Weathering With You

Ok so…..the title is self explanatory.

I indulged in some more Shinkai Makoto goodness and watched his latest movie in theatres.  SO HERE. ARE. MY. THOUGHTS. AND. OBSERVATIONS.

 

It’s kind of interesting since they teased a little bit of “post credits content” by revealing there would be an extended interview with Shinkai Makoto after the credits but the blurb right before was part of the interview where Shinkai Makoto said something like “Your Name was surprisingly (LOL LIAR NOT A SURPRISE BUT OK) successful and so he wanted to make a next movie that appealed on a more international scale”.  And I went in thinking, “I wonder how many people will come in thinking this is going to be another Kimi No Na Wa, with a happy-ish ending/etc”.  Because in my opinion, Kimi No Na Wa in itself was a bit of anomaly.

I’ve seen most of Shinkai Makoto’s movies.  They’re spectacular, amazing, eye candy that assaults my senses.  But Shinkai Makoto has an obsession with symbolisms of distance, in any way possible.  His movies have endings that make you think “what? wait, the movie’s over?”  If you are used to like say…Studio Ghibli movies/other anime movies which are like spinoffs/one shots of other series, they often have some sort of conclusory end.  In a way, Shinkai Makoto movies do as well, but they can be jarring/unexpected for people not used to or expecting it.  Maybe because with Shinkai Makoto movies, while there is an “end” or some sort of descent from the climactic moment, at the same time it doesn’t feel as much of an end and feels more abrupt because it often feels like the end came too early, that there’s still more descent to be made, there’s still more life for the main characters to live.  This is true in many other anime movies, but the descent from the climax feels more fleshed out.  Shinkai Makoto leaves the rest to your imagination, to your fan theories. And such is the same with Weathering With You.

It’s almost criminal that I am going to take a section to talk about Kimi No Na Wa in a blog post about a different movie when I haven’t even talked about anything in Weathering With You yet, but I’m going to because it adds context, and hopefully provides a foundation for my thoughts on this latest Shinkai Makoto offering, also because I am still unpacking my feelings.

For anyone that saw me when I watched Kimi No Na Wa, they saw someone who at the end was literally writhing in his seat because he couldn’t believe Shinkai Makoto was going to do something he literally never does, he was going to kind of have closure to a story, in a “feel good” sort of way.  But at the same time, the writing was also because DEEP DOWN INSIDE THERE WAS A FEAR OF A JEBAIT.  A thought of “IT WOULD TOTALLY BE SHINKAI MAKOTO TO DO THIS AND THEN JUST BE LIKE LOLOLOL THE END MORE AMBIGUOUS STUFF HAVE A NICE DAY”.  Especially because the end was incredibly reminiscent of the ending parts of 5cm/s.  The potential of reuniting in spring, the coincidence of both happening to be in the same place at the same time, the train passing each other in which they could have seen each other, especially as there were still memories lingering.  BUT THEN SHINKAI DID THE THING 5CM DIDN’T.  HE ALLOWED THEM TO MEET. THE TWO PEOPLE WHO DIDN’T MEET IN 5CM WERE ABLE TO ACTUALLY MEET IN KIMI NO NA WA.

But enough about the past, this is Weathering With You.  Let’s start off with the completely obvious.  If you’re watching a Shinkai Makoto movie, you’re watching because you want the scenery to be beautiful, to remind you that the world is beautiful, with stuff that is incredibly pleasing to the eye, that something like that actually exists and is possible.  Shinkai Makoto as we’ve already established, is incredibly obsessed with symbolism/motifs of loneliness, distance, relationship, bonds, connection.  Anything is fair game for representing that. Even the weather.  Rain is commonly associated with dreariness, coldness, sadness, possibly even emptiness, whereas on the opposite, Sunshine is warm, happy, you go out and have picnics, play out in the sun.  Such is the diametrically opposite opinions that is normally associated with the two.  And yet in this movie, it’s almost like the opposite happens.  A boy initially starts off running away from everything, refusing to return from what he associates as sad.  Of course it’s raining at the time, but there is the symbol and theme that the weather around him truly reflects the “weather” that’s inside him.  It’s so cliche and cringey but this entire movie can be summed up as “boy finds the sunshine amidst the rain in his life”, or “in his world of rain, he finds the one that clears up and lights up his world”. It’s not a spoiler i guess to say that one of the central things is that one of the characters is a person that’s somehow able to control the weather and will the rain to stop, i.e. is a “sunshine girl”.  But the way in which they create a lore around it and interweave it is amazing.  But also at the same time, you see ABSOLUTE CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT. BOY BECOMES MAN, MATURE.  But you also get a reversal of sorts.  Because the boy is now forced to make a choice.  What defines his happiness, is it the sunshine/clear weather that the girl brings.  Or is the girl herself his happiness.  It’s the everlasting question of love isn’t it?  What brings the happiness, is it the acts of kindness, the love language the other presents to you, or is it the person themselves that make you happy?  The boy who faces a choice, does he make a choice for himself, be selfish?  Or does he become the “hero” who sacrifices his own joy for the benefit of others.  The movie thematically creates scenarios, questions, in which you question, what is “good”?  What is “right”?

When the final scene played and then almost suddenly it feels like the movie ends because the credits start rolling I immediately was like “what? that’s it? that’s Shinkai Makoto for you” and initially brushed it off as “whelp it’s just like his other stuff and slightly different from Kimi No Na Wa’s ending”.  But then I had to doubletake because I had to think “is it different? are the situations and scenarios different?”  And I realized, you know what, it’s not that dissimilar.  Shinkai Makoto has yet again created a wonderful piece, one that I would not mind going back through many many times, as I do with all of his other works because the wonderful thing about Shinkai Makoto is that the more you peel away at the layers, the more beautiful everything becomes about what he gives to us.  The more you start to notice, see, realize, and when it hits you, that’s when you realize what a jerk Shinkai Makoto is.  Because when that moment hits, you’ll never be able to quit watching his stuff and allowing him to take you on wild rides of revelation, realization, and emotions.