Since you’ve come to my blog, it means that you might have watched Makoto Shinkai’s anime movie called “Your Name”. Now in Japan, his new movie “Suzume no Tojimari” can be seen in theaters and has been very popular.
In this article, I would like to review his movie which was released in 2019, titled “Weathering with You.” This review is for those who have already seen the film, as it contains spoilers, and some descriptions may not be suitable for children.
Characters
Hodaka: High school student running away from home
Hina: “Sunshine girl” who worked in McDonald’s
Keisuke: Writer of a magazine
Natsumi: Keisuke’s niece who works in his office
Nagi: Hina’s brother
Moka: Keisuke’s daughter
Asuka: Keisuke’s deceased wife
The story is about a high school boy who runs away from his home to Tokyo city and a girl who can clear the sky by praying.
Most critics were more positive about the previous film “Your Name” than this one, but I was more moved by this film than “Your Name”. One of the reasons is, perhaps, because the entire story is within Tokyo, the city where I live, so I have more empathy towards it.
The scenery shown in Tokyo is so realistic, because of the use of computer graphics. It’s also extremely vivid. It shows the dark side of Tokyo as well, such as unfriendly people, a gun abandoned by a gangster, pimps who tried to hire Hina, an advertisement truck to recruit sex workers, a 24/7 internet cafe that accommodates people who have no stable residence, and orphaned children.
These things are also the reality of Tokyo and the producer did not hide the dark side of human life. There is no such depiction in the previous movie, “Your Name”. All young characters in this movie somehow withdraw from mainstream Japanese society and have far from a good life. This is in contrast to the characters in Shinkai’s last movie.
There are a lot of mysteries in this movie. Why did Keisuke shed tears in front of the police? How does Keisuke know where the shrine is?
One of the bloggers in Japan speculates that his wife, Asuka, could also clear the sky by praying and she might have been killed as a sacrifice in exchange for fine weather. But I cannot find any proof that Asuka sacrificed her life to bring fine weather for her daughter who had asthma.
At the end of the movie, Hodaka finds Hina praying on the slope. Inspirational music is inserted at this time. The song title is “We’ll Be Alright.”
YouTube video “We’ll Be Alright”（大丈夫）
This song is sung by a male singer and is meant to reflect Hodaka’s feelings. The song is about his desire to be relied on by Hina. Most viewers would interpret it that way. But I think it is only a desire of his. Hodaka is insecure and is the one who needs help more than Hina.
Hodaka was indeed able to save Hina who was going to sacrifice her life for the world, by catching her in the cloud. But Hodaka was the boy who had left his home and had moved to Tokyo city alone; His parents had filed a missing persons report with the police.
We do not know what the problem was in his home. Shinkai did not describe that in the movie, but no happy teenager would shoot a gun towards a stranger, point a gun at a police officer, or run along railroads, breaking the law and sacrificing his youth.
Hodaka was reading “Catcher in the Rye” at the beginning of this movie. I assume that he wants to be like Holden who wants to be the savior of innocent people. But Holden was not the savior and rather someone who needed help from others. Hodaka was also on the edge of a downward spiral.
The world is irrational and the weather is crazy. We cannot change the world as we wish. There is no need to sacrifice your life for better weather or a better world. It is wise to leave it phony, crazy, and irrational.
Unfortunately, that’s the way we enjoy our mediocre life. That’s the way grown-ups think about the world; we are not perfect and cannot change everything. Even if it rains constantly, life still goes on.
That is my opinion after watching this movie. It may not be a typical answer, but everyone can have different interpretations of this movie. If you watch this several times, you might have a different interpretation each time.
According to the information on the internet, if you live in either Australia or the Philippines, you can see this movie on Netflix with English subtitles. Enjoy!
Makoto Shinkai’s new film “Suzume no Tojimari” is now playing in movie theaters only in Japan. For anyone interested in the movie, you can check out the link below: (Japanese language)
Do you have any questions about Japanese expressions in this Japanese movie? I can assist you. For more details, click the link below.
