Weathering With You Director Reacts to Film’s U.S. Release

Makoto Shinkai is one of the most prominent directors amongst anime fans, and following the incredible breakthrough success for Your Name the pressure has been on for whatever came next. Luckily for Shinkai, Tenki no Ko: Weathering With You released last Summer in Japan to its own monumental success. The film will soon be hitting home video over there, but fans in the United States finally have the chance to see the film for themselves as Weathering With You has now made its limited debut in theaters. But what does Shinkai himself think now that it’s hit the West?

Shinkai took to Twitter to thank fans for all of their kind words about Weathering With You, and hopes that more fans will see it for themselves from more countries around the world, “Thank you so much for many wonderful comments to ‘The weathering with you’ from many countries. Your words encourage me a lot!”

It’s no mystery as to why Shinkai has been showered in praise as Weathering With You has been a big hit following its United States debut. Not only has it been a huge hit with fans already, but it has been a hit critically as well. Nabbing a Certified “Fresh” on Rotten Tomatoes, the film also took the second spot in the box office with its limited theatrical release. So it’s currently on a great trajectory towards earning financial success as well as critical.

This unfortunately wasn’t enough to earn the film recognition in the awards scene here in the United States, however. Although Weathering With You has earned several honors from various awards ceremonies around the world, it didn’t quite get the nomination for an Academy Award — losing out to films such as Toy Story 4 and Missing Link.

You can still find the film in theaters in some limited areas across the United States as of this writing. GKIDS officially describes Weathering With You as such, “”The summer of his high school freshman year, Hokoda runs away from his remote island home to Tokyo, and quickly finds himself pushed to his financial and personal limits. The weather is unusually gloomy and rainy every day, as if to suggest his future. He lives his days in isolation, but finally finds work as a writer for a mysterious occult magazine. Then one day, Hokoda meets Hina on a busy street corner. This bright and strong­willed girl possesses a strange and wonderful ability: the power to stop the rain and clear the sky…”

Have you seen Makoto Shinkai‘s latest? If so, what do you think of Weathering With You? Let us know your thoughts in the comments or talk to me directly about all things anime and other cool things @Valdezology on Twitter!