Images courtesy of GKIDS.

Director Makoto Shinkai and his creative team follows their hit film “Your Name.” with a new movie from that universe, “Weathering with You”. The film will be showing in select theaters on January 15th and 16th before its nationwide release on January 17th.

Hodaka Morishima wanted to go his own way in the world. He even ran to the ferry deck while everyone went inside from the storm. The massive downpour nearly took him overboard but Keisuke Suga saved him. They were on their way to Tokyo, a city that rarely saw the sunny sky. Hodaka wanted to make a place of his own in the metropolis, but there was only so much a runaway 16 year-old could do. His failing job search led him to Keisuke’s publishing company, working as a live-in assistant. The two guys along with another assistant named Natsumi searched to find the scoop about the rumored “Sunshine Girl”, an urban legend of a girl who can summon the sun. Little did Hodaka know how fate will bring him to her and the adventure they will have together.

“Weathering with You” brought a grander and wider scale of the world Shinkai created compared to “Your Name.” and “The Garden of Words”. Fans would remember the attentive detail the production crew had to small moments like drawing, writing and cooking. The movie brought the same quality throughout its duration but the bigger shots of the Tokyo cityscape showcased both the beauty of the art and setting. While viewers may be immersed by those scenes, it didn’t take the focus away from the story. Anime movie goers might find some similarities with Horiyasu Ishida’s “Penguin Highway” but Shinkai had many layers to his story that made it a complex story about the heavy weight and cost of love. The film had a lot of magic, action, comedy, mystery, warm feelings and heartbreak. It even had some special cameos and easter eggs. The music from Radwimps paired wonderfully with the story and visuals, bringing an amazing experience to its audience.

As mentioned before, there will be a special two-day special screening event before its official U.S. release. GKIDS and Fathom Events will be showing both the subbed and dubbed versions along with a special interview of Makoto Shinkai on January 15th and 16th. Radwimps’s soundtrack albums are already out on Spotify and Apple Music.

For more information on “Weathering with You” including where to see the film, check out GKIDS’s website.