Byousoku 5 Centimeter

What happens when two people love each other but just aren't meant to be together? Takaki Toono and Akari Shinohara are childhood friends, but circumstances beyond their control tear them apart. They promise to stay in contact, and although the progression of time widens the distance between them, the chain of memories remains ever-present.

Byousoku 5 Centimeter is a romantic drama that focuses on the mundane and harsh reality of long-distance relationships. Stuck in the past and unable to make any new memories, Takaki and Akari cling to the hope of seeing each other again. They live their everyday lives half-heartedly, both hurting themselves and the people around them.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Toono, Takaki Main

Mizuhashi, Kenji Japanese

Sumida, Kanae Main

Hanamura, Satomi Japanese

Shinohara, Akari Main

Onoue, Ayaka Japanese

Sumida, Sister Supporting

Mizuno, Risa Japanese

Mizuno, Risa Supporting

Mizuno, Risa Japanese

Male 1 Supporting

Male Student 10 Supporting

Train Station Announcer 3 Supporting

Train Station Announcer 1 Supporting

Train Station Announcer 2 Supporting

Itou, Kouichirou Producer

Chung, Jin Ho Producer

Shinkai, Makoto Director, Sound Director, Episode Director, Script, Storyboard, Original Creator, Editing, Original Character Design, Art Director, Director of Photography, Color Design

Foster, Steven Script, ADR Director

Reviews

Sep 13, 2008

TheLlama

Recommended

From Makoto Shinkai (Voices of a Distant Star, The Place Promised in Our Early Days) comes 5 Centimetes per Second, a movie that tells the story of two childhood friends in love, and how they try to keep their relationship going through hardships that life throws at them. Throogh three small stories, or episodes as they're called, we're told the tale of how they grow up and farther away from each other.

The movie tells of a love that's slowly torn apart because the lovers move further away, both in heart and home. It's underlying themes are beautifully incorporated into the story; about growing up, letting ... go of an unreachable past, and taking control of one's own life. Though they're not necessarily very obvious throughout the movie, the final scene symbolizes these themes, and what the main characters decided on in the end.

The character we follow through the movie is Takaki Tohno, and we get to see how he looks on the events that unfold as a child, a teenager and finally, and adult. We see how he develops through these stages of life, and how it all relates to his childhood friend and love, Akari Shinohara.

The emotions are protrayed in an incredibly beautiful and realistic way; how they portray the love between Akari and Takaki, how they portray the girl who has a crush on Tohno during his high school years, Kanae Sumida, and finally, how they portray their development from children to adults all makes them characters you'll place your heart with. They're characters you'll love, feel sad with, and you'll wish for them to live happily.

The animation quality is astounding, from the detail in backgrounds to the astounding ligthing effects and camera angles that help bring the mood of the scenes to a level different from mostly anything else. The only beef I have is that the characters' faces lost a bit of detail from time to time, but aside that the movie is a visual pleasure that goes beyond pretty much everything I've ever experienced.

Tenmon, who's made the soundtrack to other Shinaki films, does an astounding job on the soundtrack for the movie, with piano pieces that effectively and beautifully amplifies the mood of the movie, be it melancholy, calmness or nostalgia. However, if you don't like piano soundtracks, chances are you'll not like it, since it's mostly the piano that's used throughout the movie (I love them though, and that's what made me give it a 10).

The seiyuu also do a marvelous job of portraying the characters, their emotions and age. I've only watched the Japanese version of the movie, so I can't say anything about the quality of the English voice acting. But I'd recommend it in Japanese anyways =)

5 cm per Second is a movie that takes a story of growing up and makes it into something that cannot be described as anything less than a masterpiece, with astounding themes, storytelling, art and sound. If someone told me I could watch one movie before I died, I'd undoubtedly choose this one.

To 'Not Helpful' voters (and you 'Helpful' voters too): Feedback greatly appreciated =)

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Apr 13, 2008

yanmzry

Mixed Feelings

I happened upon this anime in several anime fan sites as it was considered one of the higher rated animes even until today. Reading how some people said it rivaled works that of Miyazaki, I had high expectations for it. But unfortunately it was a total letdown.

The only thing I really enjoyed about the movie was the animation quality and detail that was put into the movie. The animation was just simply beautiful from the vividness of the background to the fluid motion of characters but then, sadly, the praise ends here.

The story and the characters were very anti-climactic as no real progress is met ... by the characters with one another. This is however how the creator of the story wished for it to be i think as the title is named "5 centimeters per second". It was a collection of short stories about human distance. I'll say though that the concept and execution were nice but the story itself was lacks proper closure as it presents the audience with the concept but then leaves it at the presentation with no real conclusion. The story began as a cultured glass of wine then slowly transforming into wine in a box. The depth slowly filled in as the stories progressed. They were written just so that a concept could be brought to stage and left there to be a static attraction for the audience.

So if you're looking for a totally artistic and visually pleasing feature with no real concern for a happy ending with much depth in the end then give this one a looksy.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Aug 21, 2008

jonathanlane

Not Recommended

A major letdown from the supposed 'Next Miyazaki'

I was skeptical about the assertion that Makoto Shinkai was the next Miyazaki, and although I really liked he two previous works, Voices of a Distant Star and The Place Promised in Our Early Days, I could not bring myself to lavish him with such high praise until he made a movie that blew me away and that would become an instant favorite. It would seem that I made a wise decision. Miyazaki is undoubtedly one of the greatest anime directors to ever live, and his films (Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke) rival those of any genera, animation or ... otherwise. He's been said to be on par with Disney, but that is a lie. Miyazaki is BETTER then Disney. So obviously I'm always skeptical to people comparing an up and coming director to Miyazaki.

I watched Shinkai's carrier with great interest from his debut film Voices of a Distant Star to this new film. His strong suits have always been animation and music. No anime director I've ever seen can create such beautiful animation as he, and few can combine such stunning and magnificent animation with just the right music to set the tone and take his viewers far away to walk the snow covered streets along side the characters. He's great at this, but for all that talent he also has a critical flaw to his style which makes his movies miss their full potential; he has no idea what pacing means. Being only 23 minutes long, Voices was paced very well and never had a dull moment, but the follow up Places, being full length, was paced so badly it made me want to skip large portions of the film so I could see some more beautiful landscaping. If the animation and music weren't so great, I doubt so many people would love that movie so much, even though I personally gave it 4 stars.

But now, with his third film, I expected him to have found away around that weakness and create a film that wasn't just visually beautiful, but also well paced as well. Well sorry, but he hasn't done it, and my patience with him is wearing thin. In this three part film Tonoo and Akari are best friends in grade school who spend all their free time with one another, but as they grow up they slowly drift apart, contacting one another at first through letters and then falling out of contact altogether. It is, surprise, surprise, another romance. This would not have been a problem if this new film didn't seem like a carbon copy of Voices and Places, especially places. Guy and girl fall in love at an early age, guy and girl drift apart as life goes on and they grow up, guy and girl never get over each other and miss the other, guy and girl sit awake in their rooms all night thinking about the other, guy and girl never see each other again. If you've seen Places you can pretty much see everything that’s coming. There are no surprises here, just gooey romance.

It’s a real disappointment to see an animator with so much promise get bogged down in these silly romances again and again and again. Voices was good, Places was as well, but Shinkai always tells the same exact story. Its not that he likes telling a certain kind of story, it’s that he likes telling only ONE kind of story, every single time. Get a grip man; make something a little more original. Its bad enough that his pacing is so bad but why even bother making new movies when you’re just going to tell old stories again and again and again? If this is all Shinkai has to offer then it’s not worth my time seeing every film he comes up with.

The animation, as always, is brilliant. I just don't know how much more I can gush over his amazing art. I've been saying this since Voices, but his three films are THE BEST animated films I've ever seen, and I've seen my fair share. Unfortunately this film is missing something; the music. Both his previous films have amazing musical scores that made the film just that much better. I never fail to catch myself humming their main themes after watching them without even noticing. Well I'm not going to end up humming these tunes, that’s for sure. For one thing there wasn't enough BGM to begin with, and what little there is was just a remix of old themes. But the biggest disappointment was the ending song. It’s just not pretty; I'm sorry, but Japanese isn't the most beautiful language to listen to. The ending song was nowhere near beautiful, in fact I found myself turning the volume down and playing a song of my own instead. If they had only play "Don't Say Goodbye" from Skillets album Comatose then it would have been the greatest scene ever (trust me, listen to the song and watch the scene and you'll see what I mean).

So no, this is not the next Miyazaki, not even close if this film is any indication. I don't think I've ever given a Miyazaki film less then 4 stars, he is far and away the most consistent director I've ever watched, so if Shinkai can't pull it off after three tries I think its an unfair comparison.

Replay value; low.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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