io9: There's a lot of similarities between Your Name and Weathering—they're love stories with similar fantastical elements, and share the idea of running away to the city to start a new life. Why did you choose to make a film that feels in many ways, similar to your prior work as your first big project after Your Name?
Shinkai: The first thing I wanted to do with
Weathering was to make a film on the theme of the weather. Firstly, because I'd been watching the news of the more and more damage caused by the weather in Japan, and also because it's just such a familiar part of everyone's day-to-day life. The weather—
whether it's raining or sunny—can have an impact on the way you feel that day. So I thought that it would be a theme that would really appeal to audiences.
io9: The fantastical themes of Weathering are much more grounded compared to Your Name. What inspired that choice?
Shinkai: I wanted to find the balance that would make the story really accessible to the audience, and that's how I came up with this depiction [of Hina's powers]. With
Your Name, it was about body swapping. Which is obviously impossible, though still very enjoyable! But in this film, Hina is what we call in Japanese
hare-onna—which is quite hard to translate, but I've gone with "sunshine girl"—but it's a very, very common concept in Japan. Lots of people might call themselves Sunshine Girl or Sunshine Boy or a Rain Girl or a Rain Boy, and it just means that when you're with that person, it usually ends up being sunny. But in this case, we've taken that and obviously, this girl is a
100 percent sunshine girl—so it's definitely going to be sunny when she's around. And so, it's something that is quite easy, I think, for a Japanese audience to go along with.
