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This Review Contains Some Spoilers:

5 centimeters per second tells the story of the growth of Toono Takaki, an ordinary Japanese boy. The story have been separated in three acts, “Cherry Blossom,” ”Cosmonaut,” and “Five Centimeters per Second.” These titles summarizes the journey that Takaki have gone through as he grows up from a boy to a men. While the film’s setting seems like a romantic story at first, much focus of this film was focused around how the protagonists, Toono Takaki, dealt with separation. While the story, in the first act, was portrayed in segments between Takaki’s third grade year all the way to his ... seventh, and could be a bit confusing for someone that is watching this film for the first, the general story of this film is not at all complicated. It is a delicate story that covers the essence of Mono no Aware — the unique idea from Japan about the beauty of transience.

The characters of the film has been developed quite well. We can see the kind of struggle that Takaki was in in the first act while we waited with him on the train in the snowstorm for the 20 or so minutes of the film. In the second act, we can see from the perspective of Kanae Sumida, about the challenges Takaki has as he grows. And in the third act, years after when the first act have taken place, we can see Takaki finally growing up and stepping out of his reminiscent feelings.

The art have been as good as any other Shinkai Makoto films. Every single frame of the film can be screenshotted and used as a background picture. While the character drawing can seem a bit rough and not quite on par with our current standards (or as good as the background drawing of this film), it is still acceptable and does not take anything away from the film in general. The soundtrack, done by Tenmon, fits extremely well with the overall mood of the film and hooks the viewers tightly as the film progresses. The ending song, One more time, One more chance, fits well with both the mood of the entire film, and the lyrics summarizes well of the regrets and hope that the main character has as he the song brings the film to the last scene…

Overall this film is a great piece of work that definitely deserves to be seen and loved. Though the film to some extent seems more like a beautiful prose rather than an enticing story. If you have the patience watch the film a couple of times to feel the beauty of the story or if the story triggers a memory or relationship that you once had, I believe you would love this show as much as I did.