Weathering With You

Weathering With You

Starring Kotaro Daigo, Nana Mori, Shun Oguri, Tsubasa Honda

Directed by Makoto Shinkai

When it comes to Japanese animation, there's no bigger name than the great Hayao Miyazaki, who's gifted audiences with the likes of "Spirited Away," "Princess Mononoke," "Howl's Moving Castle," and many more.  He continually blends different themes involving preserving nature, the consequences of human innovation, love, and family.  His films are incredibly thought-provoking and provides intellectual conversations that you don't normally find in animated films.  While he's the gold standard, there's several up-and-coming directors and writers of fantastical Japanese animation, and Makoto Shinkai is one of them.  He's delivered a film that's every part Miyazaki's equal in "Your Name," and returns with his follow-up "Weathering With You," and the only negative aspect about the film is that it had to follow "Your Name."

Tokyo is in the midst of an unprecedented rainstorm, as rain has continually fallen on the city for seventy days and counting.  Everyone is depressed and saddened, and it's against this backdrop where young runaway Hodaka (Kotaro Diago) enters.  Having run away from his home on a far-away island, he enters Tokyo with the hopes of finding a job and earning a living, but all he's managed to do is befriend shady Keisuke Suga (Shun Oguri), who gives him a job at his click-bait company.  He's assigned to investigate a supposed urban legend of a weather maiden - a girl whose prayers can make the sun shine again for a short amount of time.

As he struggles to earn a living, he's befriended by young Hina (Nana Mori), and the two strike up a friendship after learning she lives alone with her young brother Nagisa (Sakura Kiryu) after their mother's death.  Hodaka then learns that Hina is an actual weather maiden, and together they form their own business where people pay them money to have the rain stop for certain occasions.  As Hodaka begins developing true feelings for Hina, the cost of her special power comes due, which threatens much more than just their budding friendship.

As it was with "Your Name," Shinkai provides a lavish, gorgeous, and downright awe-inspiring animated look at Tokyo, but this time it's in a much more bleak situation.  Rain has fallen every day, and the entire city is shadowed in dark hues and continual pelts of water that offers a dreary existence, especially for young Hodaka, whose outlook is comparative to Tokyo's saddened state.  After he meets Hina, you can also see the city slowly coming to life more, especially after Hina reveals that she can make the sun shine, which then brings Tokyo to life again.  As always, the animation is gorgeous.

The story as well provides a deep, thoughtful look into the lives of these runaways and the power they possess to literally change their world.  At its heart this is an epic love story set against the most common of landscapes, a relationship that begins organically and slowly grows like a flower being watered daily.  The relationship between Hodaka and Hina is beautifully tragic and heartfelt, and as it is with our star-crossed lovers, our heart-strings too are pulled to their utmost.  You feel the emotion delivered through the actors' voice delivery, and feel an emotional resonance with the characters that you don't normally feel.

This, as with "Your Name," manages to blend the mundane with the fantastical, as this is essentially a love story, but wrapped in a unique concept of a weather maiden who can stop the rain for a while by praying.  Hodoka mentions the importance of this in that people love it when the sun is shining - they're happier, they can go outside, and the sun gives life to everything.  When it's raining, people are depressed, sad, and don't want to do anything fun.  Hina has the power to not just make the sun shine, but bring out the happiness of thousands of people in the process, yet as it goes, there's a terrible price to pay.  This is the driving force that bonds the two together as they try to find a way to make everything work out, even if it's impossible.

Offering an adequate followup to his iconic "Your Name," Makoto Shinkai's "Weathering With You" offers a perfect blend of love and fantasy set against the beautiful animated Tokyo with thoughtful, compelling characters and an intellectual story whose themes are eternal and unforgettable.

The Score: A+