Weathering with You

Weathering with You
Stylized movie title
Directed by	Makoto Shinkai
Written by	Makoto Shinkai
Produced by	Wakana Okamura
Starring	Kotaro Daigo Nana Mori
Music by	Radwimps
Release date	July 19, 2019 (2019-07-19) (Japan)
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese
Box office	US193.8 million

Weathering with You (Japanese: 天気の子, Hepburn: Tenki no Ko; lit. 'Child of Weather') is a Japanese 2019 movie written and directed by Makoto Shinkai. It is the second movie in Shinkai's Disaster trilogy, following Your Name (2019). The movie was released in IMAX and 4DX on July 19, 2018, in Japan and was released on January 17, 2020, in the United States.

The movie was followed by Suzume in 2022.

In June 2021, high school student Hodaka Morishima runs away from home. His ferry to Tokyo is hit by heavy rain. He is almost washed away. Keisuke Suga saves him. Suga gives the boy his business card. He tells Hodaka to call if he needs a job. Hodaka cannot find a job in the city. He finds a Makarov PM handgun. He keeps it even though guns are not allowed.^[a] He meets Hina Amano, a McDonald's employee. Hina gives him free food. Suga hires him as his assistant. Suga and his niece Natsumi publish a small magazine. The magazine is about looking into strange things, including the rainy weather. They hear the legend of "Sunshine Girls" who can stop rain, and bring sunshine.

Hodaka sees Hina being bullied into working at a club. He fires his gun at the club owner. His shot misses the owner. Scared, Hodaka throws the gun away. Hina takes him to Yoyogi Kaikan. It is a building with a shrine on the roof. She shows him her ability to clear the sky by praying. Hodaka learns that Hina is an orphan living alone with her younger brother, Nagi. Hodaka suggests that they start a business. The business would be Hina clearing the weather for events. Their business becomes a success. Hina is filmed and shown on television. This leads to their site getting a lot of requests. They decide to stop business to let Hina rest. Meanwhile, Suga and Natsumi interview the old priest of a shrine who tells them the legend of "Weather Maidens" (天気の乙女, Tenki no Otome) who can control the rain. He says that using their powers causes a lot of problems for them.

Meanwhile, police are searching for Hodaka, whose family has reported him missing. They trace him using security footage of him using the gun. Officers arrive at Hina's apartment and interrogate her; Hina realizes that because they have no legal guardian, social services will separate her and Nagi. Suga, also visited by the police, fires Hodaka, explaining that police suspect him of kidnapping, and gives him severance pay in cash. Hodaka, Hina, and Nagi decide to run away together. Meanwhile, torrential rain, unnatural cold, and even snow continue to descend on Tokyo. A state of emergency is declared in response to the severe and abnormal weather. Police spot Hodaka as a fugitive and restrain him, but he is saved by Hina, who unintentionally uses her powers to destroy a police van with lightning. They take shelter in a hotel using the cash Hodaka got from Suga. Hina reveals that her body is slowly turning transparent the more she uses her power, and says her sacrifice will allow the weather to return to normal. The next day, Hina has vanished and the rain has stopped. The police track Hodaka to the hotel and take him into custody. Nagi is sent to the children's counseling center.

Hodaka, realizing that he has fallen in love with Hina, escapes from custody with the help of Suga's niece Natsumi. The police surround Hodaka in the abandoned building, but Suga, inspired by Hodaka's desperation to find Hina, helps him escape. At the rooftop shrine, Hodaka jumps through the torii gate and is transported into the sky, where he finds Hina and asks her to return with him, insisting that she let go of her worries about the weather and start living for herself. As soon as they return to the rooftop shrine, Hina, Hodaka, Natsumi, Nagi, and Suga are all arrested, and the heavy rains resume. Hodaka is sentenced to three years of probation and sent back to his home in Kōzu-shima.

Three years later, the rain has been falling without end in Tokyo, submerging much of the city. In spring 2024, having finished his probation, Hodaka graduates from high school and returns to Tokyo to start college. He meets with Suga, who has expanded his business. After Suga encourages him to find Hina, Hodaka finds her praying on a street overlooking the drowned city. They reunite, with Hodaka promising her that they will be all right.

Work on the movie began in February 2017 and through the year they made character designs and started animation. At a press conference, it was announced Weathering with You would be released on July 19, 2019. Shinkai revealed in an interview that he was inspired by the effect of climate change on Japan, mainly the increase of rainfall during the summer months.^[1] He also revealed that he used CGI and hand drawn animation for the rain in the movie, and said that he wanted a more supernatural story rather than a science fiction story like his previous movie Your Name.^[1]

• Weathering with You at Letterboxd