Movie Review - Tenki no Ko/Weathering with You
SPOILERS AHEAD for the 2019 Movie “Weathering with You” (Tenki no Ko), “5 Centimetres per Second” and “Your Name”.
SPOILERS for the 2015 Video Game, “Life is Strange”.
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Makoto Shinkai was telling us to be selfish. This is my conclusion from watching the movie.
Being a movie about weather, it has elements of global warming and climate change being scattered all over. We should not let these effects be passed down to the future generation – having our children bear the burden is too much for us to ask.
Here’s how:
For those of you who watched “Garden of Words” and “5 Centimetres Per Second”, forget everything you have learned about Makoto Shinkai’s works. Those of you who haven’t watched them, what are you waiting for? Go watch the movies and come back.
I, too, am a Shinkai anime veteran, and yes, I was devastated with both of the aforementioned titles. One in particular resonates with me because it feels like my story. If one expects Shinkai characters to have a sad ending, and comes with that mindset to watch “Tenki no Ko” then, you are making a mig bistake. Did Shinkai give us bleak stories in the past? Yes. Did he make us wear our ‘depression’ shirt and cry in the corner of our dayscholar home? Yep. But do we have to expect a similar story this time around? Not necessarily.
The film has received mixed reviews. Some are so polarizing, I wonder whether we watched the same movie. However, there are issues with the movie – negativity in terms of film presentation, which has not gone unnoticed, even by me, a positive reviewer. Do negative reviews mean that Shinkai is a bad director now? Absolutely not! Shinkai is an artist first, and a director second. He has done what every artist does once in a while – subverts expectations.
Artists are allowed to change – even if our tastes and preferences do not. Makoto Shinkai has fed us sad and depressing stories in the past, it is true. But why do we even have set preferences for a Makoto Shinkai movie? Look at other examples, Quentin Tarantino is not a 100 percent violence director. Zack Galifianakis is not a 100 percent comedic actor. Hajime Isayama is not a 100 percent ‘giant-mindless-nude-bois-come-and-eat-humans’ director.
Therefore, what gives us – the audience – the right to expect a particular type of movie from Makoto Shinkai?
Bottomline is that we need to keep an open mind while watching any Makoto Shinkai movie – not just ‘Tenki no Ko’. Having prejudices or even any sort of predetermined expectations while walking into the theatre with ‘Weathering with You’ playing, is not an advisable choice. It is a film which has diverged from his previous works. But aren’t they all different from each other? They are all unique films, despite having similar art styles and being made under Makoto Shinkai’s watchful eyes. There is not much common between “The Place Promised in Our Dreams” and “Your Name”. “Children who chase lost voices” was a fantasy. “The Garden of Words” was set in modern-day Japan.
Every single movie from the director does not need to be familiar.
The problem with the movie
The issue with the movie is that it tried to deal with so many issues, and took a lot of time in doing so. Look at “In this Corner of the World” which is also an anime movie that attempted to deal with a lot of issues. However, it did it perfectly and managed to deliver on the topics dealt with. Even then, the ending was a little weird for some.
People seem to miss the major point of the ending. Hell, even I am not sure if I understood the ending. Hodaka saves Hina in exchange for perpetual rainfall. Hina was supposed to sacrifice herself and put an end to the rainy weather, as the previous ‘sunshine girls’ had done.
Expectations subverted. Hodaka saves Hina, and he gets to have a happy ending with the person he loves. In exchange, they drown Tokyo – and the rain never stops. To this, I say “Let the rain never stop”. The world does not deserve a good, happy ending at the cost of Hina’s life. Hodaka gets to be selfish.
I have played “Life is Strange” and I picked Chloe over the rest of the city. I am selfish like that. Maybe there’s something wrong with me. Maybe there’s something wrong with the world. Maybe, we are all selfish. Humanity has taught us to be selfless, but when it really matters – are we not all SELFISH deep down???
I am glad had Hodaka saved Hina. So very selfish of him; I appreciate it. Let Tokyo down – if you can have happiness for yourself, and Hina gets to live, let Tokyo drown. Makoto Shinkai seems to be hinting at this temperament with the use of all the, “It all used to be under the sea anyway dialogue choice. The pacing of the story could have been improved by removing such scenes but Shinkai left those scenes in, making the movie almost 2 hours long. He wouldn’t have kept those scenes in without a reason.
In the end, I wasn’t really able to figure out what was going on in Mr. Shinkai’s head. However, the movie was a pleasant experience for me, and that is all that matters.
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