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A few weeks ago, I decided to watch all of Makoto Shinkai’s films, because I love this director—and mostly because there weren’t that many of his movies I hadn’t already seen.

I chose to start with *5 Centimeters per Second*, and… what can I say?

It had been described to me as an incredible film, with touching music, interesting characters, stunning visuals for its time, and a beautiful experience overall.

Honestly, the only thing that kept me watching until the end was the animation and the visual beauty of the film. Other than that, the whole thing felt like pure torture. The movie is slow and dragging, for ... no good reason. The main characters barely exchange ten lines of dialogue between them, and the whole plot quickly slips into melodrama. Even though the story aimed to be realistic, it totally missed the mark.

The male protagonist is a total blank slate, with no emotion at all. As for the female lead, she’s just as empty, but at least she had the patience to wait four hours in the cold for a prepubescent boy.

The only character I actually felt empathy for was the young surfer girl, who had the sense to realize that being someone’s emotional band-aid isn’t love.

As for the ending, the music-video-style montage was somewhat original, but I really didn’t connect with the music at all. The final scene, though, seems like the only genuinely positive thing in the film. No tearful reunion, no added drama—just two adults who briefly crossed paths with their first love again.

Losing ten years of your life over a relationship that barely even existed? I call that masochism.

Honestly, I’m disappointed and surprised that this anime is so well-loved. I feel like I must have watched it wrong or missed something important.
And yet, I *love* romance and I’m a total cinephile, so… what did I miss?