Weathering With You (天気の子, Tenki no Ko) is a 2019 theatrical original anime film from director and writer Makoto Shinkai. The film was animated by studio CoMix Wave Films. TOHO published the film and was first theatrically released in Japan on July 2019 as part of the Summer season.
Background:
“The summer of his high school freshman year, Hodaka 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, Hodaka meets Hina on a busy street corner. This bright and strong-willed girl possesses a strange and wonderful ability: the power to stop the rain and clear the sky…”
Plot Synopsis via Anime Limited, December 2020
A few years ago, the film Your Name did ridiculously well in Japan and throughout the world. Makoto Shinkai pretty much ended up getting his name out there in the same way Hayao Miyazaki had with his film Spirited Away, and it got to the point where the director pretty much was like “stop watching my film” to his audience. Eventually the hype died down and his next film came to light with Weathering With You.
Weathering With You is an interesting film as it’s basically very similar to Your Name but has a different cast of characters and concepts, though the general act structure is pretty much the same. That being said I do think it’s worth a watch. I was able to watch it at the local cinema back in January 2020, though on my own as my anime society friends weren’t available.
The film was licensed by distributor Anime Limited in September 2019 for the United Kingdom and Ireland. Over in the US, distributor GKIDS stepped in and acquired the United States and Canada rights, compared to Funimation who had Your Name prior. Fast-forward to the Summer of 2020 and the home video details were revealed. The film is getting the same sort of treatment Your Name had prior, but this time another format joins the mix.
Deluxe Edition Variant Contents:
Anime Limited loves their special collector’s sets and every now and then we have a release that has more to offer than a collector’s edition but not as grand as an ultimate edition – called deluxe editions.
Weathering With You was given the deluxe edition treatment though there are two versions of this set. The regular deluxe edition and a deluxe edition variant. I own the latter, but basically the only difference is the main version has the original soundtrack CD composed by RADWIMPS. Considering it is available standalone in Japan, I decided not to go for the original and as of the time of this post, it seems the main version has yet to ship from Zavvi which they had the set exclusively (the variant was exclusive to both AllTheAnime and Zavvi).
This release is presented with a rigid box containing an Steelbook case to house the discs. This is the same steelbook used for the collector’s edition so overall you have three versions of the set:
- Collector’s Edition: Main film on Blu-ray & DVD, Original Soundtrack CD
- Deluxe Edition: Main film on 4K Ultra HD & Blu-ray, Bonus Blu-ray disc, Original Soundtrack CD
- Deluxe Edition Variant: Main film on 4K Ultra HD & Blu-ray, Bonus Blu-ray disc
The box also comes with a 104-page hardcover booklet containing a ton of artwork, interviews with staff, voice actors and more, as well as 5 art cards with one of them offering a authenticity number, a fold-out poster, and a sticker.
Now I should point out that two of the discs included in the Deluxe Edition are exclusive to the set. The first is the main film available on 4K Ultra HD format which is basically 2160p resolution and High Dynamic Range. This is pretty cool, but it won’t be available in standard editions in the meantime. You also require a 4K television, a 4K Ultra HD player (or a PlayStation 5, Xbox One X and Xbox Series X games console), and a high speed HDMI cable.
The second is a bonus Blu-ray disc that comes with a Making Of documentary has a runtime of 1 hour 29 minutes.
The artwork is free of any information or BBFC content and the info sheet covers the information and specification like previous Anime Limited releases. The deluxe variant edition 4K Ultra HD & Blu-ray combo pack has 1000 units printed for an SRP of £69.99 (higher than the regular range due to the 4K disc and more content than usual inclusion). A standard Blu-ray is also available and there was a collector’s edition steelbook as well but that is currently sold out.
I pre-ordered the film a fair bit later during Anime Limited’s Early Bird offer which was £49.99, but thanks to the Screen Anime membership the offer was £39.99 instead. The deluxe edition variant was £12 cheaper than the main version.
Physical Contents:
- Rigid Box with Steelbook packaging and clean artwork
- Info sheet for specification and BBFC description
- The main film on 4K Ultra HD disc
- Additional Blu-ray disc: Making Of Documentary
- 104-page Hardcover booklet
- 5 Art Cards
- Fold-Out Poster
- Sticker
On-Disc Contents:
Distributor: Anime Limited
Released: 14th December 2020
The deluxe edition variant release for Weathering With You is available on a single 4K Ultra HD disc and Blu-ray disc with an additional Blu-ray disc for additional bonus features. The encode and authoring were done by GKIDS.
The audio options available for the film include Japanese with English, Canadian French and Spanish subtitles, the NYAV Post English dub commissioned by GKIDS, the Soundtastic French dub comissioned by @Anime and also an audio described English track.
For the Blu-ray playback, the white subtitles are unlockable during playback and the regions are locked to B for both discs.
As for the 4K Ultra HD playback, the subtitles (which are technically white but looks slightly grey probably due to technical limitations) are unlockable during playback and in terms of regions, as of 14th January 2021, has been confirmed to be all region like any other UHD release. Worth noting that the GKIDS release is region locked however.
4K Ultra HD Specs:
| Languages | English, French, Japanese |
| Audio | English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 English Audio Description Dolby Digital 5.1 French Dolby Digital 5.1 Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 |
| Video | 2160p Ultra High Definition format 1.78:1 aspect ratio Dolby Vision HDR |
| Region | All Region (unlike the GKIDS release) |
| Subtitles | English, Canadian French, Spanish |
| Locked Subtitles | No |
| Discs | 1 BD-100 |
Blu-ray Specs:
| Languages | Main Feature Disc: English, Japanese Bonus Disc: Japanese |
| Audio | Main Feature Disc: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Bonus Disc: Japanese Linear PCM 2.0 |
| Video | 1080p High Definition Native format 1.78:1 aspect ratio |
| Region | B |
| Subtitles | English, English Hard of Hearing, Canadian French, Spanish |
| Locked Subtitles | No |
| Discs | Main Feature Disc: 1 BD-50 Bonus Disc: 1 BD-25 |
4K Ultra HD On-Disc Extra Features:
No extras on this disc
Blu-ray On-Disc Extra Features:
Disc 1:
- Interview with Director Makoto Shinkai
- Exploring Makoto Shinkai’s Filmography
- “Weather Front” Featurette
- Talk Show: Makoto Shinkai and Yumiko Udo
- Trailers & TV Spots
Disc 2:
- The Making of Weathering With You
Unboxing Photos:
Final Notes:
Weathering With You is available to order through multiple retailers across the United Kingdom. The deluxe edition sets are no longer available for purchase, but you can order the collector’s edition Blu-ray and standard edition Blu-ray over on Amazon UK.
(Disclaimer: Amazon links are also included when available. They are affiliated so if you decide to order them, I’ll earn a small percentage if they ship which will help me with any hauls or small bills.)
The Normanic Vault 
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