Sep 12, 2016
The story isn't anything special but the execution of it was good mainly because of how great the character design is. The characters are normal and don't really have anything super crazy so when they start to understand their feelings despite the fictional tone of it it's still pretty easy to relate and feel the same feelings that the main characters are feeling in those scenes.
I think the romance could have been done better Makoto Shinkai has this strange obsession with waiting until the end for the relationship to develop into something more which is kind of a double edged sword for him. On
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one end the impact of the development is much stronger on the other hand there isn't much time left in the movie for the viewer to experience the two characters as a couple rather than two people who kinda like eachother. I think he pulled it off better in this film than he does in other films but I still felt pretty unsatisfied with how it turned out and it's definitely something I hope he does differently in the future although I doubt it.
But the main draw to this movie is undoubtedly the animation. Which is absolutely stunning and probably his best so far. The colors change depending on the mood as well as the style of cinematography. When the scene is supposed to be happy and lighthearted there are lots of fast cuts and when it's supposed to be more emotional and sad it will stay on one camera angle for longer periods of time to make it more impactful. Which is nothing super special but I think a lot of animators get lazy with that kind of thing nowadays and I figured it was worth mentioning.
Overall I think this movie is worth watching it's my favorite Makoto Shinkai film so far and will probably make my top list for 2016. I'm going to give it an 8/10.
TLDR - Stunning art, meh romance, good characters and character design.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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