Yen Press announced on Thursday that it has licensed Makoto Shinkai’s novel adaptation of his own Weathering With You (Tenki no Ko) anime film. The company will release the novel in hardcover and digitally on December 17.
Yen Press describes the novel:
Originally published by Kadokawa Bunko one day prior to the Japanese theatrical release, Weathering With You follows Japanese high school student Hodaka, who runs away from his remote island home to Tokyo the summer of his freshman year. He quickly finds himself pushed to his financial and personal limits, the unusually rainy weather seeming to suggest a gloomy future. He lives his days in isolation but finally finds work as a writer for a mysterious occult magazine. Then one day, Hodaka meets Hina on a busy street corner. This bright and strong-willed girl possesses a strange and wonderful ability—the power to stop the rain and clear the sky.
The novel debuted in Japan on July 18, a day before the film’s July 19 opening.
Weathering With You opened in 359 theaters and 448 screens in Japan on July 19. The film sold 1,159,020 tickets for 1,643,809,400 yen (about US$15.22 million) in its first three days in 358 theaters. The film ranked #1 in its opening weekend. The film has sold a total of 10.27 million tickets to earn 13,738,922,000 yen (about US$126 million) as of Sunday. The film is now the #7 highest-earning domestic film of all time in Japan and the highest-grossing film in Japan this year.
GKIDS has licensed the film for North America, and will give the film an “awards qualifying” theatrical run this year before a wider screening with subtitles and an English dub beginning on January 17. Fathom Events will also hold “Special Fan Preview” screenings on January 15 and 16.
The anime won the Audience Award at the Animation Is Film Festival in Los Angeles this past weekend. The film’s October 18 screening at the festival was the film’s United States premiere, with director Shinkai and producer Genki Kawamura appearing in person. Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) hosted the North American premiere of Weathering With You as part of its Special Presentations category, with screenings on September 8, 10, and 14.
The Anime NYC convention will screen the film on November 17. The film will also screen at the Hawai’i International Film Festival (HIFF) on November 17. The anime is nominated in the Best Animated Feature Film category of the Asia Pacific Screen Awards, and the winners will be announced in Brisbane, Australia on November 21. Japan submitted the film for consideration in the Best International Feature Film category at the 92nd Academy Awards.
A manga adaptation by Watari Kubota launched in Kodansha’s Afternoon magazine on July 25.