Soemtimes there are movie genres or movies form a specific country you are interested in watching, but where you don’t know where to start. To me that’s the feeling I have with anime. It is such a wide genre that’s its possible to check out so many different directions and where I’ve seen so little. Yes, I did see a lot of Ghibli films and some random other films, but that’s about it. This title is one which I added to my to watch list years ago and was my first introduction to the work of director Makoto Shinkai.
5 Centimeters Per Second consists of three separate stories which are all linked to each other. It revolves around two former class mates, Takaki Tōno and Akari Shinohara, who had a strong connection but never became romantic. In the first story, Cherry Blossom, the two decide to meet up after years of not seeing each other. The journey for Takaki is a long one and during a heavy blizzard his trains are delayed by hours. Set in an age where there was not internet or mobile phones the question is whether or not she’ll be waiting for him.
The second story, Cosmonaut is set during their time at school and in the last story, 5 Centimeters Per Second they both are adult who have dreamed about each other. Will they ever meet again?
The thing which immediately stands out is how visually impressive this film is. The details in each shot, however short, are beautiful. The way in which light interacts with object has been realised with perfection and there constantly a sense of place and atmosphere. The stories themselves are sometimes a bit hard to follow, making it difficult to get into the minds of the characters. Still this anime, which only last for about an hour, is worth watching for the imagery alone.
I’m on the same page, the story is a tad messy, but the animation technique wowed me.