Checked out the new big anime theatrical release Weathering With You. This is the follow-up to the same Japanese writer/director’s utterly amazing film Your Name. That was one of the best movies of its release year, regardless of animation style. So this new film had a lot to live up to… and it doesn’t quite get there but it’s still a pretty wonderful film.
So Weathering With You is about a teen runaway boy who has made his way to modern day Tokyo to find work. It’s tough out there when you are underage and it’s been raining constantly for 70+ days. But he eventually finds a job and meets a cute girl… who turns out to be a Sunshine Girl… a person who can pray to the sky and bring a temporary end to the rain. Thinking quickly, they go into business selling sunshine over the Internet. But things can’t stay happy in the modern world and soon the cops come knocking and her magical power may have a dark side.
This was a lot of fun, very sweet, exciting, and sometimes really legitimately sad. These two kids love each other in a way that only sixteen year olds can. Their puppy dog love is expressed with joyous and desperate abandon. To them, everything feels like the end of the world. And it really worked… and not just on a superficial teen level. There’s some really heart-breaking moments in this lovely film.
And there’s more to it than just dopey teen romance with a side of magical realism. There’s additional characters and subplots that tie into the main plot that are equally charming. In fact, there’s a lot of story and subplots in the story that come up before the love story kicks in. It’s sometimes hard to see where this is going early on but it ties things together nicely.
Plus the animation is often simply amazing. They recreate a soggy, dark, and often depressing modern Tokyo. It looks great. But the attention paid to the rain and its different intensities… sheets, drizzle, and simply the animation of individual drops hitting the wet pavement is really gorgeous. But when the sun comes out, it’s beautiful… the ability to capture sun rays, that sudden blueness of the sky when the storm cloud passes. The weather animation in this flick was on point.
So, yeah, even though I think I only experienced a portion of the film due to some cultural differences, I think this movie still works. It’s gorgeous to look at, it’s funny, it’s charming, and it’s sweet. It really nails the heightened emotions of dumb teens in love and mixes magical fantasy with reality in a lovely way. If you at all like anime and don’t mind a significant lack of mech suits and ray guns, this is a very charming modern anime. But just go watch Your Name first because that flick is amazing.
Score: 86