I haven't watched a Gibli film since Ponyo Ariette when it first came out. While I liked Ponyo, remembering back, Ponyo had this environmentalist message I never liked, and I just found Ariettie sad.
I'm not against sad movies or messages, it's just when me at 9-10 can see how overbearing the message is, it just takes me out of the film
I (unwillingly) watched
Weathering With You with my friends and I thought that was one of the worst films I've watched, due in no part to the very questionable shit that was added in. The message didn't kick in to me until a year later, when I realized by what the director meant for "environmental message".
Basically, the ending that Tokyo should naturally be submerged in rainwater all because of a young (16-17 year old) who wanted to save a young girl he liked from some supernatural shit is one of the most fucked up logic I can ever comprehend in a film. It basically says "fuck a million lives, I will save this very young girl I liked" in a way that it seems justified, while hinting to just "let nature be" (ala, letting the rain go by and flood the place). Hell, the film doesn't even realize the logical implications of such flooding and the major population of the country. It is a massive plot question mark that makes me despise the film even more, apart from the environmental message and the young kids ages that feels more "pedo-friendly".
Of course, that is not the only sins the movie has done. Between characters that are less "character" and more "caricature", the fact that Shinkai compared it to
Joker (which I find to be a cardinal sin given the latter is a really good film compared to this animated dogshit), obnoxious loud-ass music with a shit band and a bad fucking plot, the worst offense this film did was that it won over the zoomers' hearts, and made Shinkai more loved. Say what you want about Miyazaki, he gets lots of flak from some of his films and his bad treatment of his son. However, little have people criticised Shinkai for anything and most weebs treat him as if he's a god-tier anime director, much like how gamers see Hideo Kojima as a god-tier game director and film critics see Jordan Peele as a god-tier filmmaker. The actual reality is that Shinkai's films are mediocre
at best and plot-inducing headaches at worst. Mediocrity is mental illness and thus should not be accepted.
I swear if
Suzune wins a single award, I will lose all hope to animation forever.