As a Fridge page, all spoilers will be unmarked. You Have Been Warned.
Fridge Brilliance
- It actually makes Watsonian sense why we don't get cameos from Shinkai's pre-Garden body of work:
- Voices takes place in 2046, so Mikako and Noboru - who are 15 then - aren't even born yet.
- Place Promised explicitly takes place in an Alternate History. Even if the protagonists' this universe counterparts showed up, the majority of that film takes place in 1999, so after 22 years they would be in their early 40s and probably unrecognisable.
- 5 Centimeters ends in 2008, so after 13 years Takaki, Akari and Kanae would be in their late 30s if not early 40s and probably unrecognisable.
- Lost Voices takes place in the 1950s, so Asuna would be unrecognisably old if not dead.
- Some reviewers complained that Hodaka doesn't seem to give a good reason for why he ran away from home, but if you think about it, he is male, Japanese and a teenager, a trifecta of things that make him unlikely to give a straight answer on sensitive matters like this. Add in the implications of abuse and the trust issues that would create, and it's all the more likely he won't open up.
- Some viewers stated that they don't see the purpose of the gun subplot. In already gun-permissive nations like the United States, there is so much fear and misinformation regarding guns; imagine how bad it must be in highly-restricted nations like Japan. That he not only holds onto it but actually uses it twice helps illustrate just how far Hodaka was willing to go to avoid being sent home.
- In light of the implications of abuse, it makes a lot of sense why Hodaka wants so desperately to hold onto one of the few people who shows affection and concern for him, all the way to the point of letting the world burn (well, drown) to get Hina back.
- The second half of "Clear Sky and Loss" is a Dark Reprise of "Fireworks Festival", just as the respective situations they play in are opposites. "Fireworks Festival" plays at Hina's emotional zenith as she tells Hodaka of how she's found purpose in her life bringing the sunshine back to the people of Tokyo. "Clear Sky and Loss" plays at Hodaka's emotional nadir as he comes to realise how he's inadvertently brought harm to Hina, first by getting her to take up the sky clearing business and second by his careless wish for the rain to end.
- The light novel reveals that Hodaka’s father was an abusive Control Freak and the same could apply to his mother. When Hodaka leaves for Tokyo, it is very likely that the two finally realized that their actions drove their son away and decided to redeem themselves by filing a missing person’s report to bring him home. Hodaka in the novel describes his parents welcoming him back as “awkwardly, but warmly”, and along with everything that happened during the three year time gap, it is very likely that his parents have done whatever it takes to become a loving family.
Fridge Horror
- The movie's ending has Hodaka rescue Hina from her fate, which saves the girl he has a crush on, but also dooms Tokyo to eternal rainfall (and causes lord knows how many people to lose their homes). What if, as often happens in Real Life between people in their first ever relationship, Hodaka and Hina eventually fall out of love and/or decide they'd be Better as Friends, thus never getting married? Or worse, if they do get married, they could end up trapped in misery forever.
- Even if they fell out of love, it doesn't really change their decision or their reasoning. Hodaka and Hina were both people who felt worthless as individuals, whether it was through society or destiny. And the end was them figuring out that wanting to be alive (metaphorically and literally) was something they were allowed to be selfish about. Breaking up or falling out of love would really be the same: deciding that your life isn't bound or tied to someone or something else.
- So Tokyo is now to be rained on eternally and eventually be completely submerged in water...what's going to happen to the rest of Japan (and possibly other countries)?
- The old priest says quite clearly that the weather maiden phenomenon has happened multiple times in history, so there might be a future one who would successfully take up the burden of her role to the bitter end and make things right.
- The details of Hina's sacrifice after she's taken into the sky aren't made clear, but the few indications we get aren't very pretty. First off, she appears to be MADE of water. Secondly, the area of "land" she's confined to is essentially a grassy plain only a couple of square miles large (if that). There are no indications of shelters, habitations, places to find food, etc. Even assuming she no longer requires these things, notice the shape of the "fish" school surrounding her right before Hodaka saves her - it almost looks like they're eating her.
- According to the weather maiden legend, every girl throughout history with the weather maiden power has undergone the same “sacrifice”. So even though Hina was rescued, who knows how many other young girls are still up in the sky world, doomed to an eternity of nothing but water-fish?
- Which, given the above, are apparently eating them alive? It could very easily be too late for them.
- Also, if Tokyo ended up flooded as a result of Hina’s rescue, how much worse would the weather get if another girl was taken back to Earth?
- The movie also mentions that some girls can create rain. How would one of each existing at the same time be like?
- According to the light novelization, Hodaka directly claims in the epilogue that the reason why he ran away from home was because his father and his school, in some metaphorical way, were chaining him down. He also implies that his father abused him...which could explain the bandages on his face.
- There's a sequence in the movie devoted to Natsumi struggling to find a job. By helping Hodaka escaping police custody, even if it's for the right reason, Natsumi now has a criminal record and possibly served some jail time, which is most likely going to make it much harder for her to find someone who would hire her. Unlike Hodaka and Nagi who could get away with lighter sentences due to them still being minors, Natsumi is already a young adult and thus would be subjected to harsher consequences from breaking laws.
