Weathering with You

I like the English title. As with Your Name, the visuals and music are good, and the depiction of Tokyo is impeccable. The themes and the mythology explored in Weathering With You are interesting. However, the story is very rough around the edges. It's a highly romanticized coming of age/teen romance fantasy with questionable character development, and it just didn't attract me in the way that Your Name's writing did.

While it is well animated and visually striking, the plot and writing is as stock as you can get with Shinkai films. This movie is filled to the brim with awful characterization, really dumb plot beats, and nauseatingly cheesy writing. The film tries way too hard to make you cry which gets grating pretty quickly. The ending is also a real piss take; it doesn't matter if you cause thousands of people to die and ruin the lives of plenty more, it's all justified so long as you love someone!

English dub. Shinkai with his usual beautiful visuals (especially raindrops), star-crossed teen lovers, power-pop, and city landscapes, plus the unfortunate third act turn of events. I would have preferred fewer anime tropes like "OMG I'M GOING TO A GURL'S HAUSE!!!" Still, he can continue to make these films and I'll continue to watch them. Fav scene: when Hodaka visits Hina's apartment for the 1st time and she's providing exposition, all those establishing shots of subways really set the tone.

Downgrade compared to Your Name in every department including the visuals (not in terms of technical virtuosity, just impact and effectiveness), music, and noticeably off putting editing. I guess a nice way of describing the actual plot, writing, etc. is that it is misjudged in its themes, characters (including the MC being the guy instead of the girl), and emotions but goes about them in an exuberant and high energy fashion.

Charming in a similar way to Your Name (which btw is probably one of my top five films of the entire 2010s decade - I’m a fan), with very nice visuals and magic mischief and charming humor - but a lot weaker in its storytelling and character development. Some of the sad moments feel kinda anime cliche, and the ending is a big load of “lol wot??”

Messy and flawed but I actually think Shinkai is doing a lot here to grow and evolve as a creator and that it's more nuanced than its getting credit for. It's not as good as Your Name, but I actually think in many ways it's more interesting. Also I just don't think Shinkai can make a movie I don't outright love at his current ability level.

Spectacular animation, everything else was simply an undercooked attempted replication of "Your Name". Really feels like a first or second draft put to animation where every lull in the pacing is amended with disorienting cuts and the sudden blaring of overly emotional music. The story feels more like the tagging of different story beats than an actual, believable story. The seams are showing, you might say. I believe it could've been good with a few (or a lot) more drafts.

Superb animation and stunning visuals are left out to dry by poor writing and a terrible story. Gorgeous vistas and tremendous art direction that could move to tears without context crash to earth when given it and almost without exception feel emotionally empty. Genuinely disappointing.

[AIF 2019] In which Shinkai reaffirms his commitment to auteurism from the other side of success, even as western reception frustratingly emphasizes scriptwriting over Shinkai's naturally visual style (cursed by the "next Miyazaki" comparisons) and focuses praise on background art at the expense of the excellent animation talent he attracts now--Atsushi Tamura's cartoony direction blending effortlessly into photorealistic backgrounds is no small feat. Really enjoyed inhabiting this world.

Not as good as Your Name but Shinkai does a great job of escalating emotions. Some of the musical cues are basic and cheesy, but that's about all that bothered me. It has an interesting premise and used it to suck me in. It's not really original to symbolically tie weather into emotions but that doesn't mean that it can't be done well, which it is. One of those movies that goes as you'd expect but I also feel the characters deserve the happy ending. Beautifully animated too.

Just like Your Name, the best part of the movie is the sequence that actually relates to the story's hook and then, halfway through, indulges in a shoehorned romance storyline to it's detriment. A gun? Really? Beautiful visuals as always.

Clearly a lot of effort was put into animating this which makes it a shame that creatively it feels like a step down from Your Name. The story has some interesting ideas but mostly sidelines them in favor of clished romance main plot. The love interest character feels painfully dated in her role and lack of agency. Also the melodramatic use of pop songs to punctuate an emotional moment was so overdone (several times on a single scene) it felt like parody.

An absolutely compelling story with stunning animation. Shinkai has a decent track record, he's spent most of his time before this one flirting with greatness, but often getting hung up on storytelling issues, but the talent is there, and I don't doubt he could make another one as awesome as this in the future.

Following Your Name was never going to be an easy task, but Weathering with You still shares too much thematic DNA with all Shinkai's earlier works. While his pacing has improved, his obsession with teenage romance as they burgeon into adulthood is reaching a point of diminishing returns. The voice acting (English dub) and animation are great. The weird environmental and self-sacrifice minor themes are interesting. Overall it's a good film; it just doesn't feel new.

A fantastic anime from the skilled Shinkai. Characters are wonderful and the humor is on point for this touching romantic drama about two kids trying to find their place in the world. The animation is on point for the entire film, breathtaking visuals that are a real treat to see. The only weak point is the script, who sometimes decides to undercook ideas and just push the plot along, a massive problem with the final 10 minutes of the film. Luckily the rest of the pieces hold the film together

Maybe not Shinkai's strongest work, but it really captured the feeling of Tokyo unlike any other film I've seen before. Beautifully animated, and with a lot of heart.

Most of Makoto Shinkai's films share the same vein.

Overwhelming anticipation might have been the worst thing for this film, as it was always going to be very difficult to outdo 'Your Name'. It certainly tries; the animation is fantastic and the film is again paired very well with a great soundtrack. The story gets a little iffy as it starts to get muddled, with what seems like streams of consciousness that don't quite fit well together, resulting in a "did-they-really-end-it-like-that" scenario.

A stunning visual treat - Shinkai tells a sweet natured, sometimes lumpy and incoherent tale on such a beautiful canvas that the flaws don't really matter; an indifferent perspective on climate change, and a return to "traditional" gender stereotypes almost counts as daring film-making in 2021! In its capturing the look and visceral feel of its city, it's right up there with BLADE RUNNER in its evocativeness. I look forward to a second viewing to get the themes and ideas a little clearer.

A step down from Your Name. Beautifully animated but the story and characters were cliche and the ending was terrible.

The visuals are great as always for Makoto Shinkai's works but the story's a mess and a lot of it just didn't work for me. That being said I still enjoyed it.

My God, those musical cues... ugh

It can't rain all the time.

Morishima Hodaka: "Who cares if we can't see any sunshine? I want you more than any blue sky."

Animation varies from good to absolute delight, it's easy to see that the animation is by Makoto Shinkai, for this viewer, he is in the top grade. Story though is weak, a generic anime romance & the ending is just plain silly, as are the childish escapes & escapades that keep the tale flowing. It is watchable but more for the visuals than the plot. The previous Your Name is definitely better, but for me, the much slighted Garden Of Words remains Shinkai's best work, both for animation & story.

Don't expect anything even remotely close to "Your Name" except for the animation quality and some nice cityscapes of Tokyo. Everything else, be it writing, editing or basic story structure are atrocious and then the melodrama on top makes this almost unwatchable.

Wewannaplayoutside!lool+bodydisappearing:'(+lmaogettingherbacksinkstokyoinunder3years-hadntseenhersincelool some really great animation parts

A very typical Makoto Shinkai film. It was a tantalizing visual experience, but storywise it did not try hard enough. (The cops also did not try hard enough.) The music by Radwimps was not as effective as the ones in Your Name.

Pleasant.

Disappointing, especially after watching the much superior 'Your Name'. It gets predictable fast, with bad writing, uninteresting cardboard characters and a fairly ridiculous plot and definitely ridiculous ending. I also thought the music was way too much. It only gets points for animation and some points for ambiance. Not recommended.

Feels a little disjointed but enjoyable. Appreciate the nontraditional story direction in the 3rd part.

This movie is far from perfect. It has many flaws, and it's extremely cliche. But for some reason, this movie touched me in a way only a few movies ever did. I don't even know why. There is really nothing unique about it (besides the absolutely breathtaking visuals) and I have seen many movies that tell almost the exact same story. Still, as the credits rolled I found myself crying, which in my opinion is a sign that I just watched a great movie.

How can something animated look so beautiful.

It's no Your Name. It's not bad but definitely underdeveloped.

Great soundtrack, wonderful story with some slightly off bits. You can definitely tell this is the directors experience as every film he does gets better and better. You can tell this is the second best film hes made with your name. In no1. But this film is equal to it in its own right especially with some of the lovely cinematography

Like "Your name" this seems to be three movies rolled into one. A supernatural drama, a YA romance and a thriller revolving around a found gun. The two first are good, the last one seems to have been tacked on as a way to shove the plot along on occasion and otherwise pad the action. Lacks the emotional resonance I had with "Your name" and seems to have a bleaker outlook on the world. Breathtakingly beautiful, though.

Makoto Shinkai's follow up to "Your Name." is a strikingly odd film with an extremely heightened melodramatic edge and a supernatural plot that often less than clear. But it's another beautiful piece of animation with an extremely detailed Tokyo awash in incredible rain.

Enjoyable and met my expectations. Beautifully animated.

Ticked a lot of the right boxes, even if it wasn't complete love. Definitely a good choice, though. The friendship aspect did a lot to make the story compelling, more than the supernatural stuff, which always feel a little too gimmicky in the films I've seen before. Is so here too, but not too distracting.

Shinkai's twists and turns make for a great emotional rollercoaster ride, but they're also a unreliable narrator. Since they seldom make sense (within the story's own mythology) and require a good amount of suspension of disbelief. While his (better) movies do work for said suspension of disbelief, and it (often enough) does yield rewarding results, it is somewhat refreshing - even if underwhelmingly so - to have him tell a less exciting, yet more grounded story. By his standards, I mean.

Beautiful to look at, but the story drags on for too long and gets somewhat tiresome along the way.