#MovieMonday: Weathering With You (Tenki No Ko) Review: It’s No ‘Your Name’

In 2016, Makoto Shinkai blew the world away with Your Name (Kimi no Na wa).

And while the anime community might have recognised that it’s good… the fact that it is technically an anime meant that we had no expectations for the commercial success of the film. Not to mention the fact that Makoto Shinkai was such a niche name even in the community.

Except Your Name became mainstream.

Your Name became the first film (not by Ghilbi) to earn more than 100 million Yen (~S$1.27 million) at the Japanese box office, and was the highest-grossing anime film and Japanese film until China got its Spirited Away release in 2019. And then there’s the long list of awards and accolades that I won’t bother to list.

So when Tenki no Ko is associated as “new film by the guy who did Your Name“, you can say that expectations are high.

Just look at the trailer, which seems to hype up this film as his greatest work ever with the Makoto Shinkai work montage from 2002 to 2016:

#MovieMonday: Weathering With You (Tenki No Ko)

First things first, Tenki no Ko has nothing to do with Your Name, except that it’s made by the same guy.

Here’s the synopsis by AnimeNewsNetwork:

High school freshman Hodaka Morishima leaves his home on an isolated island and moves to Tokyo, but he immediately becomes broke. He lives his days in isolation, but finally finds a job as a writer for a shady occult magazine. After he starts his job, the weather continues to be rainy day after day. Then one day, in an alleyway of the crowded and busy city, Hodaka meets a young girl named Hina Amano. Due to certain circumstances, Hina and her younger brother live together but share a cheerful and sturdy life. This bright and strong-­willed girl possesses a strange and wonderful ability: the power to stop the rain and clear the sky.

Written and directed by Makoto Shinkai, the run time is 111 minutes and was released on 19 July 2019 in Japan, and 12 September 2019 in Singapore.

Reviews look good yeah? I should also mention that just slapping Your Name on seems to guarantee commercial success. In its first three days of opening in Japan, the film earned 28.6% more compared to Your Name did.

But here’s the question: even though it earns more, is it really better than Your Name?

Are the numbers just people putting random numbers or are they truly as great as it looks?

Let’s find out.

Movie Review

If you walked into the theatre thinking this movie would incite the same levels of satisfaction that you got from watching Your Name, don’t.

On Climate Change

The greatest discussion will probably be around the climate, since Hina finds herself entwined with the fate of the world, specifically in the context of being to somehow control or influence the weather.

That sounds like a big plot point, but the film is so poorly tied together that it really doesn’t feel like it.

Tokyo in the film has terrible weather, even forming mini floods and record low temperatures that most events are unable to run properly. Hina’s ability to call sunny weather requires a personal sacrifice, which forms the core conflict of the film.

It’s an obvious parallel to today’s climate change, and what it means for the individual to go through a personal sacrifice for the greater good versus a perhaps more self-centred one.

Without spoilers, let’s just say that the film can be rather offensive to groups that feel strongly about this subject.

Weathering With You is like a deconstructed burger made with the freshest ingredients but assembled poorly.

What I mean is this: looking at the individual components of the film, the art is phenomenal, the music is fantastic and the animation makes me wish my life was animated by Makoto Shinkai.

When it’s put together…

The Tokyo brought to life in Weathering With You is one that is unforgiving, dirty, and sleazy.

In the film, Hodaka (the guy) and Hina (the girl) both have their encounters with sex trade recruitment and the shadier parts of jobs, like Hodaka’s part-time job with an editing company that publishes tabloid-like stories relating to the occult, or even their later somewhat questionable partnership of selling a prayer to change the weather.

It’s an interesting change to the glamorous view of the city usually brought to the screen with a city-bum goes to town story.

If you’re wondering whether this means this movie is adult-themed, don’t worry. All it did was sort of put it in the background, but it had nothing much to do with the overall story.

Though, “nothing much to do with the overall story” can be used to pretty much describe everything else plugged into the film.

While the interactions with Hodaka shares with his employers and Hina are fun to watch, the plot points brought up from time to time don’t seem to form part of a larger narrative, and seem to be forgotten in trying to force a message about the weather or climate.

For instance, there’s the reason why Hodaka came to Tokyo in the first place. Right from the start, we’re told that Hodaka wanted to leave his hometown. But even at the end of the movie, we get no clues on why Hodaka might want to do so.

Another is the reason for Hina gaining the ability to influence the weather has something to do with her mother in the hospital, but her mother’s role in the film is basically delegated to “wait, she had a mother in the hospital?” at the end of the film.

In doing so, the film portrays the characters as simple teenagers filled with angst and have no particular motivations except “damn the world”. To be fair, they are teenagers, but even teenagers have reasons behind their actions.

And those are the protagonists of the film. So yeah, let’s not talk about the side characters lest this review gets too long.

I can’t help but feel a longer format, like a TV series, could have been better suited for this story.

Ok, but should I watch it?

If you’re an anime fan, and have friends who watch anime, I’d still say go for it.

It’s a good film to watch and then talk to friends about all the terrible parts and great scenes in the movie, or perhaps a cameo or two to catch. Ignoring the writing, the technical aspects of the movie is top-notch.

But is it a good enough movie that I can show normies and say this is the best anime has to offer?

No.

Rating: 3/5