I'm going to be Honest, Shinkai Makoto has gone through quite the life to be able to write such a good story. He, at the time of this Movie was 40. This man is a Monster at story telling and Character development.
Story: 9: Through suffering comes beauty. All parts of the story were realistic to the people portrayed on the screen. Like the scene where she takes out the chocolate from her bag, the food and drinks that she consumes are all coping mechanisms for depression, beer and chocolate. Of course only someone who has been through depression would know this.
Art: 10: There are reasons why the movie is only forty-some minutes long, first was probably because any longer, and it wouldn't leave you with the Cliffhanger ending, the second reason was because all of the money was spend on the GLORIOUS animation and those raindrops.
Sound: 9: Every piece of music that is played during every scene reflects on the character's emotions, the current situation, the setting. The only part i thought that didn't fit as well as the others was in the ending scene before the credits because the CG camera zoomed out too far and you couldn't compare the facial expressions of the Characters to the music.
Characters: 9: Shinkai Mikoto, knows what it was like to be a teenager. He also knew what it felt like to be working for the first time. Life is overwhelming. The young man, Akizuki, is just stepping his first steps into becoming an adult. His actions reflect his age, trusting a stranger with his thoughts and feelings, and not asking of anything back. Feeling betrayed at the end because he has realized what he has done.
The woman, Yukino, is an example of the stronger type of woman, trying to get through everything on her own. This doesn't work, of course this is also a reflection of lots of women in Japan, keeping everything bottled up inside when the going gets tough. But in the end she opens up to listen to Akizuki because she is depressed, and needs comfort. She decides to keep her identity a secret to keep him from running away so that she can lean on his shoulder for that comfort that she really needs. Her opening up to herself, being greedy at the very end, instead of letting him go was very well put together.
Enjoyment: 9: I know that LOTS of people watch anime, only some of the people understand truly what is going on on the screen. This story truthfully would be hard to digest for anyone that hasn't been through suffering before, or is just too young to understand the ideas that are in the pictures. A lot of the background information, like a Tankoa, or why thunder is so important, why rain is important, and why it is snowing in the last scene, are also rooted in Japanese Culture, so go research up to understand why this story is so nice.
Overall: (9+10+9+9+9)/5 = 9.2 Round to nearest number: 9
