'Your Name' vs 'Weathering with You': Comparing Shinkai's two of best works

** Spoilers for Weathering with you and Your Name ahead**

With the release of 'Your Name'(Kimi no Na wa.) and 'Weathering with You'(Tenki no Ko) Makoto Shinkai marked his name beyond the anime community and became a mainstream name. Watching these two you can't stop noticing some similarities between the two. Even though the two movies are very similar, there are enough differences to make them stand on their own. So today we have decided to go through different aspects of the two movies and see which one handles it better. Do note that just because we think one movie handles an aspect better doesn't mean the other movie is bad at it. These two movies are fantastic.

Animation

 

When it comes to animation both of the movies have exactly the same awe-inspiring visual style. Every frame of almost every scene is a blast to watch. The lighting, the locations, the attention to detail, everything look stunning. But I would give 'Your Name' a slight edge. It doesn't mean 'Weathering with You' has bad animation. 'Your Name' explores more locations that gave the animators more opportunities to add more variety to the animation. Even though 'Weathering with You' looks as beautiful as 'Your Name', it mostly consists of scenes in Tokyo. Also the rainy weather didn't help to add variety to the animation. It should be still noted that being a newer movie, the animation of 'Weathering with You' is more polished.

Music

 

Radwimps held nothing back while composing the music for the two. As music is subjective, it is hard to decide which one is better. So I will judge based on how they serve the narrative instead of the way they sound (Trust me the music is amazing). I really like 'Sparkle' and 'Nandemonaiya' from 'Your Name' and when it plays before the comet strikes and when Mitsuha finds out what Taki wrote. All the songs in 'Your Name' enhances the movie-watching experience. But to me the songs in 'Weathering with You' has an edge as it seems like the songs were designed to fit each specific scene. It blends in with the scene. The first song in 'Your Name' plays out as an opening whereas the first song in 'Weathering with You', 'Voice of Wind' plays out with the montage of Hodaka's new life in Tokyo as he forms a bond with Keisuke and Natsumi and grows a sense of belonging. But my favorite example of how the music blends with the scene is the falling scene. The music stays lower making place for Hodaka to say his words. Then as soon as it's over, the music just bumps up. So in 'Your Name' when the music enhances the experience, in 'Weathering with You' the music feels like it was made to be there.

Characters

Let's start with 'Your Name'. 'Your Name' does an exceptionally brilliant job in making you like the characters, especially the main two protagonists, Taki and Mitsuha. Compared to Taki, Mitsuha's backstory is more fleshed out and plays a crucial role in the story. The story is structured in such a way that you feel deeply attached with the main characters and you desperately want them to meet at least once. Though the movie successfully connects the viewers with Taki and Mitsuha, the same can't be said about the side characters. Also it would be amazing to know more about Taki and how his character developed throughout the story.

 

This is where 'Weathering with You' improves upon. The characters are well fleshed out, even the side characters. I really like Keisuke as a character. He is a depressed and heart broken reflection of Hodaka. Our female lead, Hina is well written too. She is shown to be secretive about herself in order to look mature so that her younger brother can rely on her. We slowly see her lower her guard around Hodaka as the bond between the two gets stronger. Her only reason for living after her mother passed away was her brother. The work of being a sunshine girl gave her a reason to live.

 We can't talk about character arcs without talking about Hodaka. At the beginning he is shown to have unreal expectations about living in Tokyo and soon he is thrown back to earth. He is constantly told to grow up. Here 'growing up' doesn't mean literally growing up or taking responsibility but it refers to give up on things that seems unresolvable on the surface. But he refuses. The movie at its core is a story about Hodaka growing up as a person and learning to deal with consequences. I will get into the themes of this movie in the story section. Though it would have been better if we got more backstory like why Hodaka left his home etc. But it can't be denied that the character writing in 'Weathering with You' is probably by far the best Shinkai has offered.

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Story

 

When it comes to the plot 'Your Name' is a totally unique teenage love story. 'Weathering with You' plot is not as dynamic or as much heart touching as 'Your Name' but it makes up for that with its themes and it does an amazing job with it. 'Your Name' starts up in a completely unusual way as the two leads are literally placed in each other's shoes. It goes in a fun way until it takes a darker turn. The movie just punches you halfway through with something that you would not have expected and the passage of time makes it even more dark. They don't meet each other until around the 3rd act. The scene where Taki and Mitsuha meet for the first time going beyond the orders of time is one of the most heart-warming scenes in the entire movie. The movie is quite subtle with some emotional scenes. There are scenes where the Taki and Mitsuha would have wet eyes but they won't realize why. As an audience you can feel the emotion and it's amazing. 'Your Name' is a phenomenal representation of an emotional rollercoaster. It makes you laugh, it makes you cry, it makes you desperate to see them reunite all in the span of 1 hours 52 minutes.

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Though 'Weathering with You' is not as dark as 'Your Name', it deals with a mature theme underneath. It's about accepting and appreciating life the way it is. Weather is used in a symbolic way. Just like the weather people in real life think that if they get one thing they would be the happiest in the world and they are willing to sacrifice anything to get that thing. Characters like Keisuke and Natsumi were discontent as adults where as Hodaka and Hina were discontent as teenagers as it caused problems to get work and be independent. Some of the characters in the movie were willing to sacrifice the sunshine girl if that meant the revival of normal weather. 

The hotel scene is a great representation of that. Hina, Hodaka and Nagi cherish their time in the hotel having the company of one another and Hodaka prays for this moment to last forever, he needs nothing more. It's one of my favorite scenes in the entire movie.

Hodaka's final choice is significant as he chooses Hina over the weather because no matter how bad the weather and how bad the life is, as long as you have people who care for you, you can get over it one day. It is also a reminder that life can't be measured. People can adapt with changes but they can't bring back those who are gone forever.

Honestly speaking I can't choose any one one above the other. Both of them are amazing and quite different to justify themselves. If you haven't seen any of them and still read the article, do yourself a favor and watch both. They are really good and you will not be disappointed rather you will be blown away with the story.

Image credit: CoMix Wave Films