LogFAQs > #941567295

4. Weathering With You

Inviso: 2
Johnbobb: 4
Charon: 5
Genny: 8
Karo: 11
Jona: 13
Red: 20

Inviso: Normally on these lists, by the time we reach the end, Im either burned out by everything Ive had to watch over the course of a month and a half, or theres a point of diminishing returns in terms of film quality. I think Edge of Tomorrow bucked this trend, even if it wasnt my number one choice, but rarely do I reach the end of a list and think That most recent film that got releasedTHAT was the best film on the whole list. Yet Weathering with Youit REALLY gave me pause. It made me have to sit down and really consider whether it could potentially be the best film Ive watched over the course of this list.

Really, this movie has a touch of everything, and even though it shifted genres several times over the course of its runtime, I never felt bored watching it. Were introduced to this world where its always raining, and while thats certainly unusual, its still an innocuous enough trait to just kinda blend into the background of the plot at first, regardless of how important it becomes later. Hodoka runs off from his home town for reasons that are never really explained beyond I was suffocating, and Im fine with that. We give plenty of leeway to Disney princesses who want more in their lives, so why not a sixteen-year-old Japanese boy? He gets rescued from a sudden swell of rain by Suga, which sets in motion his life for the next severalmonths?

Basically, Hodoka winds up all but homeless and trying to scrape by on the streets of Tokyo, but hes too young to get a proper job. Two things happen that are minor scenes, yet they become relevant later on. First, he gets accosted by a sex club owner, which leads to him knocking over a trash can discovering a gun inside. Then, shortly thereafter, he briefly meets Hina at a McDonalds (nice product placement), and she takes pity on him and gives him a free Big Mac. This leads him back to Suga, where he gets a job working for a National Inquirer-type magazine. He works as kind of a writer, kind of an interviewer, but largely just tidying up around the office. THIS is what leads him to the eventual focus of the movie.

Now, I should point out that Hodokas struggles on the streets are interesting, so unlike other films where I found myself waiting for the plot to start moving, this was not the case in Weathering with You. But yeah, the magazine investigates Sunshine Girls as the made-up ramblings of a tarot card reader. Given the constant rain, its the kind of story people want to read, even if its all bullshit. During this investigation however, Hodoka comes across Hina again, this time apparently being accosted by the same club owner that accosted him in the past. He tries to intervene and rescue Hina, but he gets punched for his troubles, only to draw the gun and fire a warning shot that allows himself and Hina to escape. Terrified at his willingness to fire the gun, he abandons it in this dilapidated building that Hina takes him to. And its HERE that Hina reveals her big secret: SHE is a sunshine girl.

Upon demonstration of Hinas powers, the duo come up with a money-making plan that relies on clearing the skies in exchange for payment. It works out for a while and everyone seems happy. Its at this point that I realized this movie is only half overwhat kind of padding could they possibly add to make this two hours? The BEST kind of padding. THATS what. In the background of the main plot, the police are investigating the gun Hodoka found, which leads to them chasing Hodoka and putting both Hina (underaged and supporting her little brother) and Suga (trying to get custody of his daughter back) in jeopardy. Oh yeah, and Hina also has a little problem where shes starting to turn into water, as Suga and Nanami discovered while further investigating the weather girl phenomenon.

Long story short, Hodoka confesses his love for Hina, she reveals her condition, and she vanishes in the night as a sacrifice to end the torrential rain over Tokyo. The police arrive to arrest Hodoka and take Nagi into child protective servicesand THIS is the point that the the film switches genres and gets fucking INSANE. Its GREAT. Hodoka goes on a low-speed-turned-high-speed chase across the city, trying to reach the warehouse where he believes hell be able to find and rescue Hina. Nagi, in one of the BEST scenes in this entire rankdown, is straight-up pimpin by summoning two of his girlfriends to visit him in the child equivalent of jailonly to pull a body switch with one of the girls so he can escape. And then theres a sick Mexican standoff when Hodoka reclaims the gun he discarded earlier in the movie, screaming about how he needs to rescue Hina.

He does, of course, and rather than give a boring, happy ending, there are consequences to rescuing the girl who sacrificed herself for the good of Tokyo. The rain returns and never stops, flooding large portions of the city. Thats an awesome ending, and its nice to have a happy ending (Hodoka and Hina reunite at the end) without wrapping everything up in a nice little bow. I justI loved so much about this movie and it nailed almost every plot beat. It just falls a LITTLE short of matching the movie I put in the one spot. Thats nothing against Weathering with You though, its amazing on its own.

Johnbobb: I'm so, so glad I got to see this in theaters before the shutdown happened and made seeing films in movies impossible. This movie is breathtaking on the big screen. I loved the main characters, I loved the weird plot and I even love the cheesy romance of the main couple. There's something to be said for movies willing to go the "Fuck the world, I'm not throwing you away for their benefit" route. I felt the same way when playing a particular 2015 choice-driven game that featured a girl with unexplained magical powers and a girl that needed to be sacrificed to save her city. I felt a little like Suga, inspired by the main couple and willing to put all my hope into everything working out for them.

Charon: This film's ending makes it rare, in my opinion. It's very uncommon for protagonists of any film to basically say "fuck the world, we deserve to be happy too". It's usually not the message writers want to convey so to see it done here was interesting. I figured there would be some sort of happy ending regardless, but that didn't happen; instead the message of the film is that love will always come with a price, apparently. Some selfish decisions you make have repercussions that you can't unmake once you decide on your course. That was probably the most lasting thing about this film for me, and I just liked the concept of it since it's so rarely used. Outside of that, the cast of the film is great and of course the animation is beautiful. It was neat to see the little cameos from Your Name pop in too.


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Congrats to azuarc on being really good at predicting stuff