Weathering with You – Tenki no ko (2019)

Directed by: Makoto Shinkai | 114 minutes | animation, drama | Original voice cast: Kotaro Daigo, Nana Mori, Shun Oguri, Sei Hiraizumi, Yûki Kaji, Kentaro Araki, Tsubasa Honda, Kana Hanazawa, Kana Ichinose

Anime fans have long been familiar with the name Makoto Shinkai. Since his debut film ‘The Place Promised in Our Early Days’ (2004), the director has worked his way to the absolute top of the contemporary Japanese animation world. Shinkai eventually became known to the wider public with his romantic body-swap film ‘Your Name’ (2016). In Japan, that film ranks second as the highest grossing anime film of all time, right behind Hayao Miyazaki’s “Spirited Away” (2001). The expectations surrounding Shinkai’s next film were therefore high. His fans then had to wait three years, but with ‘Weathering with You’ they will undoubtedly be happy.

‘Weathering with You’ follows 16-year-old Morishima Hodaka. Hodaka is tired of his old life and flees to Tokyo with only a backpack and a little money. But life in such a big city turns out to be very hard for a minor. Life in Tokyo is expensive and no one wants to employ him without ID. However, after a few hungry days on the streets, he meets Keisuke, a shady publisher of a magazine that reports on unexplained phenomena. For a low wage, but with the possibility to sleep in the office and eat in the evening, Hodaka becomes an intern at Keisuke. His first assignment: to research the so-called ‘sunshine girls’, young girls who can stop the rain and clear the sky. At first Hodaka doesn’t take this folk legend seriously, but then he meets Hina, a friendly girl who seems to have this gift. Hina is urgently looking for money to support herself and her little brother Nagi. This leads Hodaka to a profitable idea: together with Hina he establishes a sunshine service. This can be put to good use in Tokyo, as the city has been plagued by constant rainfall for months. But as the sunshine service grows in popularity, Hodaka also finds his feelings for Hina grow stronger.

As usual with Makoto Shinkai’s films, the first thing you notice about ‘Weathering with You’ is the beautiful animation. Tokyo is rarely animated in such detail and vividly as it is here. In the first few scenes, the viewer immediately gets the feeling that this is an actually inhabited city. This is a metropolis that is constantly on the move. Despite the heavy rainfall, people cling steadfastly to their jobs: an ever-moving mass of umbrellas moving towards unknown destinations. But the smaller environments, such as the editors of Keisuke (actually his home), also have a detailed and, above all, atmospheric drawing style. These environments have a degree of charm that makes you, as a viewer, also want to be a part of this world. You would rather get lost in the world and never come back.

But despite the beautiful animation, ‘Weathering with You’ also has some obvious problems. This is mainly due to the mix between romance and fantasy and the way these genres are applied in the film. ‘Weathering with You’ is strongest at the moments when the film focuses entirely on the blossoming love between Hodaka and Hina. The interactions between the two are both endearing and comical. But when Shinkai trades the lightness of the film for real dramatic angles, ‘Weathering with You’ doesn’t come out well. When the film gets dramatic, Shinkai relies heavily on the fantasy elements of the film. These elements have not been sufficiently elaborated and the reaction one has to these supernatural events is far from convincing. Everyone accepts it but when Hina stops the rainfall and rarely does anyone wonder why exactly this is happening. In an anime film like ‘Kiki’s Delivery Service’, the magic of its main character is also accepted, but in that film it is clear from the start that this is not a direct reflection of our own world. ‘Weathering with You’, on the other hand, clearly takes place in a world in which magic does not play a role, but when unexplained phenomena do occur, one hardly reacts surprised.

A higher level could have been achieved here with a clearer focus and a better-designed world. In its current form, the film simply falls short. Less attention could have been paid to the fantasy elements, because the film also proves to get far with just romance and comedy. But nevertheless, if only for its visual and technical prowess, Shinkai’s latest title is a must for animation enthusiasts.