clearly defining Hodaka as impetuous and Hina as prudent.
The movie also realistically reflects life in Tokyo for commoners in an intangible social hierarchy. Hodaka sits by a trash can and says that Tokyo is scary, yet he must persist in Tokyo despite the difficulty.
A scene from the movie where water has devoured parts of Tokyo.
This humorous, heartwarming, and emotional film has earned a 91% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a 7.5 on IMDB. It offers a refreshing insight into city life and the diverse stories of regular people, with important themes such as independence, responsibility, and climate change.
However, the plot can sometimes get confusing. Hodaka’s background is rarely addressed other than the figurative suffocation from his parents, and Hina’s father goes unmentioned. The characters could be explored in more detail. The movie is inconsistent, too; police officers catch Hodaka with ease at first, but later on, he outruns them.
But overall, Weathering with You works, and its larger message is powerful. It warns people against the impacts of global warming with an impactful moment where parts of Tokyo are submerged in water. We all need to be reminded of our duty to preserve the planet we live on. When this scene comes alive, we feel regretful yet powerless to change it. It’s a reminder that our actions have an impact, and we shouldn’t wait until such efforts become futile to act.
★★★★☆