Hodaka is sixteen and has run away from his island to Tokyo with almost no money. It has been raining for weeks. He gets work with a small magazine that writes about the occult and is sent to find a “sunshine girl”. He finds Hina, who works at McDonald’s and can clear the sky above her for a few minutes by praying. They start a business. Weathering with You was Makoto Shinkai’s follow-up to Your Name, and it is the angrier film.
What Happens When The Rain Does Not Stop
Hina’s body is turning to water. The sunshine girls of legend disappear into the sky and the weather goes back to normal. The police are looking for Hodaka, who is a minor, and for a gun he found in a bin. The last act is Hodaka choosing between a dry Tokyo and the girl, and Shinkai lets him choose, and shows what Tokyo looks like three years later. Taki and Mitsuha from Your Name appear briefly.
Why It Looks The Way It Does
The rain is drawn frame by frame across almost every shot, and the sky scenes above the clouds, with fish made of water, are the most elaborate thing Shinkai’s studio has produced. Radwimps did the songs again with Toko Miura singing. It made 193 million dollars and was Japan’s Oscar submission.
Watch Weathering With You On GoMovies
112 minutes in HD, subtitled. Press play above. Free, no account.