5 Centimeters Per Second (2007) Review
Introduction
Mention Makoto Shinkai’s name and one immediately conjures the vivid imagery of his films. There’s no mistaking his works from other animations. Shinkai is no doubt one of the masters in storytelling and animation and some even called him the Miyazaki of our time. Unlike his previous efforts, 5cm Per Second(5cm) does not feature any of the deep sci fi elements which he is known for. Instead, 5cm presents a very realistic view of the world from the eyes of a boy as he struggles through life’s difficulties in time, distance and love.
Story and Plot5cm consists of 3 short stories; The Chosen Cherry Blossoms, Cosmonaut and 5 Centimeters per Second. Each story runs around 20 minutes giving the movie a total runtime of an hour. The story begins with Tono Takaki and Shinohara Akari who were close friends during their childhood. As they grew older, their relationship began to drift further apart and yet Takaki could never forget the times they shared when they were close even years after they’ve stopped seeing each other.
In the first story, we are introduced to Takaki and Akari who first met at their school. Takaki wasn’t exactly the athletic type and so spent most of his time in the library with Akari where they slowly form a close friendship. Takaki faced his first hurdle when Akari was moving with her family to a far away city and they will not be able to meet as often anymore. They kept in touch with each other through letters and when Takaki found out that his family too will be moving to another prefecture, he decided to travel to Tochigi Prefecture to meet Akari for one last time before they would be too far apart to see each other. And so begins Takaki’s long journey to meet up with Akari.
A large part of the first story revolves around Takaki’s train travel as he reminisces of the times he spent with Akari. His train was repeatedly delayed as a snow storm approaches causing him to feel anxiety as he will not be able to meet Akari as planned. In the second story, Takaki is now a senior high student in Tanegashima. A classmate of his, Kanae Sumita, has feelings for him but didn’t have the courage to confess her feelings to him. However, as Takaki could never forget his feelings for Akari, Kanae’s love was never reciprocated.
And finally in the third story, Akari and Takaki now lead their own lives, Takaki is a successful programmer in a large company while Akari is getting married to another man. On one fateful day, Takaki sees someone who appeared to be Akari before a passing train cuts his view and he never saw that person again.
My Thoughts
5cm is indeed a very touching love story. I especially liked the first and second story but the third felt a little too brief to me. The animation quality in 5cm is superb. I’ve always been a big fan of detailed traditional cel painted animation over 3D but the animation in 5cm blends both of these techniques so well that it felt like watching a living painting. You’d have to see the movie to experience it. Definitely very very impressive animation work here.
Just as in Shinkai’s previous films, long time collaborator Tenmon composes the film’s soundtrack. Tenmon’s light score worked really well in this movie. Overall I must say this is easily one of the best anime I’ve watched so far this year and probably for the rest of the year as well. If you’ve never caught any of Shinkai’s previous work, this is really a good movie to start.
Rating: 
Director: Makoto Shinkai
Music: Tenmon
Character Design: Takayo Nishimura
Art:
Akiko Majima
Ryouko Umashima
Takumi Tanji
Key Animation Director: Takayo Nishimura
Post Production Director: Yuji Mitsuya
Sound director: Makoto Shinkai
ComixWave Films (Japanese)
Popularity: 14% [?]
