Weathering With You Light Novel Vs Anime: Almost all anime fans have watched or, at least, heard of the movie ‘Weathering With You’. But not many know about the light novel, on which it was based. The director of the movie, Makoto Shinkai, wrote the light novel. He released it around the same time as the release of the film. But the light novel differs from the movie at many points. And it is up to the fans to decide which one was better, or if both were complementary. So here are all the major differences between the Weathering With You Movie and the light novel.
The Timeline
In the movie, the viewers see a somewhat chronological timeline. However, the light novel has a different narration scheme. In the light novel, the story begins at the end, and everything else is a flashback of events that have already happened. So the story viewed everything from backward. This difference in the narrative timeline is a key major difference between both the mediums as they also affect the storytelling a lot. When viewing a person’s flashback, readers will get more insight into the thoughts behind their actions compared to things occurring per the timeline.
Weathering With You Light Novel Vs Anime: Perspectives
Moreover, in the movie, we majorly see Hodoka’s perspective. He is the one narrating the story, and we see all events from his viewpoint. Meanwhile, the light novel goes a little deeper into multiple perspectives. However, there was no clear way to distinguish the different voices in the novel. But the secondary characters also got more development compared to the movie.
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Weathering With You Light Novel Vs Anime: Hodoka Morishima’s Past
In the movie, Hodoka is a runaway high school student. The reason he ran away from home is not made clear explicitly. The only thing the viewers know is that he had a troubled household. But in the novel, the readers can see more details of his household troubles. Hodoka is not on good terms with his father, and their relationship suffers because of abuse. This is the explicit reason why he ran away from home and went to Tokyo.
Weathering With You Light Novel Vs Anime: Pace of The Story
Compared to the movie, the Weathering WIth You light novel has a slower pace. This is also because it has multiple other perspectives to bear than just Hodoka’s. Moreover, the novel dwells deeper into the characters’ thoughts, especially Hina’s, compared to the movie. The ideas of love, morality, and selfishness are debated upon as the characters grow into making the choices they do. This offers the light novel readers a chance to delve deeper into the characters’ emotions, something the movie might have taken advantage of completely.
Keisuke’s Backstory
We have a fair bit of idea about Keisuke’s backstory from the movie. The death of his wife and the lack of custody of his daughter forces him to pick rather nasty habits, like drinking and smoking. However, in the light novel, we see a bit more of his story. Keisuke came from a proud family of high-achieving people. They had high expectations of him, and he felt burdened by them. His older brother was always better than him, and he could not withstand the pressure. So Keisuke ran away from home and got married to Moka’s mom.
Natsumi’s Backstory
There is not a big difference between Natsumi’s backstory in the light novel and the anime. She is Keisuke’s nephew, who appears to be the older sister type to Hodoka and teases him every chance she gets. However, the light novel explains a bit more about her background. She was unable to get along with her father, Keisuke’s older brother, so she decided to come and live with her uncle. This is also because her father is overachieving and has always outshone every family member. She is also somewhat of a runaway kid.
Ayane Hanazawa
Ayane was Nagi Amano’s ex-girlfriend. She helped him out despite ending the relationship with him. Although her role in the movie and the novel is small, there is one extra detail about her in the novel that is interesting. The novel hints that her real name is not Ayane Hanazawa, which is a combination of the names of two voice actresses. Her real name is Ayane Sakura.
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While there are not many differences between the light novel and the movie, there are a few major ones that make a huge difference in the story. This is possible because the novel was more of supplementary material to the movie. Movie fans should give the light novel version a try for deeper insight into the story. Moreover, Makoto Shinkai created both versions. And his genius storytelling is etched into every part of his creations. What did you think about Weathering With You? Do you think the director had to make both versions? Let us know in the comments! Keep reading further for more articles like these.