Carlos Morales
“This is the story of the world’s secret that only she and I know.”
With the memory of “Your Name” still fresh in viewers minds Makoto Shinkai as announced his next anime film titled Tenki no Ko: Weathering With You (Weather Child: Weathering With You) and the tagline that goes with it “This is the story of the world’s secret that only she and I know.” The film will open in Japan on July 19, 2019, with releases that have already been decided for North America, Europe, Asia, and South America, and let’s not forget the film’s first promotional art.
Shinkai teased in August that he was working on a new feature film for 2019 and here it is “high school student Hodaka leaves his home on an isolated island and moves to Tokyo, but he immediately becomes broke. He lives his days in isolation, but finally finds a job as a writer for a shady occult magazine. After he starts his job, the weather has been rainy day after day. In a corner of the crowded and busy city, Hodaka meets a young woman named Hina. Due to certain circumstances, Hina and her younger brother live together but have a cheerful and sturdy life. Hina also has a certain power: the power to stop the rain and clear the sky.”
Shinkai is credited with the original work which he is directing and writing for CoMix Wave Films. Masayoshi Tanaka (your name, Anohana, The Anthem of the Heart) is designing the characters, Atsushi Tamura (The Cat Returns, Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin) is the animation director, and Hiroshi Takiguchi (The Garden of Words, Ajin) is the art director. STORY inc. is credited as producer and TOHO will distribute the film. Kotaro Daigo as Hodaka Morishima and Nana Mori as Hina Amano will star in the film.
“Your Name,” Shinkai’s previous work opened in Japan in August 2016 and has become the fourth highest-grossing film of all time in Japan, the second highest-grossing Japanese film, the second highest-grossing anime film, and earnings of more than 25 billion yen (about US$225 million). It is the highest-grossing anime film worldwide, having earned more than an estimated US$355 million. “Your Name” not only had one of the biggest domestic openings in anime film history but is now getting a live-action adaptation from Paramount Pictures with J.J. Abrams to produce.