is a 2019 Japanese animated romantic fantasy film written and directed by Makoto Shinkai, produced by CoMix Wave Films and distributed by Toho. A second installment of Shinkai's Disaster trilogy, following Your Name (2016) and followed by Suzume (2022), the film follows a 16-year-old high school boy, Hodaka Morishima, who runs away from his troubled rural home to Tokyo, and later befriends Hina Amano, an orphaned girl who has the ability to control the weather.
It features the voices of Kotaro Daigo and Nana Mori, with animation direction by Atsushi Tamura, character design by Masayoshi Tanaka, and its orchestral score and soundtrack composed by Radwimps; the latter two previously collaborated with Shinkai on Your Name (2016). A light novel of the same name, also written by Shinkai, was published a day prior to the film's premiere, while a manga adaptation was serialized in Monthly Afternoon on July 25, 2019.
Weathering with You was theatrically released in conventional, IMAX, and 4DX theaters in Japan on July 19, 2019, and was released in the United States on January 17, 2020. It received positive reviews from critics, with praise for the animation, screenplay, music, visuals, and emotional weight. The film grossed US$193.8 million worldwide, becoming the highest grossing Japanese film of 2019 and the eleventh highest-grossing Japanese film of all time, unadjusted for inflation.
The film won a number of awards, including being selected as the Japanese entry for Best International Feature Film at the 92nd Academy Awards, but was not nominated. It received four Annie Award nominations, including for Best Independent Animated Feature, tying Spirited Away, Millennium Actress, (both 2001) and Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence (2005) for the second-joint most nominations for an anime film at the Annies, behind Ghost in the Shell (1995) and then Belle (2021) with five.
Plot
In June 2021, high schooler Hodaka Morishima runs away from home. When his ferry to Tokyo is hit by a torrential rainstorm, he is almost washed away, but is saved by Keisuke Suga. Suga gives the boy his business card and tells him to call if he needs a job. Hodaka struggles to find work in the city. He finds an abandoned Makarov PM handgun and keeps it even though guns are illegal. He meets Hina Amano, a McDonald's employee, who pities him and gives him free food. Suga hires him as his assistant; he and his niece Natsumi publish a small occult magazine investigating strange phenomena, including the unusually rainy weather. They hear the legend of "Sunshine Girls" who can stop rain, and bring sunshine.
Hodaka sees Hina being intimidated into working at a club and in panic, fires his gun at the club owner, barely missing him. Hina takes him to Yoyogi Kaikan, an abandoned building with a shrine on the roof, where he also throws the gun away, and amazes him by demonstrating her ability to clear the sky by praying. Hodaka learns that Hina is an orphan living alone with her younger brother Nagi. Seeing that they are also in financial trouble, Hodaka proposes they start a business having Hina clear the weather for social gatherings. Their business becomes a success, but Hina is filmed and shown on television, leading to their site getting flooded with requests. They decide to temporarily suspend business to let Hina rest. Meanwhile, Suga and Natsumi interview the old priest of a shrine who tells them the legend of who can control the rain, adding that they pay a heavy price for their powers.
Meanwhile, police are searching for Hodaka, whose family has reported him missing. They trace him using security footage of him using the gun. Officers arrive at Hina's apartment and interrogate her; Hina realizes that because they have no legal guardian, social services will separate her and Nagi. Suga, also visited by the police, fires Hodaka, explaining that police suspect him of kidnapping, and gives him severance pay in cash. Hodaka, Hina, and Nagi decide to run away together. Meanwhile, torrential rain, unnatural cold, and even snow continue to descend on Tokyo. A state of emergency is declared in response to the severe and abnormal weather. Police spot Hodaka as a fugitive and restrain him, but he is saved by Hina, who unintentionally uses her powers to destroy a small box truck with lightning. They take shelter in a hotel using the cash Hodaka got from Suga. Hina reveals that her body is slowly turning transparent the more she uses her power, and says her sacrifice will allow the weather to return to normal. The next day, Hina has vanished and the rain has stopped. The police track Hodaka to the hotel and take him into custody. Nagi is sent to the children's counseling center.
Hodaka, realizing that he has fallen in love with Hina, escapes from custody with the help of Suga's niece Natsumi. The police surround Hodaka in the abandoned building, but Suga, inspired by Hodaka's desperation to find Hina, helps him escape. At the rooftop shrine, Hodaka jumps through the torii gate and is transported into the sky, where he finds Hina and asks her to return with him, insisting that she let go of her worries about the weather and start living for herself. As soon as they return to the rooftop shrine, Hina, Hodaka, Natsumi, Nagi, and Suga are all arrested, and the heavy rains resume. Hodaka is sentenced to three years of probation and sent back to his home in Kōzu-shima.
Three years later, the rain has been falling without end in Tokyo, submerging much of the city. In spring 2024, having finished his probation, Hodaka graduates from high school and returns to Tokyo to start college. He meets with Suga, who has expanded his business. After Suga encourages him to find Hina, Hodaka finds her praying on a street overlooking the drowned city. They reunite, with Hodaka promising her that they will be all right.
Voice cast +CharacterJapaneseEnglishKotaro DaigoBrandon EngmanA sixteen-year-old boy who ran away from home and moved to Tokyo.Nana MoriAshley Boettcher A fourteen-year-old girl who is taking various part-time jobs to support her family after her mother's death. She has a unique ability to control the weather in various forms such as rain and lightning with her emotions while bringing sunlight by praying. Shun OguriLee PaceA middle-aged man who runs a small publishing company where Hodaka ends up working part-time.Tsubasa HondaAlison BrieKeisuke's niece and a college student who works part-time at his office. Emeka GuindoHina's younger ten-year-old brother that lives with her.Sei HiraizumiMike PollockA police officer and Takai's partner, who is working on Hodaka's case.Yuki KajiRiz AhmedA police officer and Yasui's partner, who is working on Hodaka's case.Kana HanazawaEcho PiconeA fourth grader with long hair who is Nagi's girlfriend.Ayane SakuraEmma de PaauwA fifth grader with short hair who is Nagi's ex-girlfriend.Chieko BaishoBarbara GoodsonAn old widow who asks Hina to bring sunshine on the anniversary of her husband's death. Ryunosuke KamikiMichael SinterniklaasAn architecture student and sketch-artist; he is Fumi's grandson. By the epilogue, he is Mitsuha's husband. He originally appeared in Your Name, Shinkai's preceding film.Mone KamishiraishiStephanie ShehA jewelry saleswoman at the LUMINE mall in Shinjuku; she moved to Tokyo eight years before the events of the film following a comet striking her birthplace. By the epilogue, she is Taki's wife and Fumi's granddaughter-in-law. Like her husband, she originally appeared in Your Name.
Production
On August 2, 2018, Makoto Shinkai announced that he was making a new feature film that would be released the following year. The film staff included as the character designer, Atsushi Tamura as the animation director and Hiroshi Takiguchi as the art director. Shinkai tweeted about his admiration for Shikao Suga, and that he "borrowed" the last name for the character Keisuke Suga.
In February 2017, plot development of Weathering with You began, and in April, character design and development started. In July, Shinkai began writing the script of the film. In August, development setting, location scouting and information collecting started. Storyboarding began two months later in October. In May 2018, animation work commenced, while the development of the rain material in the film started in July. In August, the cast audition was held, and art background work started in September. In October, the cast of Hina and Hodaka had been chosen. On December 13, 2018, a press conference was held to reveal the film's first key visual and it was announced that it would be released on July 19, 2019. Photo shooting for the film started in January 2019. The first trailer debuted on April 10, exactly 100 days before the premiere. Additional posters of the film and the second trailer was released on May 28. All work was completed by July 7, and the film was ready to be released.
In an interview, Shinkai said, "I thought, 'Should I make my next film so that I don't anger more people, or should I make a movie that angers them further?' And I chose the latter." He also added that he was influenced by the impact of climate change on Japan, particularly the increase in rainfall during the summer months. He revealed that he used both CG and traditional hand drawn animation to depict the rain in the film. The writing process of the story includes getting feedback from the production team, he revealed that he took around six months to write his previous film, Your Name, and another six months for Weathering With You. Shinkai chose a more "supernatural" approach on this film, as opposed to the science-fiction angle he used for Your Name. When asked for the reason of including the characters from Your Name, Shinkai said, "Personally, I wanted to see Taki and Mitsuha again before they met."
Casting Around 2,000 people auditioned for the roles of the film's two protagonists with Kotaro Daigo and Nana Mori being chosen. Other key roles were filled with returning crew members of Your Name. Daigo and Mori began recording their parts on April 27, 2019. On May 29, 2019, additional cast was announced: Shun Oguri (Keisuke Suga), Tsubasa Honda (Natsumi), Chieko Baisho (Tomi), Sakura Kiryuu (Nagi Amano), Sei Hiraizumi (Yasui), and Yuki Kaji (Takai).
Music
Like Shinkai's Your Name, Japanese rock band Radwimps wrote and composed the soundtrack and score for the film. It was released worldwide on July 19, 2019, the day of the film's release. is the film's theme song. It become the top-selling song in the weekly digital single chart of July 15–21. Another song, "Grand Escape (Movie Edit) feat. Tōko Miura" from the film ranked second with over 41,000 downloads. The film's soundtrack album won multiple awards, including the Japan Gold Disc Award and the 43rd Japan Academy Film Prize.
Marketing
Producer Genki Kawamura presented a work in process screening on June 14, 2019, at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in France that was open to industry professionals and students but not the general public. TV Asahi aired footage from the film's opening scene during a reshowing of Shinkai's previous film Your Name on June 30. Before its screening in Japan, Uniqlo launched special t-shirts with designs inspired by Weathering with You and Shinkai's previous anime films. Weathering With You reportedly promoted multiple products and companies including SoftBank Group, Suntory and Baitoru, in television advertisements. During its screening in Japan, many convenience stores such as Lawson, launched food products inspired by the film. Lawson also created a new beverage called Ameiro Jelly Tea, a herbal tea infused with blue flower petals.
Release