Weathering With You is a film by Makoto Shinkai, known for two very particular periods in which in the first one the distance is unreachable and the only resolution is to resign oneself to it; and a second period where he makes fantastic films where the impossible is achieved to solve the problems linked to distance, although they are two very opposite approaches, the Leitmotiv of Makoto Shinkai is clearly that, the distance.

Weathering With You is a film situated in this second period of Makoto Shinkai, this time with a more abstract presence of the concept of "distance", being more a personal element than a physical one as the other films (where they talk about light years, death, time or even time/space), here it is more situated in the concept of "trust", and it is a personal element that seems to take some time to become present but from the beginning we can see how everything revolves around distrust.

The epic to the personal, could a film about trust be made without Kiritsugu Emiya again having the conflict of dooming his beloved or the world? Sure, but it wouldn't have been a tenth as gripping, and I'm not the blockbuster director that Makoto Shinkai is, going back to "The Girl or The Climate Change" (I admit, I didn't laugh either), it's easy to consider that a lot of things within the film would have been easily resolved if Hodaka or Keisuke had set out to come to a solution the easy way, you know, things like gun ownership, social services and suspected kidnapping, but as mentioned, this is a play about trust, those solutions are left out of the equation, in fact it is mistrust that underpins the plot. Even Keisuke's subplot is sustained in this way.

Weathering With You is a lot less Disney than, for example, Your Name is, in terms of tone, by way of representing this atmosphere of distrust, it is quite distant, directly dirty, the first third is simply to expose this Tokyo of street gangs, suspicious clubs, abuse of the "barely legal" (or not so), a Tokyo that is avoided in other anime (including Your Name).

The film doesn't show its full cards until late in the first third, I would even say, past the middle of the film, which is not very noticeable because each of its elements is revealed gradually and gradually, very good if you are interested from the beginning (ideal scenario), but it feels a bit slow if, like me, you start watching the film with scepticism, because it's not until halfway through the film that you really connect with the film and its intentions, which is also a thing of mistrust (and stupidity on my part).

I must have already contemplated that Makoto Shinkai is not going to return to making films about vast distances and endings that, while not disappointing, feel like a painful slice of reality. He found his sweet spot in fantastic works where the impossible is achieved to overcome those distances, but I'm pleased that Weathering With You is not only not Disney, but also plays a balance where the beauty of aesthetic realism also brings into focus what is not beautiful, as I mentioned about Tokyo, it also brings into focus the realism of the city, and the realism of the people there. It is finally the consolidation of "Shinkai Fantasy" living in balance with "Shinkai Realism".

The reason I consider an informal review of this film good is because, first, I don't know about cinematography, and second, because CoMix Wave has technical-artistic standards simply superior to many things put in front of my eyes, musically RADWIMPS has the presence and identity of... well, I think I'd need a musical analysis, because in broad terms it feels like I'm listening to a spin-off of Your Name (no cameos allowed as I'm going to hell with the timeline of Your Name, there are cameos, I'm going to hell with the timeline in Your Name).

Fundamentally it's an excellent film, quite mature in intent with a tried and tested formula, and novelty refined, a sober tone accompanied by a gripping fantasy. You know that otaku meme of "they say 'Anime is for kids'" and they show images of violent or sexual anime? It's a stupid meme every time I see it, at best the violence and sex makes it for edgy teens. I'm not saying that Weathering With You is a film for adults, but also it's a mature work, it talks about growing up, trusting, not leaving everything to the verbs "run away" and "hide", messages that are too big for many adults.

Quietly this film rests in my thoughts and reflections, it easily finds its way into my recommendations.