*Editor’s Note: The following review contains spoilers for “Weathering with You.”

Simply put, I loved director Makoto Shinkai’s heart-wrenching new anime “Weathering with You.” Its unpredictable plot line is filled with touching romance and passion that anyone who enjoys love stories will fall for. In addition, the movie’s beautiful animation is impossible to ignore.

Having watched and thoroughly enjoyed Shinkai’s previous hit anime “Your Name,” I had high expectations for “Weathering with You.” The movie follows Hodaka, a runaway 16-year-old boy, who meets Hina, a girl who can control the weather through prayer. Throughout the movie, I became attached to Hodaka and Hina as their characters and friendship developed. Their courage and hope are touching, as Hodaka struggles to survive on the streets and Hina falsifies her age to work and take care of her younger brother. 

At the climax of the movie, Hina accepts her fate as the weather maiden and sacrifices herself to stop the horrible weather in Tokyo. By that point, I had already heard sniffles around me in the theatre during a few moments of the film, but I think this part was when I really started to cry. Hodaka’s pain and determination to save Hina is so touching. It is dramatic, yet real. Shinkai then included a montage of Hina’s happiest moments throughout the movie and that had me choked up all over again. The palpable tension as Hodaka struggles to save Hina put me on the edge of my seat. I definitely expected the worst, but held onto the smallest bit of hope that they would be together again. He saves her! 

While the movie has a bittersweet ending — Hodaka and Hina are together, but Tokyo is drowned — I am happy about it. Shinkai wrote a satisfying ending that makes the rollercoaster of emotions worthwhile. The two main characters from “Your Name” also appear in “Weathering with You,” an easter egg which completely caught me off guard. It made me wonder whether the two universes were related, and a whole new spiderweb of theories began spinning around in my head. 

“Weathering with You” is an incredible movie in my book, and I would definitely pay to watch it again. If you like fantasy, romance or just a good movie with unexpected twists, I would definitely recommend you watch this movie (sorry for the spoilers, haha). It might even get you hooked on anime!