Weathering With You

Time to flood this review section with my showering praises! Bad joke sorry. Being serious though, if I want to summarize Tenki no Ko with one phrase, that will be, lacking of confidence to make bold moves. Yes, I actually said that on a film that our best boy, Makoto Shinkai made. He has always made really bold moves on his movie with no drawbacks at all. However, Tenki no Ko felt different. It felt as if he was being nervous when he was producing this film, there was that sense of nervousness inside the story. Not a smart play there, my friend, many people will prefer bold moves compared to what you did here for this movie. However, I will give props to many things that this movie has done right, in this review. In the most spoiler-free way that you've ever seen in your life! >.>

Story wise, no matter how much I love Shinkai films, I'll have to say it in the most un-biased way possible. If you love a bold, powerful story, whether if it's sad or not. As long as it's bold. I will not recommend you to watch this film. Tenki no Ko was definitely an emotional one in a certain type of way, but at the same time, due to it not being daring enough to push it further. I felt that it was not strong enough to create a real powerful heart breaker that will literally make half of the people in the theaters go, " Somebody is cutting onions here ". The story felt wacky, literally. The scenes felt amusing to me rather than what they wanted me to feel sometimes. I don't know if it's just me, or everybody else too. The story just feels off the mark compared to other movies that I've thought were great. Such as 'Your Name.' , 'A Silent Voice' etc. This movie still hits objective of it being a romance movie with the feels rolling like the wheels of a train. (If you got that you are the 1% that can understand my genuine jokes)

Speaking of trains, let's look at RADWIMPS. (Reference to their MV for 'Is there still anything that love can do', an OST used for Tenki no Ko) | They have once again outdone themselves with the music, especially 'Is there still anything that love can do?' , which plays as the camera flows through the soundscapes like a typical Shinkai film. I also felt the real push when they used the OST 'Grand Escape' in the film, at the best time as well. It was placed in so well that it contributed a lot to the emotions that you were supposed to feel during that scene. Want to know which scene? Well, too bad it's a spoiler-free review or I would have showered spoilers on you all! (sorry.) As for voice actors go, I really love how instead of choosing crazy popular voice actors such as HanaKana, they chose voice actors who basically never had a role ever as the main character of the movie. Even if that was their first time playing the movie, they sounded beautiful. I highly respect that point. "That scores high points!" , is what Komachi will say. (Reference to anime Oregairu) The foley sounds were incredibly well made, the raindrops sounded pretty legit, the walking felt really in sync with the character too. Okay that's really all I have to say for that LOL.

CoMix Wave Films never ever disappoint me when it comes to visuals. Be it 'Your Name.' , 'The Garden of Words' , '5 Centimetres per Second' or other films, the shadow, the lighting & even the raindrops look incredibly well drawn. They really spent a lot of effort & budget into this movie, and I really appreciate it. The way the water moves upwards into the sky truly look beautiful, as if I'm literally in heaven. The way Hina was designed was really cute and meaningful. The water pendant on her made her feel more like a sunshine girl than just having a title. The jacket kind of top was also trying to signify a similar thing as well. Hodoka's design was pretty plain and normal, but that actually was probably done on purpose. In contrast to the sunshine girl who could control weather, Hodoka was just a normal boy who has ran away from his home, unemployed and has no money. Honestly no words to say for such amazing visuals other than amazing job team.

To keep a spoiler-free review, I'll only talk about Hina and Hodaka. Hina is a sweet, carefree girl that is able to control weather. Hodoka is a daring, brave young soul that is willing to do anything for save a person that he loves. The comedy that they build together is pretty enjoyable and the other emotions that they create together is really really adorable. I really cannot elaborate because I got to keep it as spoiler-free as possible so yeah.

I honestly really enjoyed the film, it was a bunch of mixed emotions entering me and it felt like my feelings were getting blended during the time I was watching the movie. Joy, happiness, sorrow, proud, admiration & many more. This movie honestly has a lot to offer itself if you just take out its few flaws that it holds. I will recommend this film to anybody that is a real big fan of Makoto Shinkai because this is definitely something more different compared to his other films that he made. Other people who aren't fans of Makoto Shinkai are also recommended as well as long as you don't hate Slice of Life mixed with Drama. It creates an effect that may seem undesirable to some people. Good movie.