FILM REVIEW: Tenki No Ko (Weathering With You)

by Leila Hicarte and Kyle Antonio

“Who cares if we don't see the sun shine ever again? I want you more than any blue sky.”

Earlier this July saw the release of the much awaited movie of the great Makoto Shinkai; a Japanese director renowned for his movie ‘Kimi No Nawa’. The movie was well received by its viewers, reaching ¥13.01 billion in Japan’s box Office and $128.7 million worldwide. Despite being way off Kimi no Nawa’s success, it was still, over all, a great movie.

Makoto Shinkai knew what he was good at and he had applied it in this movie like all his critically acclaimed films. He had brought his world to life with the meticulous amount of detail that made it look realistic and emotionally rewarding as he showed off another coming of age drama. A tale of runaways, tragedy, and rain; yes , lots and lots of rain, Tenki No Ko is set in a Japan experiencing frequent rainfall. It tells the story of two young people, Hodaka and Hina, who were quite literally at the opposite ends of the same line. In a spur of events, Hodaka runs away from his life and arrives in Tokyo where he encounters a girl who appears to be able to manipulate the weather.

Tenki no Ko in a lack of better words, is a very anticlimactic film. After the release of Kimi no Nawa, the stakes were raised above the roof and you would obviously expect the sequel to be better. While it did the job of telling a good story, it was so lacking compared to its predecessor. What Kimi no Nawa excelled at, character development, was missing in this film. Hodaka seemed mechanic, doing his best to be that lovable protagonist but it just wasn’t working out. He reminded me off Taki, just five times more degraded. It almost came to the point that he seemed more of a plot device to keep the story moving forward than a main character.

But don’t misunderstand. If you haven’t watched the film yet, I highly recommend that you still should. It is after all, a sequel of a beloved film. True, it is lacking but it also excelled in some parts. Shinkai kept his charm in Tenki No Ko. In fact, it wasn’t that far off from his previous films. He deliberately lays out the plots so that each scene would seem to be building up to something grand or tense only to lead it into something perfectly normal. Something much closer to our daily mundane life and that actually works quite well since it’s easier to relate to it. Viewers who aren’t accustomed to this kind of narrative might be disappointed but I think it worked out well in the end.

His flow doesn’t spend much time in explaining in full detail why some plots are so but rather leaves it to his viewers’ insights. Odd and it’s almost like a cliffhanger that leaves you at the edge of your seats. This in itself is the very definition of slice of life animes and he does them spectacularly well.

Although it’s predecessor might’ve been better off without a sequel, let’s try to look at it as an individual film. The cinematography is remarkable. One can see how the studio’s animation techniques have improved over the years and the bow on top, the soundtracks, were great; a true testament on how well Japanese music can blend in with Western genres. Tenki no Ko might not be what everyone expected or wanted but it was a good film. One that would be remembered and one that would continue to mold the norm for the next set of animated drama.