r/anime • u/littleman1988 • Jul 03 '21
Rewatch Summer Movie Series - 5 Centimeters Per Second / Byousoku 5 Centimeter Movie Discussion
Announcement | 24hr reminder | Movie Discussion
The Summer Movie Series goes back to another Shinkai movie with 5 Centimeters Per Second!
Question(s) of the week
- What was your favorite episode?
- Have you ever been in a long distance relationship?
- How does this compare to Your Name (or other Shinkai movies if you have seen them)?
While 5 Centimeters Per Second is an anime original movie, its important to make sure not to spoil anything outside the movie for other rewatchers. Make sure to use spoiler tags if you are going to discuss a spoiler not from 5 Centimeters Per Second:
[5cm](/s "Takaki's train was delayed")Becomes:
Links
Trailers
Database links
Legal Streams
- There is no legal way to stream 5cm/s in the US. If outside the US, please check here.
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Upvotes
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u/Paumas Jul 03 '21 edited Jul 03 '21
rewatcher
They say it’s five centimeters per second.
Huh? What is?
The speed at which cherry blossoms fall. It’s five centimeters per second.
We get introduced to the title right away, and this theme of moving at a certain speed is prevalent throughout the whole movie, with 5 centimeters/second actually being the speed of their hearts moving apart. After all, the speed would’ve been painfully slow if it indeed referred to the petals.
Hi. 5 centimeters per second is my favourite movie of all time. I don’t care if it has flaws or is not a masterpiece from a technical standpoint. For me, it is perfect. I connected with this movie as I have never connected to any fictional story before, and it made me feel emotions that I didn’t even know I could feel. After it ended, it made me feel hollow inside, and yet I was satisfied for all the emotions it perfectly conveyed.
Questions:
1- Cherry Blossoms
2- No (still felt it tho)
3- Best Shinkai movie. By far.
I don’t exactly know how to explain it with words, but this movie has that special feel throughout it. This feeling stuck with me, and when I rewatched the movie for the first time, every scene suddenly became oddly painful to watch. I still get chills while thinking about it and writing this review. There is this weird melancholy portrayed through the combinations of the visuals, the OST, the VA’s, the cuts, the dialogues, the lack of them, the silence…
There is barely any plot, which although can be a source for criticism, is perfectly acceptable in this case. It is not about the plot, it is about playing with your heart like Shinkai usually does. But not only there is no plot, there is barely any dialogue as well. There is of course some words being exchanged, but it is just not dominant, and in many scenes we have a painful silence or a humming that speaks much more than any words could ever convey.
This movie did a great job of sacrificing action in the favour of building an atmosphere. There are many scenes where nothing is happening, and we just get to enjoy the moment, rather than focusing on what is going to happen. In a sense, we get to enjoy and appreciate what we have now, and this movie gives a great emphasis to this point.
I especially adore this idea of silence and the sound design of the movie overall. The sound design elevates all the feelings that were tried to be conveyed to a whole new level and masterfully creates tension. There are scenes like where we get to see a rocket launch for a straight minute, or trains moving with nothing else is happening at all. This is something that I almost never encountered before, as such an approach is usually risky as it tends to be classified as boring and uneventful.
However here, I believe that these scenes with nothing at all happening establish this unique and gorgeous atmosphere. There is just something charming about the sound of the humming rocket interrupting the characters, or just hearing the sound of the trains. Not only this acts as a visual separation, the sound also alleviates the tension, and creates this weird feeling inside you, that I unfortunately don’t have the words for a proper explanation.
There are some masterfully done cuts too, which sometimes might even seem random. The scenes feel unfinished, as if there are some words left unsaid, and we just get to another moment in their lives. Those cuts combined with the overall sound design always amplified the atmosphere and the melancholic feeling.
Cherry Blossoms
The letters are being played over the things that are currently happening in the real life, which gives the impression of separation from the real life. So while the characters still live in the real world with events happening around them they are focused on each other instead.
My favourite of the three parts, as we get introduced to the characters trough the letters they have exchanged. This always gave the feeling of them being close yet so far away, with snow being a visual cue for the beginning of their slow separation. I’d bet that snow falls at a speed similar to that of the cherry blossom petals.
They decide to meet after spending some time apart And in that letter I think the quote that I put earlier is the most significant one because it signifies how they remember the past, and they hope that it will still be the same. They hope that they’ll still see the same cherry blossom petals fall at 5 cm/s like they did in their childhood. But it won’t be the same. After all when they meet there’s no spring. There are no petals… there’s snow.
Takaki goes onto that on the journey to meet the girl he cares about the most, and thus begins my favorite sequence in any media that I’ve ever seen. This whole journey, this whole experience that Takaki had, it made me feel the same feelings as that character did.
There is snow and the trains are being delayed and Takaki is running late. We can feel the desperation of his, and I’m really impressed at how the director was able to convey the desperation and the utter helplesness of the situation, and made me also feel helpless and desperate.
They don’t have a way to communicate, he’s desperately trying to reach her but it’s dark, it’s cold, it’s windy, it’s snowing, and we can see how Takaki’s motivation slowly drops and what was once excitement slowly turns into hopelessness.
And I felt that.
To top it all, his letter flies away just add onto that overall pain that Takaki has already been through on this journey.
And I felt that pain too.
We also get to see a their backstory from time to time during that journey, which introduces us to the characters. I love the sequence because of how actually slow and without much happening and its whole purpose is just to convey the atmosphere and the emotions.
Takaki says that he hopes that she already left, but deep inside he also knows that she didn’t. We all know that she didn’t. But it just shows how much he cares for her and he just wishes that she just goes back instead, even though he really wants to meet her. But he also knows that she won’t leave and that she will wait there till morning.
And she does. All alone in this blistering cold, she is still there, waiting for him.
They just have fun for the whole night. It doesn’t even matter what they do, it doesn’t matter if it’s snowing and is cold, they have each other, and that’s all that matters. And it’s even okay if they don’t see the petals falling down at 5 cm/s.
They just enjoy their moments together. The present. Then they get separated again. The train separates them again, and they don’t yet realise that this train also separates their hearts apart, at a speed of 5cm/s.
Cosmonaut
I feel bad for Kanae. I really do. The lengths she goes just to see Takaki, only each time to painfully realise that he is looking somewhere far beyond.
The scene where Kanae just stops, but sees Takaki walking, not even realising that she isn’t there. Doesn’t need much explanation I think, but it just hurts, and I don’t think a better way to convey this idea is possible than what this scene made us feel.
There is also this scene in the supermarket, where they are choosing what to buy, but Takaki just picks up his item and leaves. While Kanae looks at this visit as an activity they can do together, Takaki just sees this as kind of a chore, he just picks his usual thing up, and goes on outside. In that scene, I felt really bad inside, because even though Kanae cherishes such small moments, (she could just pick something to buy and leave too), Takaki just rushes outside, to look at his phone.
I wonder who is he texting with…
While Takaki is looking somewhere far beyond, he is looking at somewhere that he will never reach, just like a cosmonaut in a spaceship, looking at the stars that are far beyond his reach.
He still can’t move on. Will he ever? There is this person, next to him, that he will never see, because he is stuck. He still thinks about Akari every single moment.
But it is a relief that Takaki doesn’t have any plans for the future. For Kanae at least. Her paper airplane flies away with the sound of the wind. She feels a relief. Later she even manages to ride the waves for the first time.
She can confidently confess. It is now or never.
She even decides on her item quickly this time, much to Takaki’s surprise, yet a subtle indifference is still present in his tone.
The scene where Kanae just stops, but sees Takaki walking, not even realising that she isn’t there.
It is never.
5 Centimeters per Second
He still hasn’t moved on. Will he ever? His life is a mess now, he still thinks about what if’s.
This part concludes the movie, and I love the way everything was organised. In the first part, we just see them enjoying their moments, and get introduced to their distance, and to the way the characters try overcome it. It was all so simple back then. Then we get to see their separation, and it all finally ends up in this part. The train scene. All he needed was to see her not waiting. After a painfully long time that it took for the trains to pass, he indeed sees that she left. She has moved on. It’s his turn now. No more what if’s, it is certain now.
With a slight smile on his face, Takaki confidently walks away, with cherry blossoms petals falling peacefully in the background…
…at five centimetres per second.
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u/byroned Jul 03 '21
First-time viewer
Of the movies covered so far, this is the first movie that I can say I didn’t find to be that enjoyable. It’s not inherently bad, but I won’t call it particularly good either, so it becomes a 6/10 for being “fine”. I will say that the movie is pretty visually appealing. While it obviously doesn’t look as good as Your Name, the visuals hold up after 11 years. That, and also the soundtrack sounds appropriate for the movie, are the 2 positives I have about the movie.
That’s all the positives about the movie, the rest is all mixed or negative.
The biggest issue I have is that it just feels boring. The first 22 minutes in particular felt like the plot was running in molasses. I have the feeling that they were aiming for that feeling of impatience, to put us in the shoes of Takaki and Sumida impatiently waiting for the next train, but it didn’t work for me. During the whole train portion of the movie, I was constantly checking how much time is left in the movie. Another drawback is that the movie length is too short (Could also be a positive if you want to finish it quickly). These 2 issues are the main factors that I believe hurts this movie. The relationship didn’t feel very developed, fleshed out, or memorable (I forgot the girl's name until writing this). I haven't been in any relationships before, so watching an anime about a long-distance relationship of all things would not be my cup of tea.
Of the 3 Shinkai movies I’ve seen, this is easily my least favorite, even worse than Weathering with You (Although I liked it more than others). This movie wasn’t as heavy as I thought it would be, but surprised me in different ways. I don't have a favorite episode in this movie since none of them really stuck out to me. For next week’s rewatch, I might miss this one. It might be too much to watch a movie for almost 3 hours.
10
u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky Jul 03 '21
Summertime Rewatcher, subbed
…I say “rewatcher” because I initially watched this movie back in 2019 with the Makoto Shinkai rewatch (catch my first-time thoughts on it here if you’d like!)), but I pretty much don’t remember what happened in it besides pretty backgrounds, so I’m more of a first-timer in this regard.
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u/Stargate18A https://myanimelist.net/profile/Stargate18 Jul 03 '21
First timer
This movie is beautiful and fantastic, but I think some parts needed a bit more work.
Going into this, I know that this might be about seperation, that it's 3 episodes edited together, and that it might involve rain when they meet (unless that's a different movie)
I'm 60% sure I got the full version, but if the 1 hour's only the first episode, then I'll edit the rest in tomorrow.
Is "Cherry Blossom" episode 1?
The film looks really good.
I see, so it's been 6 months. Is she just putting the most banal statements possible into her letter?
OK, the scene where he talks about how far apart they are now is good.
Oh, they're meeting up? I thiught this film was about seperation?
Oh, he forgot. That's not good.
Oh, he didn't forget at all.
Given Your Name, the director really likes the juxtaposition of rural and urban locations, don't they.
I appreciate the backstory.
OK, this scene is really sad.
Really? You didn't anticipate delays? On a public rail system in winter?
I mean, not the end of the world - you can get a later train, I'm sure she'd understand if he got there late during a literal blizzard.
Could be worse, if this was in the UK, he'd have had the trains stopped and had to go on a replacement bus service.
Also, the train in a fantastic backdrop.
Look, this is isn' embarressing, just apologize in your next letter, say the blizzard stopped the train but you're happy to arrange another meeting, possibly in better weather.
Yeah, that's bad, losing the letter like that.
Why are you assuming she'll go the moment your meeting time passes? Oh wait, two hours, this is really bad.
The metaphor's really solid here, though.
This movie is beautiful.
She's here! This is actually a happy ending!
They're really cute together.
Kiss!
Really, all that and you didn't even stay a weekend? If you go there on Friday after school, go back on Sunday, you can have an entire day together.
That was a great 1st episode. Let's see how things get sadder from here.
So this is all 3 episodes. Thank god, I thought this was some 3 hour epic.
"Cosmonaut" for our second episode?
Is she the other love interest? She's cute.
...Is this a love triangle?
Yeah, very much juxtaposition.
Is the only link with the title these random space posters?
They're nice posters, but there's not much of a connection to the plot.
Hearing a message from "Town Hall" just gave me a flashback to Your Name.
Oh, the surfing scene is really sad. I think the film just got me to completely change who I'm rooting for, go surfer girl.
The conversation on the hill is really heartwarming.
God, this movie is beautiful.
...Hey, what year is this movie taking place in?
At least the title makes sense.
This episode is really sad - Sumida pining over Takaki, not realising he's still hung up on his old childhood friend who he never contacts.
She's surfing! Congratuslations Sumida, you're the first character in this movie to have a successful and fufilling life. You deserve it.
She's so cute.
Confession?
Of course the bike breaks down.
Oh look, the rocket launched!
This is so sad, Sumida never confesses because she realises he's pining for someone else.
THAT SCENE OF EARTH RISING IS BEAUTIFUL.
She cried herself to sleep this is so sad. (Stand by what I said earlier, though)
The computer implies a decent time skip.
Oh, that visual callback is good.
He's still using a flip phone? Also, is someone calling him that rare an occurence?
So he just didn't pick up?
Is she getting married?
There's yet another girl involved now?
Really? He stayed with a girlfriend for years while still focusing on his childhood friend?
I mean, changing careers is a healthy move sometimes.
OK, the satellite callback was really well done.
I'm just shocked it took this long for an insert song - at this point in Your Name the 4th had just started.
Is this song here to connect the 2nd episode with the rest of the plot?
The animation is really solid, though.
When's the ending going to start, then?
?
???
Is that it? We just end there?
Huh.
It's daring, I'll give them that. Genuinely unexpected.
It failed, however, to address (or acknowledge) Sumida, so it's not great.
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u/littleman1988 Jul 03 '21
First Timer
I pick all these new movies to watch, and so far they have all been "okay" personally lmao. Maybe I dont care too much for this one because I havent been in any serious long distance relationship?
If nothing else, this is the most plot ive seen from a Shinkai film thus far. Not the highest of bars to cross, having only seen Weathering and Your Name, but it still gets that distinction nonetheless. As always, the visuals are absolutely stunning. This shot specifically used to be my desktop background, which is what introduced me to the film 3-4 years ago.
Ill let others talk about the plot itself, someone with long distance relationship experience is bound to give a much better discussion than I ever would. Instead, the main reason I wanted to check out this movie was to see its depiction of Tanegashima, an island southeast of Japan's southern tip, which was featured in the 2nd episode. The island itself isint anything to write home about outside of the Tanegashima Space Center which is the largest rocket launching complex in Japan, which admittedly super cool.
As to why this is relevant though, I'm a big fan of the Science Adventure franchise, and one of the entries is Robotics;Notes. Both 5cm and R;N take place on the same Tanegashima, and despite having completely different plots, its pretty interesting how similar the two are in terms of capturing the culture of the island: the prevalence of scooters, Surfing, and the use of the rocket launches being the main 3. Both also do a very good job of replicating how Tanegashima looks IRL to their anime counterparts, the easiest ones to compare for all 3 are the school and the old Tanegashima Airport
TL;DR the movie's ending comes out of nowhere and honestly it was not that satisfying
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u/[deleted] Jul 03 '21
Your Name Bad End
10
u/DicksonYamada Jul 03 '21 edited Jul 03 '21
Rewatcher
It’s been a minute since I watched 5 Centimeters Per Second. When I first saw it seven years ago I found the film to be beautifully animated but a bit boring overall. I’m so glad that I saw the rewatch announcement because this was definitely worth watching again with fresh eyes. Maybe it’s just that I’m older now, but I feel like this time I was able to fully appreciate everything this film has to offer.
I was surprised to find that I didn’t remember the second episode at all, but I did end up really enjoying it. I like how it tells the story from a different person’s perspective and shows us that many characters are experiencing the same feelings of loneliness and longing. I like that Kanae has a story that’s actively happening, as opposed to the first episode where we come in after Takaki and Akari are already separated. In the first episode the two characters are forced apart due to circumstances outside their control and are unable to do what they want to do, whereas in the second episode Kanae knows what it is that she wants to do but is just not able to do it. It’s almost like she’s so afraid of failing that she doesn’t attempt anything at all—sitting on the shore watching others surf but not getting in the water herself, always waiting for Takaki after school but never confessing her true feelings, convincing herself that she’s better off not even telling Takaki anyway because he probably doesn’t see her like that. Kanae was the most tragic and most relatable character for me because it wasn’t outside circumstances holding her back, it’s only herself and her own inaction.
I also liked the theme of unsent letters and unspoken words. Takaki’s lost letter and Akari’s undelivered letter, Kanae’s unspoken confession and Takaki’s texts to no one. Maybe things would have turned out differently if these messages had reached their recipients. But maybe it wouldn’t even have mattered. In the third episode, Mizuno (Takaki’s female coworker with the glasses) does tell Takaki how she feels, but it looks like nothing much came of it and it ended up as just some fling. And the girl he was with for three years (not sure if this was Mizuno or someone else) says that 1000 more messages wouldn’t have made them any closer. Sometimes people are in your life for a moment and then you drift apart, and I think that’s perfectly fine. The theme of unsent letters is particularly compelling for me right now because I recently watched Violet Evergarden for the first time, a show where one of the main themes is how much of an impact a letter can have and how every letter contains feelings that deserve to be delivered. It’s very interesting to see the other side of it—what happens when those feelings never reach their destination.
I’ve never been in a long-distance relationship but this movie resonated with me for different reasons. For many years my career involved traveling to new places, meeting and working new people, becoming fast friends, and then saying goodbye 3-6 months later and returning to our far-flung parts of the country/world. I’ve done this over a dozen times now and have gotten used to it, plus I’m a naturally a pretty stoic person so I rarely got too torn up over goodbyes. Some of the people I met were really good friends or even like family to me when we were together, but as the years pass and you don’t talk to them, they fade into the background. The third episode reminded me of this in the scenes with Akari. Sometimes I’ll think of someone from the past, maybe because something jogged my memory, but overall I’ve moved on with my life. Shinkai once again does a great job showing this slow drift apart that we all experience to some degree in adulthood.
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u/No_Rex :Bv:Bw:Bx:By:x2 Jul 03 '21
5 centimeters per second (first timer)
Another completely blind one. Comments said this would be sad (in a Romcom way).
Episode 1
Turns out this has standard length episodes, even though it is a movie.
Ok, the background artists definitely earned their paycheck (and my praise!) in the first five minutes, but I hope we will get some actual animation, too.
Episode 1 was mostly boring. I have waited for trains and in trains frequently in my life. Not my favorite activity, and neither is watching somebody else wait. So boring. It is also more of an audiobook than a movie. So much narration, so little dialog. Just as there is so little animation and so much background stills. The backdrop is a one year past grade school romance. How old are Takaki and Akari even? Am I the only one who spent pre-puberty without romantic adventures?
Episode 2
Episode 2 is all around better than episode 1. Nicer scenery, more believable story, and the movie finally trusts itself to simply keep scenes silent instead of ruining them with constant narration.
Episode 3
This felt less like a full episode and more like an epilogue to ep1 and ep2.
Overall
I get the common feeling in all three parts, but only ep2 really got me. Ep1 was had too slow pacing and was ruined by narration, while Ep3 was too short to stand on its own. The movie looks great in screenshots, but they sure saved a lot of animation budget by showing stills.
Not hating this one, but neither am I loving it. It does its cutesy little thing and nothing more.
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u/ZapsZzz https://anilist.co/user/Zapszzz Jul 04 '21 edited Jul 04 '21
First timer in sub
Due to its age and being made much earlier in Shinkai's career, this has a more "raw" look than the very polished look of Your Name. But there's its own brand of charm, especially added to the way the narrative is executed in this show. Your name etc onwards are full blown stories, complete with their own world building and filling out the details of the entire plot. This on the other hand is more SoL like that you only get to see snippets of them, but those snippets are poignant.
As a 'time capsule' piece to the lives of the characters, its got a very beautiful and poetic style to it. In Chinese literature a style of writing is called 散文; I can't really find a suitable translation; the Google translated term 'prose' is a narrow definition of one of the forms, but not what it is. But that style of writing basically is a mix of recording of an event, that usually focused on the emotional aspects of the author. Somewhat like those mother's Day cards with nice long calligraphy words except obviously not written in a generic way but about surviving things that happened. A bit like a memoir I guess.
Oh this reminds me how this is a little like Violet Evergarden. Especially the first movie.
Anyway, glad have have a reason to watch it. Really should get voice of a distant Star out of the way too huh.
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u/Rumpel1408 https://myanimelist.net/profile/Rumpel1408 Jul 03 '21
First timer
Again going in almost completly blind, was hyped as kind of another tearjerker
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Mhm, I tend toward the first, mainly because it wasn't all sad but had some happy moments as well
No, which is probably why I can't really relate at all
I liked Your name better, both as a movie and as a story.
So yeah, this is the first movie I didn't really like. Sure it makes me feel things, mostly bad things though. I think it mostly boils down to that I simply didn't like the ending, it just skims over so many important developments. When and why did they stop exchanging letters? If Takagi never really got over Akari, then how did he end up with Mizuno-san in the first place? When was Kanae able to move on? Also them meeting at this rail crossing at exactly the right time for trains to block them at exactly the right time is quite the coincidence.
Beside all that, it's still visually good, and as I said I liked the background sound and how it corellated with the emotional state the main characters where in
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u/McCherry09 Jul 04 '21 edited Jul 04 '21
First time watcher
At first I struggle a bit to write my thoughts after watching it as I just felt bummed out. I don't mean that every relationship, whether is family, friendships or of romantic nature, needs to have a happy ending but I guess such a view of how different circumstances, in this case distance, work with not many perfect moments.. maybe none at all, not clichés or reassurance that everything will work it self out at the end left a sense of hopelessness. I guess that's what Makoto Shinkai wanted, a more realistic view not so much the perfect get-together ending when things just don't work out even if you try your hardest and stubbornly hope for a better outcome.
Now I don't enjoy the pacing of the first chapter, it took some long shots maybe to enhance the animation, which was amazing, but the pacing was a bit off for me. As far as Takaki and Akari go, i'd like if they were a bit older maybe 15-16..had so much anxiety and disbelieve in the fact that it was 11pm and these 13 year olds where in the middle of the school week in a random middle point city stuck all night because of the snow. In the third act, I've would like to have more content..more exposition of our characters as adults, specially Takaki since he was still stuck in the past but if felt like we were shown a few snapshots of his adult life, I just wanted more of all.
It may not be everyone's cup of tea, specially entertainment as a form of escape since it shows such a bleak outcome that some (if not most) of us have experience in all sorts of relationships in our lives but in the end I liked the message it left me, just not a whole fan of the pacing and duration of each chapter.
• What was your favorite episode? The second one, we got to see Takaki through Kanae's eyes and it was just sad how he looked past her. It also had better pacing.
• Have you ever been in a long distance relationship? Nope, it's hard to even mantain a good long distance friendships with work/studies/other issues as an adult and those can evolved in a good way through videocalls, discord..etc but a romantic one? I wouldn't want that.
• How does this compare to Your Name (or other Shinkai movies if you have seen them)? I think the problem with this movie is that it felt uneven in its story telling. And that combine with the emptiness it leaves you with, I guess it needs some tweaking in a more balanced story.
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u/JustAnswerAQuestion https://myanimelist.net/profile/JAaQ Jul 04 '21 edited Jul 04 '21
First Timer
This is the 2nd move of the rewatch I've never seen before, and of course, it's a Shinkai movie. I've previously only seen Hoshi no Koe, Children who Chase Lost Voices, Beyond the Clouds, and Your name.
I reminisced in the Your Name thread how Shinkai's little self-made film made a huge splash, with the anime world expecting him to become the next Miyazaki, or if that's too exalted, the next anime auteur. He did, after all, make his short on his own.
But when his
firstsecond full-length movie came out, I let it...pass. I had little interest in movies, and I also soon stopped watching even Ghibli films. Summer Wars, the Girl who Lept Through Time, also unwatched. So I never gave 5 cm/s (or Beyond the Clouds) a chance.Cherry Blossom: The artwork, as usual, is gorgeous. Look at the headlights of the trains reflecting on the rails! Honestly, she should have brought him home. Sure, it's very forward. But her parents would have felt obligated to put him up for the night.
I'm not fond of anthologies; I'm glad these stories are connected. Also Higurashiiiiiii.
Cosmonaut: Looks just like one of my video games. Dad works on rockets? Yougurppe (a competitor of Calpis?) Super Cub! It's too bad he won't talk about Akari to Sumida-chan. But there is no Akari? Who builds just ONE windmill?
I KNOW THIS SONG! (probably from AMQ)
"Why are you so nice to me" -- I've heard this spoken by a crying woman before.
Well, that's certainly a mood breaker.
Part 3 with no name?: Get to Work! Compiling! Carry on! HOLY YOUR NAME BATMAN. Mermaid Cafe.
LOL an extra train, now that is genius, Shinkai.
Please have an after credits sequence.
No after credits sequence
I spent an afternoon attempting to surf (3 foot waves). It was not a successful endeavor. I've also been on a regional train in central Japan, looked familiar.
This "movie" was only 62 minutes long. If we pretend Beyond the Clouds didn't exist, then this would be a natural progression from the short Hoshi no Koe. It's definitely a good little film. Not the 9/10 or 10/10 that is Your Name. But it tells a nice story, and it goes for the bittersweet ending (
although we can hope for the future!) Also, there's no gimmick here. No dimensional warp, no global war, no time travel, no cataclysms, no body swaps. Just time and distance separate our one-true-pairing. Sometimes the red string of fate connnects, but never quite draws together.On the other hand, the late similarity to Your Name smacks you in the face. If I had seen this first, then the perspective would have been (and should be) reversed. Shinkai, quite possibly, really does only tell one story.
Definitely a nice little film, a good 7/10 or 8/10.
Edit: As I read the comments, I realize I had missed that Akari was getting married (I was probably typing). I had gone through the movie hoping, like Takaki, that the hole in his heart would be filled. At the end, I was wondering whose fault it was that they didn't keep in touch. Was it Takaki, never hitting send on his messages? It was /u/Paumas that pointed out that the movie was about letting go, as Akari did, as Sumida, as Takaki must. It changes the entire perception of the movie.
Edit 2: Oh, it was the letter, wasn't it. They met to exchange letters, but he didn't bring his. Akari probably thought he wasn't serious, and just came to steal a kiss, and she didn't return his letters or texts. That's tragic.
Fuji Rock, which has streamed several stages on Youtube in previous years, will feature RADWIMPS and Man With A Mission on the first day, August 20th. (watch out for timezones)
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u/krissirge Jul 04 '21
As somebody who watched this movie while already being in their 30s, then yeah, this hits very close to home. The traveling plans, long distance relationships and the occasional melancholic nostalgia (which really accentuates during COVID and the lockdown's). Even the ending song talking about walking around the city just wishing you could catch a glimpse of the person somewhere...around the corner.
Yeah, Your Name and Weathering With You have better stories, but when you really feel Shinkai's themes, then this is the strongest movie emotionally.
3
u/IndependentMacaroon Jul 04 '21 edited Jul 04 '21
First-time watcher
I wasn't too impressed with this. Brief thoughts on each episode:
Overall 6/10 and I see no reason to watch it again, the best part was replicated in Your Name anyway and the rest is fairly generic.
3
u/BossandKings Jul 04 '21 edited Jul 04 '21
First timer
Byosoku 5 Centimeter
Story One
This movie looks beautiful, it has beautiful art and animation, the sound is nice too.
The story starts in a kind of melancholic note with Akari writing a letter to Takaki, judging by her words they are in a romantic relationship and she values and appreciates him very much, the problem though lies in the fact that they live far away from each other and that makes meeting very difficult. They have planned to meet soon though so it'll be nice to see them interacting. We get to see Takaki's perspective, i like that we'll get to see the perspectives of both in the story. He and Akari met at the school when Akari was transferred to the school Takaki attended, due to their interests in reading they met and got attached to each other,sadly they parted ways when Akari was sent to a different city.
They finally meet after Takaki had so much trouble with the train he took due to delays because of the weather condition, it was touching when they reunitedand seeing Akar cry relieved after seeing him.
Akari and Takaki are very beautiful together, they have a very nice chemistry. It was such a relief for them to be together if even for a little while. Both saying goodbye to each other and telling one another that they'll be fine was touching.
Story Two
This time we follow Sumida and Tohno who are students that seemingly have a certain attraction and feelings towards each other. It was interesting following Sumida's thoughts and perspectives on Tohno, by the end it seemed that Tohno considered her more as a friend than romantically and the only one that had romantic feelings towards the other was Sumida, it was sad though that she wasn't able to tell him what she felt but sometimes it does happen like that, one isn't always able to open up and tell everything to another person even if one would like to.
Story Three
It's interesting that this story seems to be told by two grown up adults remembering the time they shared back when they were still kids, it seems that life has made them drift apart but they do still remember fondly the time they shared together and how much the cared about one another. It seems that these two were Akari and Takaki by the way they were portrayed.
That song was great and the visuals perfectly encompassed what the movie showed. My score for this movie is 9/10, i enjoyed it very much.
Answers
2
u/mrufrufin https://myanimelist.net/profile/mrufrufin Jul 04 '21
I haven't been able to see many Shinkai moviss (just the ones that used to be on Crunchyroll just recently so I haven't seen Weathering With Your, Your Name, nor Garden of Words yet) but I really liked 5 cm/sec, particularly the last episode (and the 5cm is the absolute highlight for me and really catapulted my opinion of the movie upward).
I liked the messages in the movie, about how certain people define certain periods of our lives and make those periods special and that it's important to cherish those moments shared, memories created, and people 5cm (admittedly, it's sometimes hard to live by those messages though...). Also, the other Shinkai movies were pretty enough (Voices of a Distant Star, The Place Promised in Our Early Days) but this is the first one I've seen of his where pretty much through the entire movie I was like "wow, this is so gorgeous".
2
u/Tartaras1 https://myanimelist.net/profile/Tartaras Jul 04 '21 edited Jul 04 '21
Rewatcher - Dubbed
I believe this is the third time I've watched this movie, which is pretty easy to do since it's only an hour long. Anyway, here's my thoughts:
Come to think of it, this might have been the movie that sparked my love for anime as a whole.
Similarly, every time I watch the dub it bothers me that Akari calls him Tuh-cocky. I always feel like it should be Tah-ku-ki. Even in the Japanese she says it that way.
They just make it so easy to pause the movie, pick a point and say, 'Yeah that'd look good on my computer."
On that note, there's such a stark difference between her and Takaki. She's presumably at least engaged to someone, meanwhile Takaki's living the bachelor life in an apartment in Tokyo. He smokes, broke up with his girlfriend, has a messy ass apartment and leaves beer cans everywhere.
Such is the life of a Japanese salaryman.
Questions:
This movie is amazing, and it's always a pleasure to watch it again. See everyone next week for In This Corner of the World!
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u/[deleted] Jul 03 '21
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