Hodaka runs away because his parents were abusive or negligent (left ambiguous). Hina is orphaned, desperately trying to avoid child services splitting her and Nagi up. The adults in Tokyo ignore two homeless minors. The police hunt Hodaka not for genuine malice, but for bureaucratic reasons (he found a gun). The film argues that society failed the young, so why should the young sacrifice themselves to save that society?
In 2016, director Makoto Shinkai broke anime box office records and captured the hearts of millions worldwide with your name. , a film that seamlessly blended body-swapping comedy with a devastating tale of time, fate, and natural disaster. The pressure for a follow-up was immense. Critics wondered if Shinkai could avoid the dreaded "sophomore slump" (relative to his sudden mainstream fame). In 2019, he answered definitively with Weathering with You ( Tenki no Ko ). Weathering with You