https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/839734152470724661/1119446362690428969/weatheringwithyou14134081886.jpg I first saw Weathering With You in Japan with no subtitles barely a cursory knowledge of the language and an empty stomach. But I still cried my eyes out. Being in Japan felt surreal like I was swimming through the fog of a waking dream. Every time I went to sleep I dreaded waking up in my room back in America staring up at the small wobbling fan which looked closer and closer to falling with each spin but my Japan trip was indeed real it was no dream. Going to the bakery every morning with shuttered eyes and a drag in each step was as real as the blue sky settling into its place amongst the clouds. Each badlyenunciated Japanese phrase each jumble of a word each ignorance of a social cue causing a slap to my head from myself because I know the right words Saying them however was an entirely different ordeal. It was with this stumbling clumsiness that I tripped into a showing of Weathering With You directed by the legendary Makoto Shinkai. https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/839734152470724661/1119446363608981534/weatheringwithyou2749421933.jpg Makoto Shinkai is a man who needs no introduction. Famed director of Your Name a blockbuster so worldwide it garnered Elon Musks endorsement Shinkai has reigned supreme over the boy meets girl genre in the animated form and has been ever since going solo with his first project Voices Of A Distant Star. Voices Of A Distant Star is an interesting case because he animated the entire film all by himself. Though it blows through its short runtime a brisk twentyfive minutes the fact that it was Shinkais and Shinkais alone raised a lot of eyebrows towards the fledgling creator and its concept an eversomelancholy boy meets girl story that would fit right at home within Barnes Nobles YA section also helped assist in its acknowledgement. A boy and a girl are separated due to ones recruitment in the military and the other remaining earthbound. As the story goes on the text messages between our couple take longer and longer to send until finallyNothing. They cant be together due to some cruel twist of fate. A simple conceit to be sure but one that would pervade through all Shinkais works through the coming years. Apart from Children Who Chase Lost Voices an unabashed Studio Ghibli homage teetering the line of staunch plagiarism Shinkai has stuck to this basic thematic constraint and threaded it through each and every one of his projects to date. No doubt there was a formative experience in Shinkais years that caused him to take this to heart and thus imparts this overwhelming melancholy throughout everything. So perhaps its not in the changing of the story we should look for but in the way that its told for there are many ways to tell the same story. The thing Shinkai is most wellknown for aside from his triedandtrue story formula are his backgrounds with these glossy welllit landscapes reflecting each ray of the sun and popping with color. His character animation maybe not so much but its the loving detail he packs into each and every background which throws you into the world Shinkai has created soaking in the often rainy atmospheres and making you take in the air of the place. You can really get a sense of his love for the worlds beauty and how it correlates with the passage of time. For example in Five Centimeters Per Second his love of summer sunsets reflecting the protagonists fling or the blistering chill of the winter winds as the protagonist runs to see his lover waiting for him at the train station a few miles away. And in Weathering With You he really turns the climate knob to eleven. Weathering With You follows a our downtrodden protagonist Hodaka meeting a peppy heroine Hina who we find out is able to pull back the oppressive rain from Tokyo to make way for the sun. Though people can change the weather in this film the most unrealistic thing about it is the ease with which Hodaka finds a paid writing job. Because of the central concept of Hina changing the weather there are two distinct moods of the movie: raining and not. Youd think this would be very binary as in there would either be very gray skies or notacloudinthesky sun but as I stated before Shinkai is a master of climate. He takes the gray skies and jumbles them up making them darkly intimidating in one scene or with patches of blue in between lighter hues in another. Same with the sun Maybe we do get the blue sky but we also have hints of the rain coming back with the clouds in the background of the shot. Its in the minuscule details that really shine and this goes titfortat even in terms of the narrative. https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/839734152470724661/1119446363109871717/46938031537170334.jpg The story is between these main two for the most part but towards the back half of the film we explore characters that Shinkai really hasnt delved into before secondary characters Characters that supplement the main character and his journey. To clarify this isnt a deftly calculated slap at Shinkais face hes justliterally never had anyone else but his main couple. So color me surprised when Hodakas surrogate father and Hinas surrogate mother give them talks about life romance and more. It was the riffraff of this found family dynamic in the movie that really gave Weathering With You more color than Shinkais other works really painting this slice of Tokyo in a comfortable light. These characters feel like people as theyre supposed to with lives and personalities and worries that extend from beyond the scene. Shinkai even delves into the mom and dads dynamic with each other how it was falling apart before Hodakas arrival and how he and Hina changed their lives for the better. Weathering With You definitely takes a step or two back from Your Names fast pacing but I feel like thats for the better because instead of a lightninginabottle plot were given time to get to know these characters. It makes Weathering With You feel distinct amongst Shinkais catalogue no doubt showing the master at work. He may be making the same story over and over again but damn it if it isnt getting better and better with each iteration I wanted to review Weathering With You again because I didnt feel this same connection with his most recent work Suzume. To reiterate the backgrounds are as gorgeous as ever but I found myself missing the melancholy that Shinkai sneaks into every page of his films. Suzume felt impersonal as if he was finally forced by the general audience to make something different though that may not have been what he wanted to do so Suzume tasted like something different it tasted likeyou guessed it Imitation Ghibli. Again. The worst part is Shinkai is capable of so much more and weve seen this with his oeuvre but Suzume felt like an obligation rather than a project at least to me. Ill be sure to bite into my strong feelings for it or rather against it in a later review but for now I wanted to at least remind myself on why I felt such a connection to him in the first place. I saw Tenki No Ko Weathering With You during my last night in Japan on impulse with my friend Jack who changed his mind from not seeing it to a sudden lets go paired with a wave from his hand. Ill never forget those three weeks in Japan but even if I did Id never lose that night. The nights of Katana Zero blasting through my iPod earbuds the clack of the tracks the large open skies the compact city blocks the hustle bustle the great people the smack of hot ramen against my chapped lips. Until I can make it back to that hallowed ground of mine Ill have these memories. But I swear to not dwell on these memories forever Ill get back there on day. I swear the halffinished udon I left at a dining room table because I was too full of the tonkatsu I swear it on the rusted bike I rode around the ports of Ashiya and I swear on the gracias I said to the cashier at the Sanrio store instead of arigato. Thank you Shinkai for creating this piece of me Ill never let go. https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/839734152470724661/1119447486176702464/heroweatheringwithyoumoviereview20201783634083.jpg