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One of Matoko Shinkai's greatest works along with 'Voices of a Distant Star' and 'The Place Promised in Our Early Days'. The film revolves around the life of a young man named Takaki Tono unfolding into 3 "episodes" that represent a stage in his life; childhood, adolescence and adulthood.

The story is metaphorically very realistic. The love portrayed between two childhood friends at the beginning but then slowly drifting apart like cherry blossoms perfectly captures the essence of time and distance. The film tries to convey to the audience that "time waits for no one" and it will continue to travel forward regardless of people's ... hope and dreams. This tragic film is about letting go of the past instead rather than living in it, about striving to find a achieve happiness in the present rather than just pining for what has been lost over time. However the story does hold a major omission as to how exactly Takaki and Akari drift apart which is my only concern.

The art of course is truly outstanding. The perfect detail in every scene. The balance in the blending of colours. The manipulation of light and shadow. The needless concentration on actual characters but rather their surroundings portrays the importance of scenery and how that sets an atmosphere. Frequent panning shots of beautiful landscape, shots of emphemera, incomplete framing of characters, juxtaposition and montages made the movie all the more incredible.

The audio was also very pleasing. The dreamy and soft melodies of the piano contributes to ‘the dream-like quality the film has’. The volume is always fairly soft in order to create an ambiance of serenity, sorrow and nostalgia at different times. It blends in very well with the scenery becoming one with it. The sound of wind, birds, cars, trains assist in the making of a more realistic atmosphere. These sound effects are usually in conjunction with the dialogue between characters making scenes seem very ordinary to which people can relate to.

The characters were charming; it was impossible to hate anyone of them even an 'outsider' character like Kanae. They possess qualities that makes the audience want them to achieve happiness in anyway possible. However they are not characters most people can related to seeing as their perception of life or ideas are somewhat abstracted
e.g Children do not write love letters to one another. Heck, people don't even write letters anymore...and this was set in the 1990s.
People don't base important decisions over the fact if someone has 'far-seeing' eyes, which I'm sure is impossible to fathom.

I enjoyed the film over all but if some omissions were filled that would've made it more enjoyable. Also although the movie was (metaphorically) realistic but the characters at times were not (far from it). Therefore if the characters or storyline was created more realistically then I would've enjoyed it more, however, overall it was a beautiful film.