Shinkai's Weathering With You! Was this actually better than kimi no na wa? So
What's up guys Foxen here! Shinkai's latest movie it's officially out here in
Japan Tenki no Ko also known as Weathering With You.
So time for my non-spoiler review how does this compare to Shinkai's Your
Name movie and yes this will have light comparisons to Kimi no na wa which
is honestly unavoidable. For me I personally loved the Kimi No Na Wa and
yes it's actually possible to love but both things so at least for this video
you know that I'm coming from a place of love. And if you haven't seen Kimi No Na Wa
yet i definitely recommend it just in case i want to include the huge spoiler
here about it so let's go ahead and get into it be sure to subscribe and give
this a shining thumbs up as always you could go ahead and ask bowler questions
down below by the way I have got a request for a follow up spoiler video
but unfortunately these anime movies in general don't get much interest so let's
say if this gets the reek a plus likes I'll go ahead and do a quick spoiler
talk video talk about Kimi No Na Wa there's actually a reference to communal
am wearing with you in fact you actually got two pretty obvious ones just know
that the Japanese audience they go crazy for these which really doesn't happen
often in a Japanese theater so let's get into the story
Weathering With You the 100% hare Onna which means something like the girl that
could make it sunny 100% success rate or really the 100% sunshine girl. You got
this guy holding a traveling to Tokyo during a summer high school break.
Hodaka was searching for something for a certain reason
that'll be revealed in the movie. Eventually he ends up working part-time
for these very two interesting individuals. Then one rainy day fate
leads this guy into running into this 100% sunshine girl Hina.
So getting into something that a lot of you are wondering compared to Kimi No Na Wa
this is much more of a love story a much more developed one. You do get the pretty
obvious pair couple being set up only this time they actually spent a
good amount of time together. For plot reasons you really couldn't have much of
that in Kimi No Na Wa. After Kimi No Na Wa a lot of people
were expecting Weathering With You to have this huge twist too. And just thinking about my
first time watching that movie when the twist came I felt like someone had
punched me in the stomach or like gave my balls a hard flick. I'll just say that
I don't consider this a spoiler so just know there's nothing like that and
Weathering With You. You do get natural reveals and
unexpected turns here and there but nothing at all unlike the stuff in
Kimi No Na Wa. On the flip side surprisingly for Weathering With You it
does have several moments in this movie over just had me thinking how the hell
do you get out of this? Either one you're totally screwed or you could take option
B but then if you do that your life may never be the same if you go that route.
For this I really appreciated at these edge-of-your-seat moments where I really
wasn't expecting them to happen. Getting into the Weathering With you cast
starting with Hina so she's obviously the female lead of this movie almost 18
years old. Looking back at this she was mature at times but also a little bit
naive. For example you do have Hina working pretty hard so she's living
alone with her younger brother. On the flip side you often see Hina doing some
things that she should really know better than to do. At the start of the
movie I really did appreciate Shinkai setting up this couple with Hina being
the older one here. Hina does end up being awfully kind and even more
surprisingly understanding at times. Perhaps this is all due to her
background growing up and especially the situation she experienced within the
last year. Hina really is your average Japanese girl just trying to pay
rent and really get by in this busy Tokyo of day-to-day life. One day for
some reason she gained the power to turn rain into sunshine. Switching it over too
Hodaka Morishima. This guy is a 16 year old high school student originally
this guy is not from Tokyo but visiting. So this time Shinkai has actually swapped
the role of the guy and the girl. Hina is from Tokyo and Hodaka is the one from
this remote location outside of the Tokyo are. Hodaka is surprisingly
honest. I mean he does try and hide stuff occasionally but completely fails when
his red face gives us true intentions away. He also is pretty innocent at times
but then again does get pretty proactive that when the time calls for it. I also
really did love the chemistry between Hina and Hodaka. It feels so sweet
and innocent. Getting into the side characters you have Hina's brother so
oh my god this guy is mr. popular. I actually thought this guy would end up
being that annoying little genius type of kid. Turns out great thing he wasn't.
After the whole movie was over actually wish he was in this a little bit more.
As for the manager and his assistant lady I'm just gonna go ahead and group
these two together. Both of these two are flaws characters which does make them feel
more real. Yes they do have their own issues and baggage. The girl here
actually reminds me a lot of Misato from Evangelion. Let me also not
forget about the Kitty cat. You do have this adorable little kitty called Ame
meaning Rain. I was thinking they would push this guy a lot more just to sell
some merch related to this kitty which actually does exist. Turns out Ame
actually wasn't as much in the movie as I predicted. I'll just go ahead and say
that I definitely loved the scenes whenever he appeared even if he wasn't
of main focus. Next up the animation so you have everyone talking about the
beautiful gorgeous animation for Weathering With You.
I could definitely show you this lives up to expectations. Uf you've been
watching awhile you know I'm a massive fan from water related stylistic
animation. In this movie have so many rich scenes involving rain whether that's
light or massive (rain) but also don't forget about these breathtaking Sun scenes. If
you had all of weather animation this is a must watch movie for you. On the flip
side I should mention that unlike kimi no na wa where you think of some very
stylized scenes for things like Mitsuh'as background
unfortunately you really don't have something like that here. There was
actually a Japanese element that Shinkai could have played with for certain
things like that but it didn't happen. As for the music this is another aspect
that will deeply be compared to Kimi No Na Wa which is really no surprise since
you do have Radwimps returning. After seeing Weathering With You twice and
listening to the soundtrack even more after the movie, both of the soundtracks
are great to listen to however if you do want to pick a winner that would go
to the Kimi No Na Wa soundtrack. I really thought that that soundtrack embodied
certain scenes much better. Just listening to certain pieces immediately
takes me back to that specific scene from the movie. Now compare that to the
Weathering With You soundtrack I almost never got that feeling.
Still the music felt like it blended nice with the given scene but it didn't stand
out much in a good or a bad way. Despite me saying that there's actually a couple
standout songs two of which you've actually already gotten a taste from the trailer.
Those are what I'm talking about. The sound flavor there instantly takes
it back to two very impactful scenes. I do also have to give a quick mention to
the amazing sound direction here really for anything involving the rain. From the
sound of the raindrops hitting the ground or Hina's umbrella to the thunder
going off in the distance. It reminded me of some of the
amazing sound effect worked for the SAO ordinal scale movie. As for
other little things I enjoyed actually really loved Shinkai's uses just
smartphones here. They technically did play a bigger role in Kimi No Na Wa and due
to certain reasons but I liked how Weathering With You presented them and
didn't shy away from them. Like oh I need to find this nearby location
let me quickly check the bus route. It doesn't take over the scene and that
even adds to the visual in their own way. Sometimes adding color to a shot or
sometimes serving to contrast against the already colorful background. Another
thing I really like which makes sound like a weird one were the transitions.
Throughout Weathering with you I often switch to a new scene he made it
go black and held it for a little longer than normal. During this time you could
actually hear the sound of the weather from the next scene playing first then a
few seconds later the new scene actually comes into scene. This added a really
nice touch and only once did the screen go white instead of black. Keep an eye
out for that moment. This third thing I really enjoyed really hits home for me
which is really just for me ever since moving to Tokyo I've actually been
experience actually living with the rain on a daily basis. In fact it's actually
been raining almost non-stop for this last week or two. I'm originally from
California where it rains like never so this is a new experience and just before
seeing Weather with you the first time it was raining a little bit then coming out
of it tada. Sunny. Just a nice little bonus for me.
Anyway let's get into the juicy topic did I cry? Did this movie make me wet?
and I know why you're asking in other words will you cry in this? The answer to
that is that it depends did you cry in Shinkai's past movies? Were you crying your balls
out for Kimi no na wa? So I really have no problem admitting of an anime touched me
in a certain way which is why I could honestly say I did not cry here. At most
I got a little emotional for a couple of scenes. Sometimes those being difficult
scenes or sometimes those being gorgeous ones here and there. That was my first
experience anyway. For the second time watching it there were actually two
scenes between Hina and Hodaka got me tearing up especially the first scene.
I could also tell you that now I do get a little choked that watching the second
trailer so it's really those two song pieces now carry much more meaning for
them. Getting into another juicy topic the ending. After the
first showing ended I was surprised there was actually applause so in case
never seen a movie here I've been to so many movies here in Japan non anime
and anime stuff. I haven't yet when there's any applause at the end yet. Even
for something like Avengers which I saw in like three times who knows perhaps
people who were too busy crying at the end of that which is why I was really
happy to see this out of all movies to get some applause at the very end. As to
whether this was a happy or sad ending again I'm gonna keep this non
spoiler. Let me just go ahead and try to be vague about it. If you're here for the
love story you do get more out of this than Kimi No Na Wa. I actually did it here
up at the end or walked out of this feeling sad of Weathering with you.
Instead it had me thinking for a good while which I do expect it will be
similar for a lot of you. What would you have done if you were in a similar
situation? Would you have changed your answer once you found out the
consequences of your actions? I do believe Shinkai himself mentioned
something about expecting people to be more critical of Weathering with you
compared to Kimi No Na Wa which is why a lot of people are wondering whether this
will have a controversial ending. For me I think describing the ending as
something controversial that seems way too strong and harsh of a word. Instead I
think it'll have people thinking about it and hopefully discussing it. If
anything I'm predicting a bigger point of discussion will be the comparison to
Shinkai's last two films. You know Kimi no na wa versus Weathering with you
which was better? Alright so a lot of good stuff or were there any negatives. I
found three that were not really issues for me but I'll be surprised if they're
not either complaints or weaker points that some of you may have or other
people. Potential negative number one how fitting something to do with the
ending. Without giving it away you could argue that it almost feels like Shinkai
chose to go to a certain route for this ending just because the story ends here
for our characters. In other words at the end of this you do have some serious
consequences although on the flip side it's not like the characters really had
to deal with this stuff on screen. The movie is over. Just like kimi no na wa I
would like to see a short follow up to this. Smething like a short book or even
a manga version what happens next? It would actually be a huge plus on Shinkai's
part if the next movie tackled something similar with a new couple.
Potential negative number two something I've hinted about from the start there
so you do spend a good amount of time until you actually reached the main
obstacle of the movie. I want to say over an hour maybe
an hour and 20 an hour and 15. It really is mostly sunshine and rainbows until the
dark cloud for this movie pops up. This point itself really serves as the
contrast to Kimi No Na Wa where you have this constant issue of the body-swapping
until the big impact happens. Potential negative number 3 something I
touched on earlier which was the music. This being the same group is gonna get a
constant comparison to Kimi no Na Wa's soundtrack. For almost every one
of Kimi no Na Wa novel soundtrack pieces I could easily tell you at least on a high
level which scene is connected with. On the flip side for the Weathering with
You track except for maybe a handful they do sound pretty similar. Most of
them don't have to see anything that really makes them stand down at least
for me. Let me just stress that this is not due to me having watch Kimi no na Wa
a few more times. This is also something that wasn't a personal
issue for me but I'll be surprised if this isn't a point of discussion that
pops up. Anyway let's just go ahead and get into a Kimi No Na Wa versus
Weathering with You which was a better one? The one stronger point of
Kimi no Na Wa was a fact that you got this grand twist in the middle which
almost no one figured out. Leading up to that was this constant mystery about
things going on. Out of anything that should have left a huge impact on you. Switching
it to Weathering with You there is no colossal twist. You do have some mystery
that's present to some extent but definitely not on the same level as kimi
no na wa. Another huge deciding factor should be the setting for the movies you
actually had the best of both worlds for kimi no na wa two different
locations from japan. On the other hand for Weathering with you you
are stuck in this concrete jungle for all of it which either of these really
aren't necessarily a bad thing. It really depends on your preference. You get to
different parts of Japan highlighted. For me I'm very much more familiar with to
Tokyo areas especially places like Shinjuku which were showcased a lot in
this movie. Honestly I freaking love this part of Weathering with you it really
touched really close for me literally. I mean if you ever been to Japan yourself
you've definitely gone to Shinjuku at least once too. That said one
thing I would like to explore and get more familiar with Japan's countryside
much more but anyway in the end they're so damn close. Honestly even after seeing
Weathering with you twice I don't think I could choose one or the other. It
really is a coin toss which means what am I in the mood for? A
more impactful story and better music I would go with Kimi no na wa. Better visual
sound and develop love story? Weathering with you. I
really unpredictable anime fans to be split down the middle. I just hope it doesn't
turn it into this negative pool. I'm also predicting this is not gonna be
anywhere as near as popular or be that massive hit that Kimi No Na Wa was. Let me
also mention those after hearing about Shinkai's new anime movie combined
with seeing the second trailer I started to wonder could this actually be anime
of the year for me? So after seeing it twice I could safely say that it's not.
Right now there's a couple of other contenders for that spot.
Although on a positive note this is definitely my top 10 right now. I could
actually easily see Weathering with You be anime of the year for a lot of anime
fans. Which by the way of reminder on the spoiler top go ahead and smash that
thumbs up! If this gets 3k plus likes I'll definitely make that happen. Anyway
let me hear from you post them below. Do you want to watch Weathering with you ?Does
it sound better than kimi no na wa? Definitely do check out my recent review
for the bunny girl senpai movie and trigger Studios premiere movie more
juicy anime reviews coming and I'll see you guys later!