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5 Centimeters per Second

5 Centimeters per Second (2007)

March. 03,2007
|
7.5
|
PG
| Animation Drama Romance Family

Three moments in Takaki's life: his relationship with Akari and their forced separation; his friendship with Kanae, who is secretly in love with him; the demands and disappointments of adulthood, an unhappy life in a cold city.

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Reviews

Ensofter
2007/03/03

Overrated and overhyped

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Baseshment
2007/03/04

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

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Matrixiole
2007/03/05

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

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ChanFamous
2007/03/06

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

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scientiiaa
2007/03/07

5 Centimeters per Second (Byousoku 5 Centimeter) is a 2007 Japanese animated romantic drama film produced, written, and directed by Makoto Shinkai (Voices of a Distant Star, She and Her Cat: Their Standing Points). The film consists of three parts: 'Cherry Blossom', 'Cosmonaut', and '5 Centimeters per Second', which together have an hour of runtime. As in Shinkai's previous works, Tenmon (he composed many music pieces for Falcom games) composed this film's soundtrack. The film was awarded Best Animated Feature Film at the 2007 Asia Pacific Screen Awards. The DVD was released on 19 July 2007. A novel of 5 Centimeters per Second was released in November 2007. In the July's 2010 issue of the manga anthology Afternoon, a manga adaptation started serialization with illustrations by Seike Yukiko (Majime na Jikan, Tsuki ni Hoeran nee).Takaki and Akari, two very close friends and classmates, attended elementary school together. One day, they cannot be together anymore because of Akari's family. Their plans to attend the same middle school are now shattered. The two continue to keep in touch via mails. However, as time goes by, the distance between the two grows larger and larger, making the possibility for them to meet again almost impossible. What fate awaits Takaki and Akari, and will they be able to meet again?Indeed, the story-line is very SoL like: no magic, no forced drama, no superpowers, or anything like that. This movie is absolutely generic, and it might have been the truth, if not one (thing) person: Shinkai Makoto. That person, the creator of 5 Centimeters per Second, made a piece about reality. Yes, yes, it is about reality. Makoto Shinkai does not need to follow a cliché route (death, betrayal, or anything like that) to make his movie unique, he only needs realism, and I must say that this movie is unique. It might be slow, it might have no plot twists, but it is extremely tragic, dramatic, and beautiful at the same time. The last thing I want to mention is that you will never guess what will happen next, as well as the anime's ending, which you will surely like about this movie.The art is amazing, too. Every scene, every detail are just fantastically beautiful. They put so much effort in the animation that you can even make out labels of every product during the convenience store scene. But this is not the main appeal of this anime, the main appeal is its amazingly gorgeous sceneries; they are just impressive. Too bad character designs are not as detailed as sceneries are, but this is not the main focus of this anime; there is no need for some wacky character designs. Sound wise, both English and Japanese dubs are good. There are some minor defects in the English dubs, though; but you will not notice them, just turn off the subtitles. The OST is also good, it manages to fit the voices perfectly well and it does its magic. Tenmon did simply a great job here.There are three main characters in this movie, but I will not touch upon the third one just to avoid spoilers. The first one is Takaki Touno. He is the protagonist of this movie and is forced to move a lot, because of his family's job issues. He and Akari become close friends, but when Akari moves away, they end up attending different junior high schools. The second protagonist is Akari Shinohara. She is Takaki's best friend and love interest in elementary school. Just like Takaki, she and her family move a lot. After elementary school, she moves to another prefecture, which distances her from Takaki. The two, however, continue to keep in touch via mails. That said, all three protagonists are very human and realistic; their inner dialogues and development are just something you will surely appreciate and enjoy. All in all, 5 Centimeters per Second is definitely a must see for all fans of the romance genre. There are no cliché aspects you will usually see in anime like that, only a real life story. What is more, the creator also tries to let the viewer decide and think in many situations during this movie, which is another huge plus of this anime. So, if you really do believe that you are a true fan of this genre and want to see something new, you should definitely give this movie a shot. It is not that long, watch it.

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ayesh-malshika
2007/03/08

part 1 : shows us a pretty nice connection between two kids growing up with each other and despite their increasing distance their love for each other never looses and at the end of the day they'll always find each other.part 2 : introduces this new girl who is madly in love with the boy but never confesses herself to him at that time . even tho he acknowledges her interests he couldn't find himself to move forward from his past (which was very nicely done hats off ) even if he wanted he is still attached to something part 3 : it just nothing i imagined i don't know what to say the movie is filled with beautiful scenes very very beautiful story was like all over the place some times i took few minutes to get things straight seriously hated the way everything ended i just not right. after all this is life nothing end the way we want it be very good movie highly recommend it

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MartinHafer
2007/03/09

I can only assume "5 Centimeters Per Second" was designed explicitly to teens and pre-teens. Therefore, my dislike of the film should be taken with a grain of salt, as I am a 53 year-old guy who likes anime movies, though I don't love ALL anime. For me, the film, though beautiful to look at, was very tough going.The story is about a romance between two classmates, Akari and Takaki. She is a rather simpering and uncertain young lady and she is attracted to Takaki because he's a silent, brooding, poetic sort of guy (the sort of guy most adults would think is incredibly pretentious). However, when he moves away, they promise to remain close and write to each other. Can their perfect, undying love stand the test of time and distance? Or, are they just two teens who need to let go and get on with their lives?The biggest problem with this film is the god-awful dialog. It makes me cringe about that period in my own life...a period I would just as soon forget because I thought everything was so gosh-darned profound and important. Now, with time, I find teens who talk like a dying, misunderstood poet to be annoying and hate that I can remember a bit of that in my teen self! All in all, a gorgeously animated film (better than many of the Ghibli films) but also one that has very, very limited appeal and rather annoying characters. Even though the film has some dubious messages for kids, I'd give this one a 7 for teenage girls, a 1 for adults and a 4 for teenage boys who will most likely want to punch Takaki and tell him to shape up!

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blue-96828
2007/03/10

5 centimeter per secondThe director of 5 per second is Shinkai Makoto who is a famous animator in Japan. This animated film is a chain of short stories about first love during school days. it is based on the director's novel. The film contains many subtle metaphors therefore finding them is important appreciate point. Every setting of the film is based on the real place in Japan. Every place has it's own color and symbol which are linked to the story. According to the film, modern society is even cold hearted at love, so we miss our pure first love.The movie is set in the 1970's to the 1980's Japan where a timid boy whose name is Takaki, Mizuhashi Kenji play the voice of Takaki who is Main character. he meet a girl called Akari in elementary school. They are close to each other because of their similarity. But after they graduate elementary school, she moves away due to her parents' jobs. They keep in touch by mailing,although time makes their love fade. A few years later he is still missing her, though she is engaged to another man. Then one day, he sees her on the opposite side of the tracks which is a place that has memories for them. At that moment, they stop and begin to look back, but a train is going through the tracks. They have a hesitated expression on their face.This is a slow paced but well-made tale which is like a sad lyric poetry. This movie is divided in 3 parts. At first, Director writes each 3 stories about love then combined into one story, so story line is not smooth. Main character Takaki is common boy like us who didn't confess his love because of his shyness. This is not a melodramatic movie, while this movie has realistic plot and character, so it can deeply empathize with this movie. Movie title 5cm per second is speed of falling cherry blossom petals which metaphors for speed of drift apart between couple. it has gorgeous illustration which is visually a carnival to the eyes. You can feel "A picture paints a thousand words after all".This animated film is a splendid movie version of Franz Schubert's Winterreise. In a nutshell, If you want to experience about a forgotten first love under the fluttering down cherry blossom petals, I recommend this movie for you.

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