Heartfelt stories seem to fit into the anime film medium really well and that trend continues with the anime feature film Weathering With You.
Coming from the same team that created the award-winning anime film Your Name, Weathering With You tells the story of a girl who has been given the gift to temporarily change the constant rain and dreariness of Tokyo to moments of sunshine and warmth. Most of the film’s perspective is given through young Hodaka, a boy that escapes his freshman year of high school to be on his own in Tokyo. Initially released in Japan last summer, the film has begun showings stateside alongside an English Dub produced by GKids and NYAV Post. Weathering With You was Japan’s selection for the Best International Feature category at the Academy Awards, marking a unique occasion since the last time was done for an animated feature was when Princess Mononoke was released by Studio Ghibli.
As a collection of plot points, Weathering With You seems pretty typical for this type of anime. A boy falls for a girl whose existence dwells in a supernatural space, there’s a situation that prevents them from staying together, then there’s a resolution with swells of music that causes tingles in the spine of the viewer, and we end on that conflict resolving. However, where I think Weathering With You shines brightest is its depiction of human struggle in modern Japan. Granted, I’ve never visited Japan or tried to live there but there are global similarities depicted in this film to the struggles of living in any city.
Through most of the film’s first act, we see Hodaka striking out in Tokyo on his own as a homeless runaway. At almost every turn he is rejected by society, where he is usually kicked back into the pouring rain. At his lowest, Hodaka is hopelessly searching for work on his phone at a fast-food restaurant, likely using their free Wifi, and feeling intense hunger. Seeing this beaten-down individual, our heroine Hina who works at the restaurant brings him a burger.
From there, things start to turn up for Hodaka but not without hard work and constant effort. He eventually joins up with an adult named Keisuke, who showed him kindness on the ferry the day he came to Tokyo, to be the man’s assistant for his online magazine that chases down urban legends and myths. Hodaka cleans, cooks, transcribes interviews, and just generally helps out around the office which is also where he is given a place to stay. With these basic needs met, Hodaka starts to pursue other interests, mainly bringing sunshine to Tokyo through Hina’s inexplicable abilities as a Weather Maiden. Hodaka serves as a type of manager for Hina who goes by the Sunshine Girl and together they create steady business through a typical online gig website.
Hodaka’s struggle to connect to people and trying to survive alone in a big city is heartfelt. It’s a place not many people end up in, but we often interact with people who have in the past or are currently homeless. Even in the small cities that I’ve lived in, homeless people are often ignored, looked over by those just trying to live their daily routines. I can only imagine what that type of invisibility feels like. Really, Hodaka succeeds through luck. He just happens to have bumped into a person with an opportunity and did everything he could to take advantage of that moment.
We also see Hina struggle with her unique home life. She works several jobs and maintains a small apartment for her and her younger, gifted brother, Nagisa or Nagi as he goes by. Nagi is shown excelling socially with his classmates and later we see him doing well in soccer. Hina sacrifices much of her life to ensure that Nagi has a good chance to get into a good school and have a fruitful childhood. Hina’s willingness to put others before herself carries directly into her supernatural ability to force rain clouds to part, as she travels through all areas of the city to bring moments of happiness to people. She is almost always paid decently for her gift, but it is the smiles of people that she truly does this task for.
Weathering With You is steeped in the Japanese legend of a Weather Maiden, which is what Hina becomes following the passing of her mother. In the film, we see Keisuke and his writing partner Natsumi research this topic at a local level, speaking to the owners of temples and people who have seen strange phenomenon. We eventually learn that there is a consequence to messing with the natural order, which gets into themes of nature of the influences of humans and the betterment of many versus that of an individual. It’s interesting to see how the characters of Weathering With You are so affected by their environment, whether due to the weather or to their home situations.
Just about every character in Weathering With You is seen showing reactions to what’s around them.
The film has a great pace that makes it enjoyable to watch throughout but the final moments just didn’t land for me, at least upon initial viewing and having no one to bounce ideas off of. Truthfully, I am excited to see discussions on the film and would love to have some chats on it soon.
Visuals are stunning, especially when it comes to the effects used to show rainfall or water. Backgrounds also are stacked with little details and any of them would make for a suitable framed painting. The music is something I think people will start adding to their playlists, as each song has cool moments that when connected to the film will result in pleasant listening. It’s hard for me to comment on the delivery of lines from the voice cast, as I’m not a speaker of Japanese, but they felt well done and laced with emotion.
Weathering With You has started showing in theaters and while the ending had me raising my eyebrow I think it is another stellar production from Makoto Shinkai (Director) and Genki Kawamura (Producer). Their last film, Your Name, had me choking up throughout and bawling by the end. I just didn’t get that emotional connection with Weathering With You, although my viewing was much different than how others will experience it. I saw Your Name at home with my wife at my side, while I watched the subbed version of Weathering With You online via a press viewing, so my environments could’ve shaped my ability to connect.
Keeping those things in mind, Weathering With You is definitely a film worth seeing with stellar visuals, well-written characters, and powerful music direction.
For those looking to see the dubbed version of Weathering With You, check out this trailer.
The dub features the voice talents of:
- Brandon Engman – Hodaka
- Ashley Boettcher – Hina
- Lee Pace – Suga
- Alison Brie – Natsumi
- Emeka Guindo – Nagi
- Riz Ahmed – Takai
- Vinnie Penna – Kimura
- Mike Pollock – Yasui
- Barbara Goodson – Tachibana
More information about Weathering With You can be found on the official website. A digital viewing of the subbed version of the film was provided for the purpose of review.
