Byosoku Go Senchimetoru (5 Centimeters Per Second)Year of Release: 2007
Starring: Kenji Mizuhashi, Yoshimi Kondou, Satomi Hanamura
Directed By: Makoto Shinkai
Genre: Romance, Drama
Overview:The modern-day anime classic and brainchild of rising star Makoto Shinkai,
5 Centimeters Per Second, presented to you as never before. Witness the story of Takaki, a young man on a journey from Tokyo to reunite with his childhood best friend, Akari. Feel his emotions superimposed on the gorgeous, heavily researched and impressively animated backdrops of Japan, as he travels by train to see her. Join Takaki on a voyage into three interconnected tales of love and lost innocence that span the minutes and months of their lives.
5 Centimeters Per Second, the speed at which cherry blossoms fall from the trees, reminiscent of the pace of life as our lives intermingle.
My Thoughts:I picked this up because I had enjoyed two other films from Makoto Shinkai,
The Place Promised in Our Early Days and
Voices of a Distant Star, and this is a very worthy companion to those two. It's a great little film.
This is a beautiful, romantic film that reminded me why I love anime. It's a wistful, nostalgic memory of first love and the bittersweet joy it can bring in hanging on to it. It's warm and melancholy, as only the best memories are, the ones that matter, that mean something.
The story is very simple - it's about young love and the memory of that love and the distance that time creates between people. What the film is really about is the emotions of the characters, and in that it excels. You feel these people. You understand them. They are real.
It's also a film with exquisitely drawn animation. This is a grade-A+ beautiful film, perhaps one of the most beautiful I've ever seen. Even if nostalgic romance doesn't appeal, if you like animation you should give this film a look just for the art, it's that good. Good? Wrong word. Great. Stupendous. Flawless.
Highly recommended.
Bechdel Test: Fail
Overall: 4/5
