Director Makoto Shinkai talks about the film Weathering With You, its themes, in an interview by Weather News.
What made you decide on “weather” as the central theme for this film?
The weather exists all over Earth and it’s a theme that everyone can relate to. Many people bring up the subject of weather at least once a day and talk about it.
The weather is a never-ending global phenomenon that’s too that forms in the distant sky, out of reach from a person’s hand, it’s able to affect our mood in the day. It’s so big that it’s out of our control and yet it’s connected to our state of mind.
Which is why I chose to have it as the main theme in this animation, as it’s not just a story about the natural phenomenon. It’s also a “story about the weather” that holds true everyone, including the main characters: Hodaka and Hina.
The story of two youths endlessly staring at the sky.
As a matter of fact, I was a child who loved watching the clouds and the sky. I grew up in Koumi in Nagano Prefecture which was surrounded by the Southern Yatsugatake Volcanic Group and Mount Asama. Thanks to that, the flow of air was complex, and I grew up in a place with strong winds and plenty of rain.
Whenever I looked up, I would enjoy gazing up at the sky for one, or two hours. I watched the clouds change shape with every passing moment, and the color of the sky would become a gradient. When I was a child, I used to play games with the sky where I would say things like “that cloud looks like a monster” but when I got older, I then realized the beauty of the sky… “it’s so beautiful” I would think.
So the weather is getting increasingly worse.
For a long time now, there have been an increase in warnings regarding great climate changes in the future.
“One day, extreme weather will be a global crisis.”
“If we don’t act, global warming will become a really big problem.”
People have always voiced the issue of global warming. It’s finally become a reality in these past many years.
We used to enjoy the gentle changes between seasons. Before we knew it, it’s become such a force of nature that we have to be very vigilant that our perspective on the changing weather has changed.
In 2016, Your Name was released during the hot summer and I thought to myself, “the weather isn’t something we can enjoy anymore” as my fear and worry regarding the issue has become a reality. In Weathering With You, I thought about how I could deal with such a rapidly changing weather phenomenon in the form of entertainment.
We, as adults, are one part of the problem as we created this world that it is today. The phenomenon of the weather is so big that individually, we can’t help but feel fear and helplessness. However, I don’t think the younger generation who walk this world should have to shoulder the sadness the adults have created.
I want them to live through the world that normalizes unpredictable weather and safely make it through to the other side. I wanted to convey my wish for them to live through such a world, like Hodaka and Hina.
Japan has been experiencing an increase in unexpectedly strong rains. There are many rainy scenes in the film. They’re the highlights.
When I was in the process of coming up with the idea for this film (three years before it was released in theaters), I had a vague feeling that summers in Japan were going to be rainy from then on.
Unlike live action films, animation allows you the freedom to animate what you want and what you don’t want. You can make it rain in one scene, or make the wind blow in another. You can convey in animation whatever you want. With Weathering With You, I wanted to make it a rainy film.
Rain is one of the highlights of the film. You know how ripples form differently depending on how it falls? Whenever it began to rain, all the staff members went outside to look at the puddles and watch the raindrops fall from the sky from under their transparent vinyl umbrellas. I think these efforts of the staff made the film attractive and rich in rain.
It’s a record of Tokyo just before the Olympics.
The film takes place in 2021, but I also wanted to depict Tokyo before the 2020 Olympics. Before the city of Tokyo changes for the better or for the worse, I wanted to preserve the “Tokyo of today” in animation.
There are many films of mine so far that have depicted scenery of Shinjuku, but this time, many other famous cities were featured. If you watch the film while looking for which city appears in which scene, you could enjoy it as a “Tokyo Sightseeing Film.”
After you watch the film, I encourage you to be more conscious of the weather by watching the sky and feeling the wind. Back in the day we didn’t have smart phones and the first thing I did when I woke up was look out the window.
Tell us the meaning of the words Weathering With You.
I had a vague worry that I thought to myself, “at this rate, the world will be in trouble.” I like to believe that everyone else feels the same way.
The reason why I created the story of Weathering With You was because I wanted to resist such a dark premonition, even if only a little.
And now our society is in the midst of hardship that were unimaginable back then. I will be more than happy if the viewers of 2021 can also enjoy this story of “trying to find light through this endless rain.”
The word “weather” in Weathering With You, the subtitle of the movie means not only “weather” but also “weathering storms and difficulties.” “Weathering with you” contains the idea of “overcoming severe weather and difficulties together.”
—End of Interview—
This interview is dated July 2019.
Disclaimer: These are our translations of an official article or interview.
Source: Weather News