*Blog entry started on January 22, 2020.
I had the idea last year (perhaps two years) about the need for Martin Luther King to go...I probably should be more careful with the openings of my blogs. The Facebook preview might give people the wrong impression. Then again, why are we still on the Trump-supporting social network anyhow?
We let Myspace die for no reason. I guess if you are upfront about personal data misuse in the name of misinformation to amuse the shrinking middle class, it is okay. At least Mark Zuckerberg is being honest.
Last year's reason why MLK day sucked, my primary job was just the retail stuff. With bullshit sales using his name, the corporation was asking people to drive through ice and freezing temperatures for discounts. I am just saying, if most people did not get a day off for the celebration, those people would be a lot safer. As for this year, my list of blogs to promote was left at the job I had the day off from.
Not having my list meant I would be behind in getting the word out by half a week. But, with the Royal Rumble being worth the $10 (If my second Paypal account cannot circumvent records about my past subscriptions of course), there will be hash tags to attach my good name to through Sunday. It seems the good Doctor King is warranted a paid day off.
As for the weekend itself, there was not too much to complain about. Having that paid day off insured the retailer could not work me into submission, so two shifts there were fine. The weather did not keep my better quarter (Eva the Cat will always get half) and I from the cinema to see Makoto Shikai's latest feature on Sunday. And Monday was pretty chill as we went to bed thinking we had our living arrangement plans ready to be put in motion.
And on Tuesday, the girlfriend mentioned to me that she spoke of certain private elements of our relationship with her sister. I learned 12 years ago, you do not let your special partner in on the facts that your private details are being shared. You can share them, just do not make it a point that you went out of the way to embarrass the partner.
"Weathering with You" is a worthwhile anime, but a far too appropriate term to describe where my love life and living arrangements are. Thankfully, it gives me a way to quit focusing on me in this blog post.
Hadoka is a 16-year old runaway who has just arrived in Tokyo during the rainiest summer the city has had in nearly two centuries. He is reluctant to accept a job offered by a man who saved him from going overboard on the boat to Shinjuku, but when the only job a kid with no ID can have seems to be a sex club waiter, and those clubs do not like you using their awnings as refuge from the constant downpour, what choice does he have?
Suga offers him 30 yen, room and board a week to be an assistant at a publishing company. The company's primary offering is a tabloid focusing on supernatural occurrences. To capitalize on the poor weather, Suga has his only other employee, the young and well endowed Natsumi, and Hadoka track down any lead they can get on "Sun Girls", young girls who seem to have spiritual control of when the sun will appear.
While working on this story, Hadoka "rescues" a teenager who took pity on him earlier from getting into the sex trade. Having lost her job at the fast-food restaurant she was giving food to Hadoka from, Hina was first offended by his efforts, but realizing that he is alone in the world too, she decides the best thing to do is to improve everyone's mood and successfully prays for the sun to come out.
Having a little brother to support with no parents, Hina and Hadoka decide to become heroes in the capital by offering up her services. It does not take long before she is giving weather breaks from flea markets to fireworks displays. All seems to be going well, but Suga and Natsumi's investigation into the story pulls up the sad history of Sun Girls. Modern Japan is the way it is because of their sacrifices. To make matters worse, Hadoka's parents are searching for him and the police are involved. With no way to make money that will not result in the girl he love's death, Hadoka must come to grips with losing the love and freedom he had risked everything to obtain.
"Weathering with You" is further evidence that writer/director Makoto Shinkai will fill the void left by the semi-retirement of Hayao Miyazaki. The story takes the postwar generations that Miyazaki entertained with tales of his youth to a world that is more familiar to us. Shinkai shows that we gained a voice to allow us to bring the persistent themes of the legend and make them our own.
I will venture to say that the animation has improved since Shinkai's opus "Your Name" and cannot help but make us remember the effects from Miyazaki's prime. The weather effects are on par with any of the nature effects from "Princess Mononoke" while still having a feel of manga that gets adapted from page to shot. Shinkai's visual style is a bridge between standard Japanese animation and the art that Studio Ghibli created to set it apart from the rest of the genre.
Another thing that "Weathering with You" has over its predecessor is a better RADWIMPS soundtrack. It may make the movie a little montage heavy and filling like a music video, but it keeps you in the right mood to enjoy the film and its foreign nature. A little bit of a contemporary vibe is something the Studio Ghibli lacks, so with all of my pointing out similarities and inspirations, it is great to still know that these movies are their own thing and not just filling a hole left in the industry.
It is all a question of taste when it comes to the narrative when it is compared to "Your Name". There really is not a lot that occurs to our protagonists when compared to the time-traveling fantasy. The body-swapping of Shinkai's prior film leaves the story more focused on Hadoka, so other characters are not flushed out as well. But this is the story about growing up, and any small town kid with ambitions can relate to our hero and can learn about the responsibilities of independence from him. "Weathering with You" is a far more personal film and it will let you understand the director's vision from this point forward.
"Weathering with You" shows the range that Makoto Shinkai has in storytelling ability while still holding on to the modern fantasy his most highly regarded film had. It is a great introspective piece that anime fans will appreciate and not feel like he was just telling a story of growing up. The premise may not be as wild as "Your Name", but he keeps the audience grounded to realize what is most important about his film, relatability.
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