The 2020-2021 Film Journal Entry #9: "Weathering with You"

2020-2021 Film Journal Entry #9

by Xavier E. Palacios

"Weathering with You"

4 out of 5

Directed by Makoto Shinkai

Premise: An uncommon number of rainy days in Tokyo is depressing everyone. Teenage runaway Hodaka Morishima (Kotaro Daigo) finds work at an independent magazine publisher and investigates reports of a "Sunshine Girl": a legendary youth who can pray for and summon better weather to benefit a troubled people. Hodaka's inquiries bring him to Hina Amano (Nana Mori), an orphan adolescent and Sunshine Girl working bad jobs to support herself and her younger brother, "Nagi" (Sakura Kiryu). To save themselves from financial worries and their dour days, Hodaka proposes establishing a website to take paid requests from those wishing for Hina to bring them a respite from this relentlessly awful weather. However, as Hodaka and Hina fall in love, the Sunshine Girl's secrets are revealed, the weather worsens, and Hina weakens, a dire question emerges: is love a worthy sacrifice for a happier world? That question is throughoughly explored in this thoughtful and entertaining anime.

Rated "PG-13"

My Thoughts

Part 1: "I still don't know what it really means to grow up . . ."

I tip my hat to this film's writer and director, Makoto Shinkai. Though I do not like his earlier works, Weathering with You, the follow-up to his equally strong piece I saw last year, Your Name, proves he is growing into a solid filmmaker. While filled with all the director's tropes I am not a fan of, this film surprised me with its quality of filmmaking, storytelling, and animation. The film begins as another teenage romance and ends up being likeable while discussing ideas that are healthy and worthy of its adolescent target audience. I never expected a director whose work I have found tediously over-the-top and self-indulgent to be so respectful and meaningful to audiences twice in a row.

Shinkai's films are always centered on some "ordinary" teenager longing for fairy tale true love, uncomplicated adventure, lasting glory, and to metaphorically, as The Little Mermaid sings, "be part of that world"; whatever "world" that may be. To me, their takeaways seem to be the same as the terrible young adult stories in the West: lies to teenagers about them being the most important things in existence, inflating their egos to later tear them down with a reality they are unprepared for. However, while certainly teen melodramas, Weathering with You and Your Name confront applicable questions teenagers will inevitably grow to face.

In Your Name, two young lovers deal with the realities of truly being in love with someone, being their partner, and facing the responsibilities in such a relationship, which includes leaving the protections of youth behind. In Weathering with You, a clear and appropriate companion piece and extension to the former film, Hodaka and Hina confront questions that perfectly suit these grim days. Should one let go of love for a brighter life? Can one really love someone surrounded by misery, or the knowledge that happiness fades? Is love only happiness or something greater? Above all, which profoundly struck me personally: should one love during dark times or is love only meant for better years? Boy, I never thought I would be asking these questions from a Makoto Shinkai film!

To define my appreciation for this film, I must define my thoughts on Shinkai's previous work. In my opinion, Shinkai has an undeserved reputation for being "the next Hayao Miyazaki" (one of the co-founders of Studio Ghibli). I say "undeserved" because such an arbitrary title as some pseudo-successor to one of the most respected and influential filmmakers of all time feels disrespectful to the man. Now, his films must be hits, not just films; never mind that Miyazaki himself never had a smash success until his fifth film, Kiki's Delivery Service. Ignoring such semantics, I truly do not understand the deep devotion most have for Shinkai's work. Artistically, I do not find them gorgeous as many do. His obviously computerized backgrounds are faux beautiful, with pretentious textures, repeated angles, and overly saturated lighting.