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I can't help but suspect that writer/director Makoto Shinkai did make this movie because he thought he had an interesting story but simply because he wanted to play with rain animations.

I'm okay with that. The animation is stunning, and no one is quite so good as taking something as simple as drops in a puddle and creating a gorgeous symphony as Shinkai.

All the same, a story would have been nice and there really isn't much of one here, nor does what exists make any particular sense. But the characters are charming, the movie is funny and touching, and while it's no "Your Name" it is Shinkai's third best film (Garden of Words is 2nd).

Well worth watching.

Weathering With You is an anime fantasy film produced by CoMix Wave Films. Written and directed by Makoto Shinkai (Your Name, 5 Centimeters Per Second), it is yet another poignant story from the acclaimed anime artist that stands well above most other animated films of this era.

In Tokyo, young high school student Hodaka Morishima attempts to find work and a place to live after running away from home. At the time, Japan is going through severe rain, halting the progress of many important events. After finding work at a small publishing company, Hodaka is tasked with researching urban legends around the local area, interviewing people who may have knowledge of such a subject. Eventually, Hodaka meets a mysterious girl named Hina, who to his surprise, has the amazing ability to control the weather by simply closing her eyes and praying. Intrigued by her powers, Hodaka decides to befriend Hina to understand her better as a person.

Beautifully animated and touching, Weathering With You is guaranteed to provide just the right amount of entertainment for any fan of Makoto Shinkai's work. While it doesn't quite reach the level of cleverness as "Your Name", it still has enough originality to separate it from its predecessor and stand on its own without drawing too much comparison. The animation is simply gorgeous, easily on par with Studio Ghibli, perhaps even more so. The attention to detail on the raindrops and water is highly reminiscent of Shinkai's 2013 film "The Garden Of Words", another of his work that used rain as a plot device. The characters are likeable and well developed, particularly Hodaka and Hina. Every scene they were together I could always feel the growing friendship between the two. However, the one major gripe I had was that the story was highly predictable. By the time the third act has begun, it's very obvious how things are going to end. Aside from that, this anime film is certainly worth one's time. The version I watched was in Japanese with English subtitles, but I am interested in seeing a dubbed version when it is readily available.

I rate it 8/10

I'm interested in this movie because of shinkai's previous works, and I think considering his last movie's success, many people also feels that way, so it's very hard to not comparing shinkai's next work with "your name". I'll start with the animation and visualization in this anime, it's better than "your name", and it captures the metropolitan culture of tokyo's Japanese people very well, though i miss the depiction of japan traditional culture and rural area in this movie. About the music, they have similar aura with "your name", moving moments in the movie are captured brilliantly with the music. Storywise though, "your name" was a better love story than this movie, and "your name" made more sense than this movie. It is still a very good movie though, but I think it won't top "your name" success.. I hope shinkai will make many more good movie after this, and with this much of quality, I think many people would still want to watch his future projects.. I know I would.

Weathering With You. From Makoto Shinkai, director of the smashing hit Your Name comes a story following a young runaway who flees to Tokyo to start a new life. He befriends a girl with a tokubetsu gift of Weather manipulation and the story progresses from there.

First of all the soundtrack was top notch. Radwimps who also composed and wrote music for Your Name were pretty much just as good. The way the music was used makes the scenes more engaging.

The animation was also what should be expected from a Makoto Shinkai film. It was beautiful. Ohhh my, that's intro scene was kirei.

The plot however felt a little bit messy. The first two acts were very satisfying, and the chemistry between the characters were what made the story really interesting. Hina and Hodaka were really cool together. All the other characters were really interesting and engaging characters. The direction of the third act really felt all over the place. It's hard to explain. Your name's ending was a bit similar, but was felt more complete. The film also had no major twists. There was lots of tension though.

The voice acting was really good. The actors are all unknowns but really sounded good as their characters.

This film was original. With many bad Disney CGI remakes out there, I'd rather watch this a hundred times more. It brings us a new story with engaging characters.

End of review.. 7.5/10 PS: there were some amazing cameos :) Sorry for my bad review. Enjoy.

Living in a country that are constantly hit by all kinds of disasters, Japanese people are more sensitive to natural disaster related topics than most other countries. Shinkai Makoto aptly captured this sentiment and made this heartfelt movie. Blue sky (aozora) is what everyone's heart desires when it kept raining and raining in Tokyo. However, there is a price to pay to get the sunshine back ... Now with global warming getting increasing worse, people all over the world are dealing with all kinds of unusual weathers. This movie thus does not resonate with the Japanese, but also with me as an American. There is a strong message there, and the ending is ... I cannot spoil too much here. In any case, don't just take it as a teenager love story. And needless to say, Shinkai Makoto's graphics is as breathtaking as ever. I like the songs as well. I am glad that we can see it in American movie theaters next year. Thank you GKIDS!