Story
When Hodaka (voiced by Kotaro Daigo) leaves home to make a life for himself in Tokyo, he doesn’t intend to return. On the ferry to Tokyo, Hodaka nearly drowns but his life is saved by Mr Suga (voiced by Shun Oguri). After failing to find a job in Tokyo, Hodaka humbly seeks Mr Suga’s help again.
While working as an editorial assistant for Mr Suga and his niece Natsumi (voiced by Tsubasa Honda), Hodaka helps with a story on ‘sunshine girls’. Sunshine girls, or weather maidens, are part of another world in the sky. They can take a prayer or wish to the sky and the sky will magically respond. Hodaka doesn’t believe the legend until he meets Hina, (voiced by Nana Mori) a young girl who prayed at a gate to save her mother ever since has been able to influence the weather.
Together Hodaka and Hina set up a business to bring sunlight and blue skies to small patches of Tokyo. Hina uses the money they make to look after her little brother Nagisa (voiced by Sakura Kiryu) and Hodaka falls in love with her. When the curse of the weather maiden comes true and Hina starts to disappear, Hodaka will stop at nothing to bring her back, even if it means crossing over into the sky world and condemning Tokyo to endless days of rain.
Themes
Children separated from parents; runaways; illness; excessive weather conditions
Violence
Weathering with You has some violence. For example:
- A man trips Hodaka, who falls into a garbage can and knocks the contents into the street. He finds a gun and quickly puts it into his bag.
- There are guns on a huge billboard outside Shinjuku station.
- Hodaka grabs Hina away from two men, and they chase him. When the men catch Hodaka, one man smacks and slams him into the ground repeatedly. Hodaka pulls the gun out of his bag and shoots. The man is clearly terrified but not injured.
- Hodaka resists arrest, and Hina pushes a policeman so that Hodaka can escape. Something comes off her arm, and there’s a connection with lightning in the sky. A truck suddenly explodes.
- Hodaka is taken into police custody but escapes to help Hina. Natsumi picks him up on her bike, and they weave their way recklessly through traffic, narrowly missing trucks and people.
- A police officer slaps Hodaka, and Hodaka bites him. Hodaka points a gun at police officers who grab him by the head and force him down. Hodaka’s face is bruised and bloody.
- Nagisa hurls himself at a police officer, knocking him down.
Sexual references
Weathering with You has some sexual references. For example:
- Hodaka looks at an advertisement for a sex club waiter.
- Two men try to force Hina to work at what appears to be some kind of sex club.
- Hodaka looks at Hina’s chest and says, ‘I don’t think you are cut out to work in a club like that’. She understands his meaning and blushes because she’s offended by his comment.
- Hodaka mistakenly thinks that Natsumi is Mr Suga’s mistress instead of his niece. He occasionally stares at Natsumi’s cleavage.
- Nagisa suggests that he, Hodaka and Hina all have a bath together. Hodaka and Hina are both very embarrassed at the prospect. Nagisa and Hodaka have a bath together while Hina has one on her own.
Alcohol, drugs and other substances
Weathering with You shows some use of substances. For example:
- Hodaka buys a large beer on the ferry for Mr Suga, who has just saved his life.
- Mr Suga drinks a lot of beer and whisky and repeatedly offers beer to Hodaka, who is underage.
- Natsumi occasionally drinks alcohol.
Nudity and sexual activity
Weathering with You shows some nudity and sexual activity. For example:
- When Hodaka first goes to Mr Suga’s home, he finds Natsumi sleeping on the couch wearing a very small pair of shorts and a tight and revealing shirt. Hodaka stares at her cleavage, and the camera zooms in so the audience can see as well.
- Mr Suga sleeps with his hands in his pants.
- Hina partially removes her robe, exposing her bare chest so that Hodaka can see how she is becoming translucent. Despite the fact that she has exposed her breasts, nothing specific is seen.
- A teenage girl says to Nagisa that her heart is beating wildly and that he should feel it. Another girls puts her hand on the girl’s breast instead.
- As Nagisa’s two friends help him escape from social services, one of the girls turns to him and tells him to turn around so that she can take her clothes off. No nudity is seen. The pair swap clothes and Nagisa escapes.
Product placement
The following products are displayed or used in Weathering with You:
- Pepsi is seen clearly in one scene.
- Hodaka sits in a McDonalds restaurant and Hina brings him a Big Mac. She says that it’s the only proper food he has had for three days. Hodaka is touched and grateful and relishes eating the burger, which the camera shows in close-up.
Coarse language
There is some coarse language and name-calling in Weathering with You.
Ideas to discuss with your children
Weathering with You is an anime fantasy set mostly in Tokyo. The movie is entirely in Japanese with English subtitles. It’ll appeal largely to anime fans and lovers of Japanese culture and language.
These are the main messages from this movie:
- Believe in the impossible.
- A world of magic lies beyond the clouds.
- True love will conquer all.
Values in this movie that you could reinforce with your children include compassion, helpfulness, joy, self-reliance, creativity, discipline and hard work.
This movie could also give you the chance to talk with your children about real-life issues like:
- the risks of running away from home
- the dangers of grooming
- the risks of hiding from social services and law enforcement
- the consequences of trying to control nature for our own purposes.