BOOK & FILMS, FILM

The New Shinkai Makoto Movie, Weathering With You’s Teaser and Scenes Released


Written by Maari Sugawara（Managing Editor） on

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It’s hard to believe that Your Name, the second-highest-grossing Japanese movie of all time is almost three years old. Following the 2016 hit, director Shinkai Makoto’s highly anticipated latest anime Weathering with You (天気の子, Tenki no Ko, which translates to “Child of Weather”) is set for release on 19 July 2019. On April 10, the first teaser trailer debuted, exactly 100 days before the premiere. The teaser also revealed that Radwimps, the Japanese rock band that produced Your Name’s catchy soundtrack is involved, just as it was rumored by fans.

Last August, Shinkai revealed that he was making a new feature film at a press conference in Tokyo, where he also outlined the story and the lead voice cast members. Shinkai told reporters, “I think it’s going to be massively entertaining. This probably sounds kinds of cheesy, but I think it will make people laugh, cry, and realize things they haven’t thought about before. I’m making this movie while thinking ‘I want the people who watch it to think it’s fun and interesting.’”

The film follows a high school boy named Hodaka Morishima, who runs away from home on an isolated island and moves to Tokyo but falls into financial difficulties. Hodaka, who lives in isolation, eventually finds a job as a writer for an occult magazine. After he starts his job, it starts to rain every day.

Then, in the midst of the busy city, he meets a young woman, Hina Amado, who has the power to make the rain go away and clear the sky.

In addition to directing, Shinkai himself will be writing the script. Character design is handled by Tanaka Masayoshi and Tamura Atsushi, who is the animation director. The film is produced by CoMix Wave Films, distributed by Toho and stars Kotaro Daigo and Nana Mori.

Maari Sugawara is an emerging artist who lives and works in Toronto. After two years of working as part of an artist management team in Tokyo, she moved to Toronto conduct research on diasporic communities and spaces. Maari is a photographer, translator, a research assistant at Ryerson University’s image arts program.