How Weathering with You Connects to Your Name.

Weathering with You is the newest film by Makoto Shinkai, the writer and director of hit anime film Your Name. But it’s far more than just the creative team that connects these two films together.

[Updated 9/3/2019: Upon discovering concrete evidence as to what year Weathering with You takes place in (thanks to a tip by reader Sekkarou) assumptions made in the original publication of this article were proven false–namely that Your Name. and Weathering with You take place in the same world. This article has been updated with the correct information. Thanks Sekkarou!]

*Note this article contains major spoilers for both Your Name. and Weathering with You. 

Image source: 映画『君の名は。』 on Twitter

You’re Name. is the story of Mitsuha and Taki–two high schoolers who swap bodies regularly. It deals first with their humorous everyday life and later their attempts to save Mitsuha’s friends and family from an imminent meteor strike. 

Weathering with You, on the other hand, is the story of Hodaka–a highschooler boy from and island who has run away to Tokyo–and Hina–an orphan teenage girl who is attempting to support her little brother after the death of their mother. With perpetual rain falling on Tokyo, the pair learn that Hina has the power to bring out the sun through prayer. Desperate to make money, they start a business to wipe away the clouds for anyone willing to pay. 

Image source: 東宝MOVIEチャンネル on YouTube

On one such job, the two are hired to let a little old lady enjoy the sunshine in her yard. As Hina gets to praying, it’s revealed that the old woman’s grandson is Your Name’s Taki. With this little cameo, it seems reasonable to assume that the two films take place in the same world–and this isn’t the only blatant connection. 

Mitsuha herself appears later in the film as Hodaka goes shopping in a mall. Mitsuha is working in one of the shops–and she’s even sporting her iconic kumihimo ribbon. Later, a couple that appears to be Mitsuha’s friends Tessie and Sayaka (along with their young child) also appear looking out a window during the film’s climax. 

Image source: 映画『君の名は。』 on Twitter

However, if you pay attention to the background details of both films and use that information to build a timeline, you’ll see that while Weathering with You and Your Name share characters, they can’t, in fact, take place in the same world.

In Your Name, Mitsuha and Taki reunite in Tokyo on a nearly cloudless sunny day with no standing water on the ground. These conditions don’t happen once in Weathering with You–or after as it turns out. In Weathering with You’s epilogue, we see Tokyo has become perpetually flooded in the years since the climax of the film thanks to the never-ending rain.

Logically, you would think that Mitsuha and Taki ‘s sunny day reunion would have to happen before the events of Weathering with You. Unfortunately, Weathering with You takes place in 2021 while Mitsuha and Taki’s reunion happens a year later in 2022. Thus, Your Name. and Weathering with You must take place in similar, yet different, parallel universes.

Image source: 映画ランド on Twitter

But characters and similar settings aren’t the only way the films connect to each other. On the most basic levels, each film’s story is centered around people who get involved with the supernatural world of the gods. Mitsuha’s powers come from being a shrine maiden to the god of human experiences and connections. Hina’s come from accidentally becoming a priestess to a god of the skies. Moreover, both are forced to pay a price for this power. For Mitsuha, it is her memories of her body-switching and everything related to that. For Hina, it’s getting taken to the spiritual realm above the clouds and being forced to remain there forever. 

Image source: 映画『君の名は。』 on Twitter

Structurally, both films are built in the same basic way and follow the same general plot layout. Both begin by introducing the character and the supernatural aspect of the story–body-swapping and the power to stop the rain respectively. From there, the characters work to figure out the rules behind their mysterious, supernatural powers. After some time, the supernatural becomes normal as the pair get used to it. Then, the major twist related to the powers is discovered and the female of the pair disappears. From there, the guy must fight to save the girl using a mixture of hard work and supernatural means. Lastly, each film ends with a bittersweet, yet hopeful, conclusion.

Image source: サントリー公式チャンネル （SUNTORY） on YouTube

Even on the thematic level the films are related. Each film is about interpersonal connections and how vital they are to human existence. In Your Name., Mitsuha and Taki’s connection is the literal impetus for the film. And in the end, it’s the relationships they built together across both bodies that save the townspeople–and Mitsuha herself–from certain death. 

In Weathering with You, each of the heroes has been abandoned, either purposely or accidentally by the ones they loved most. Adrift in the world, they find others like themselves and connect to make a new family–not one of blood but of choice. And just like in Your Name., it’s these newly made connections that save the day in the end. 

Basically, when it comes down to it, Your Name. and Weathering with You are connected in pretty much every way. They share a plot structure, characters, themes, and moral message–and that’s in addition to sharing a creator, animation studio, and composers (i.e., the RADWIMPS).

The fact that the films look, sound, and feel like each other is both Weathering with You’s greatest strength and greatest weakness. If you loved Your Name. and want more of the same, Weathering with You is definitely going to hit the spot. However, if you’re looking for something new–a film that blazes off in its own direction–then Weathering with You is likely to leave you wanting.

Weathering with You was released in Japanese theaters on July 19, 2019. It has been licensed by GKIDS in the US for an expected early 2020 release. 

Top image source: 東宝MOVIEチャンネル on YouTube.