Weathering With You is Makoto Shinkai respectable followup to his fantastic, world-wide hit, Your Name. It also follows the template to much of his work: star-crossed lovers, separated by a distance, eager to realize the fate that was meant to be. Sometimes it adheres to it too much as this one really just reminded me of the previous film. His style could be a blessing or a curse. I found it rather pleasant and kind of wish for more.
Weathering With You is about a ‘weather girl,’ a girl that can control the weather. In this instance, rain. In the Japan of the film, it is a rainy season that lasts every season. The people wish for it to stop and only one person can make it pause for a few hours — the ‘weather girl.’
At first, she is a myth pursued by the main protagonist as a reporter for a shlock paper. He had run away from his home in the provinces. He was taken in by the paper’s owner/writer/editor, and he was tasked to debunk that myth. He founds out that it wasn’t. That it was real and he’s all for protecting (and profiting) the girl.
When the citizens take too much from her, the protagonist protests and wishes for her to stop using her powers. Let the rain fall so that he can continue to love her.
I did like the film. I wish it wasn’t too much like his previous. I’m hopeful that the next Makoto Shinkai anime is something different. I’m hopeful that it is also familiar.
3 of 5 stars.
