5 Centimeters per Second - Reviews

I liked 5 Centimeters per Second quit alot. It was a beutiful series that although didn't have any action in it, was vary compelling. I became attached to the charicters easy and felt that this three part story was done well. The end while disappointing me, [the end's of most series dissapoint me ;)] fit perfectly todether with how this story was told. I'm happy with this movie and suggest watching it.

I watched this with my friend and the animation was beautiful. But good god the story was boring. It was an hour of three people talking about how in love they were. The ending was unsatisfying as all hell too. 

yup , the best animation ever, good sound track, above avarage charecters and compelling romance is 5cm per second.

this movie has got the best animation i have ever seen, you will be literelly mesmerized by the animation of the movie

seiyuu is also excellent and sound track is good.

things might not appeal to few which are plot and characters. the chars are not very deep and plot leaves you with some unresolved questions.

the bottom line is 5cm per second is masterpiece of animation but the bittersweet ending may not appeal to some,anyhow it is for sure an eyecandy for everyone.

Opening Remarks - Just because this is a beautiful work I am proud to say I have seen does not mean I cannot rant about it.

Story - Mr Shinkai Makoto, WHAT THE BLOODY HELL WAS WITH THE THIRD ARC??!!?? The melancholy of the first two, is plain beautiful, there is no other way to describe them. The third arc is like a slap in the face.

I'm going to guess that Makoto simply ran out of money or time, because that final story has a rushed feel to it, as though entire segments had simply been amputated in a mad effort to meet completion.

The man is known for his works regarding relationships and physical separation, prominent recurring themes here in 5cm, as well as Voices of a Distant Star and The Promised Place. And it may be argued that Makoto hit a creative-emphatic high point in 5cm with its first arc, with the male lead stuck in a train and the his girl waiting for him at the end. Wonderfully poigant, simple to relate to, and full of promise. If the production had ended there I would had given it 9/10 for Story.

Arc 2 seemed to distract a bit from the main thrust of the anime, but it was well-done overall so I shan't complain. But Arc 3. What the hell. Arc 3. I was hoping to for the final episode to be told from the girl's perspective, and disappointed when it wasn't, but the ending was realy the slumps for me. It's like he built himself a house of cards and deliberately knocked it down without completing the final topmost level.

I have other more specific complaints as well. Why 5cm? It doesn't seem to play any significant role in the premise or theme of the anime. Voices and Places were both very appropriately named, but not so with 5cm here. And why are the cherry blossoms given such a prominent spot if they don't mean anything at all at any point? Also, what's the whole point of the premise behind this anime if they just stopped exchanging letters after the first year? And after such a landmark moment too!

Animation - Top marks. The character designs may seem a bit uninspired, but given how that's almost a trademark of Makoto's work, I won't give him stick for it. But the detailed effort paid to setting the background and animating every motion is astonishing to say the least. The urban environment is breathtaking, and the tempo of motions and actions perfectly in sync. A classic exercise in paying attention to the little things.

Sound - Voice acting was very satisfactory without being particularly praiseworthy. Music accompaniment is well-merited in its own right, but pales in comparison to Voices.

Characters - They are basically all blank slates with very little depth or development to any of them. I suppose it's a way to make them easy to emphatise with, as well as avoid distracting the audience from the key theme.

One character does receive some development though. In the accursed Arc 3, the male lead has an epiphany of some sort, quits his job, then goes wandering Tokyo searching for lost memories or the like.

So this is what I've got: Mr Makoto took his genius for creating characters that viewers will genuinely care about, played around a bit, came up with a male lead we all empathise with for 40 minutes, then turns him into another jobless street bum drifting the roads of the city. Except this particular bum prefers chocolate milk to beer. The man's a hobo, and he doesn't even get to see his girl a final time either. And we don't getthing from her point of view so we can know what caused her to change her mind, feel the internal struggle. Nope.

Closing Remarks - Screw you, Shinkai Makoto. Screw you.

Guess it's gonna be analyse and review so care for spoilers. 

I. Story

Some people say it's typical boy x girl setting - that might be truth, I don't see it like that. We see how the main character(boy) "develops" over the years and comes to interact with world and other people. Nothing much was shown about Akari(girl) which was dissapointing. It's divided by three arcs which can be summarized in;

Might contain spoilers

It starts in 90's and ends up modern days.

Cherry Blossom - Arc is about Akari and Takaki living together and starting to meaning something to each other and being closer every 5 centimeters per second ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°). Unfortunatelly they are being separated after some time and here the rest of the story begins.

Cosmonaut - Takaki is now in the third year of senior high in Tanegashima. It is only shown how he interacts with another girl called - Kanae. She's in love with him and we see the process of this love.

5 Centimeters Per Second - As you can read from the wiki "It is 2008. Takaki is now a computer programmer in Tokyo, while Akari is preparing to get married to another man." Which you can't see in anime - it is lightly implied I guess.

Spoilers are out!

Actually anime shows us the pictures, but little to no story - there is no deeper sense in what we see nor there is no dialogue to fill out something. Manga actually shows us the story without this beatiful images - so I think the anime is fairly symbolical. I haven't read much into the manga, but as far as I can tell it's far more than anime - maybe the novels are even further in this. So saying how good and developed et cettera the story is for me is inappropiate. 

II. Animation

Sometimes it was fancy - like someone pointed out for art's festival. Well it's quite beatiful and you could call it beatiful picture of nature, but it has no deeper meaning.

III. Sound

Haven't paid much attention to it, but oh man the sound in the background is really amazing in one moment I felt like I was standing there or somewhere near(wasn't wearing headphones also). Overall It was very fine except that ending song, which made me burst in laugh. For me it was retarded to put that in this moment, also it was poorly sang.

IV. Characters

 There isn't much of a character development. We can only see that the trio is haunted by the demons of the past. There is nothing to tell about them except Takaki - there is little about him. To be quite honest from the first look they are quite nice, but if you look into them - it's terrible, honestly. Personally I cheered up for Takaki's actions - the longer the movie went I saw there is no meaning in his actions.

Some analyse - might be spoilers.exe

Takaki Tōno - Main character, we see the story from his point of view mostly. Seriously his actions are so unclear that it made me some kind of angry to watch him. He states his love for Akari, then thinks that the kiss says out his feelings and everything. Well from the start he did not cared about her - she had to wrote to him. Later he could do the same instead he decided not keep contact which he later regreted and made him unhappy in life. The better ending for him would be him doing any type of suicide showing his regret - then we see in last moment the smile which means he moves on, as does the Akari by not standing there. It's a nice symbolism. Well after all being a crybaby or depressed is his own fault. Also his development wasn't much of a deal until him "moving on".

Akari Shinohara - The main girl which we know nothing about in anime(in manga we actually see her wedding). So she is another symbol.  Actually felt a bit bitter, about them not ending together - "not a fairy tale" you might say :) She is actually pretty nice in the manga.

Kanae Sumida - Okay, the character seems so senpai notice me - it's actually pretty weird for me to follow someone so hard(it must be yandere if you go from middle school to high school just for that person) and never tell them their's feelings(and again! she does so in manga! when he is about to leave the village), also expecting pretty nothing. It is shown that she too did not moved on, maybe later doing so(in manga we only see her meeting him when she sits on bench, also telling her crush to give her time - propably because of her haunted past. She's still some kind of lacked character due to senpaism - only her "doubts" give her some more insight in her persona. 

V. Overall

I've got some experience with long distance relationship so the part one touched me nicely. Anyways everything was explained above. 

Why 6/10 if the grades are higher? I add my personal enjoyment and other things into play - quite frankly I forced myself to watch it. Not, because of the anime being slow-paced(Spike and Wolf was fun to watch) - it's something deeper i think.

Should you watch it? If you feel like so. Think about it more as a painting rather than something which will emotionally entertain you - also marking - it is specific in some kind. If you wanna know more about the story just read the manga or novel. I would watch it again, if I ever pushed myself to watch it. 

Analysing it and having a deeper thought is much more satisfying than watching lol.