After so long, I finally got a chance to see this movie and although I am not the biggest fan of Makoto Shinkai's predecessor "Your Name." I was indeed admittedly hyped for this movie. After finishing, it had met my expectations and neither did it exceed my expectations nor did it stoop below my expectations. I did enjoy Weathing with you more than Kimi no nawa, I have to say.
Makoto Shinkai is back with an amazingly innovative story that feels originals and is original. The story is not just about a girl who controls the weather, and it has a lot more depth to the plot line than just that. Shinkai's stories are one of the more intriguing parts about his works, and is enough to hook anybody in simply with the synopsis.
Now comes the best part about this entire movie, which is the art. It is absolutely breathtakingly gorgeous. It is drawn SO BEAUTIFULLY, and I can't emphasize enough about the amount of detail that has been put into the art style. I was mesmerized and completely hooked to the way everything looks. Bright colors, smooth animation, stunning backgrounds and everything is such an eye candy to watch that the next day I woke up, I really thought the entire movie was a dream. While watching this, I was simply sucked inside the movie and no matter how much I compliment the art, it will never be enough.
The soundtrack is also incredibly good, the music kicking in as I get to see the beautiful visuals is just so satisfying. There are a handful of songs in this movie that perfectly fit the movie's atmosphere and vibe and really helps the movie feel alive.
When it comes to the characters, I thought they were counterparts of "Your Name" characters. Although the characters are likable and you really root for them throughout their journey, these characters don't have much depth to them. They are very similar to the characters from "Your Name" and it just felt a bit too similar at times. There are also a lot of character details that the movie touches, but never explores it. (not a spoiler, it is in the synopsis) For example, the movie establishes that Hodaka is a runaway but it never really covers why he is a runaway. We do get a tiny scene where Hodaka explains it very briefly, but the reasoning is never touched upon after that anymore. There are also several other examples of the movie touching on a character detail and never really fully covering it and giving us a proper explanation.
One nitpick, I do have about this anime is how much it is relying on the success of "Your Name." This movie is using the same "Your Name" formula and a lot of the scenes play out very similarly to how it is played out in "Your Name." It is possible that this is just the director's style of directing, but it just feels very similar and I had to point it out. This anime is obviously trying to recreate the same success of "Your Name." Once you are reminded that, the movie loses it's emotions. Although I did say I enjoyed this movie more, unfortunately once you look at this movie as something trying to chase another movie's success you will be disappointed. This point is made more clear once you look at the amount of 'Your Name" characters cameos in this movie. It is absolutely filled with cameos, making it so obvious that it is trying to recreate the same success.
Overall, Tenki No Ko is a neat watch, definitely worth the time if you enjoyed "Your Name." However, it would be best if you went into this movie with an open mind, rather than high anticipation.
