Forum - View topic5 Centimeters Per Second (movie).
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d.yaro
Posts: 528 |
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5 Centimeters Per Second (movie) Source: Original (produced, written, and directed by Makoto Shinkai) Demographic: Seinen Animation Studio: CoMix Wave Inc. Genres: drama, romance Themes: coming-of-age, school Plot Summary: A tale of two people, Tono Takaki and Shinohara Akari, who were close friends but gradually grow farther and farther apart as time moves on. They become separated because of their families yet continue to exchange contact in the form of letters. Yet as time continues to trudge on, their contact with one another begins to cease. Years pass and the rift between them grows ever larger. However, Takaki remembers the times they have shared together, but as life continues to unfold for him, he wonders if he would be given the chance to meet Akari again as the tale embarks on Takaki's realization of the world and people around him. Air Date & Platform: March 3, 2007 (Saturday) Available on: Crunchyroll Episode Count / Runtime: 63 minutes ---------------------------------- It was about 11:45pm when I started to write this. I had just completed watching Shinkai's "Byousoku 5 Centimeter" in its entirety about 10-15 minutes previously. I had picked up my copy of the LE R2 DVD earlier this evening after outrigger practice. Of course I didn't really know if I had received it until after I opened the package upon returning home. Nonetheless, after doing my usual tour of "forum land" I settled down with a late dinner and proceeded to watch the movie. As anyone who has seen the first chapter of the movie can attest to, the work as a whole is visually stunning. Shinkai's story is charming, wonderful and as it proceeds further along, poignant. And that's just the first chapter. Without divulging any details I feel comfortable in stating those qualities are maintained through the remaining two chapters. I was originally just going to add my thoughts on this film onto the end of the "What are you watching now"(sic) thread but decided not too. Why? Because of the reaction I had to the ending of the film. As I watched the end credits roll I simply didn't have any thoughts running through my head. Yes, I registered the bit that a Lindbergh tune was used in the movie according to one of the credits. But I was honestly faintly hoping that what I had just witnessed wasn't really the end of the story. The final "終" ("End") on the screen settled that one quite effectively. I thought about going into details about the film (with a liberal dose of spoiler tags) but have decided against that. Instead I will go with a brief comparison to his earlier work "Voices of a Distant Star". The operative word here is "brief". You see, I enjoyed that film (and was quite stunned to find out that it was essentially a one man show). But I felt a bit disconnected from the emotions present at the end of the show. I suppose it was a sad ending but I was confused by the way things arrived at that point. This time around Shinkai bridges that disconnect in a very effective manner. The climax is built up skillfully and the denouement is effective without being heavy handed or rushed. I suppose all I've accomplished here isn't much. In the end it amounts to me saying "See this film if you get the chance. You won't regret it". The gist of the story is accurately described in the encyclopedia entry here on this site. Yes, the story follows the two main characters as they meet and part. And perhaps that's all that you need to know before seeing the film in its entirety. ps: I think this is only the third work I'm going to hang the "masterpiece" rating on. It's that good. It's not a grand masterpiece but a masterpiece nonetheless. [Woops, just merged two threads together not realizing d. yaro's post was from so long ago. Ah well, Steve Berry's post was originally the first, fyi. -selenta] |
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Steve Berry
Posts: 522 Location: San Francisco Bay Area, CA |
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Well, I'm sort of stunned no one has posted anything about this yet (considering the buzz it was getting), as the fansubs are out, and have been for a while, but has anyone else seen this yet?
I've watched the big releases by Makoto Shinkai-- A Place Promised in Our Early Days, Voices of a Distant Star-- but honestly have never been too much of a fan-- they're beautiful, all in all, but too stilted for me narratively. I never connect with his characters. I know, I know-- others feel differently. The sci-fi elements also seemed very forced in A Place, etc etc. I dunno-- they just weren't my cup of tea. But I've really enjoyed his shorts-- which are all very well done ambience, like mood poems. In many ways, I thought 5 cm per Second took the best aspects of those shorts and expanded on them. I just thought these 3 shorts were very very well done-- really hit me emotionally. Easily the best thing I've seen from him. A bit of rehash of other things he's done (minus sci-fi elements), but still very very good. And on that note, I've got 2 basic things to say about it-- 1) Gorgeous. Just a joy to watch. Not just clean, richly colored animation, but a painter's eye for how to craft an image, and from what angle to make it, is so apparent everywhere in these 3 shorts. Easily, to me, one of the most beautiful things I've gotten to watch, animated. And... 2) Utterly pervasive melancholy. Is that good or bad? I was drenched in a sort of nostalgic melancholy for days after watching this. I just couldn't get it off of me. Obviously, the show moved me in some way, so it really worked, but it was tough afterwards at times. Bitter sweet, but as someone somewhere else said-- more bitter than sweet. I'd like to see some other emotions from him, but he does do this one very well. Anyone else? If you haven't seen this yet, you ought too. It's very very good. At the least check out one of the 3 shorts. |
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dormcat
Encyclopedia Editor
 Posts: 9902 Location: New Taipei City, Taiwan, ROC |
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Note the title three rows above the date and time. The first part was very sweet and heartwarming in almost every way. Almost. Well, Takaki was just being an a-hole when spoiler[Akari told him that she'll move away over the phone.] "Don't talk" is my most disliked Japanese phrase; it cuts off communication, which, in my opinion, is even worse than lying/cheating. The rest, however, are simply fabulous. Yet, he continues being an a-hole in the second part, where I managed to guess that spoiler[he was NOT sending cell phone messages to Akari.] He was also insensitive as hell. The third part was basically spoiler[a music video, and has a completely underdeveloped character (Takaki's ex-girlfriend; someone after Akari or even Kanae, but before his fiancee). Both protagonists are getting married to other people, yet the best part was the background image during the theme song -- Akari picked up letters in the rain; Akari opened the empty mailbox; Akari returned home, hesitated a bit, then headed straight in, without opening the mailbox. This is so true in every couple (even married ones): if the two have no common experience -- like an intersection in a Venn diagram -- then it is virtually impossible to maintain the relationship. In the end, while the young couple do love each other, they don't have enishi (the bond of destiny). In other words, God played a joke on them.]
I knew a few people having the same "shellshock," but the plot fell well into my expectation, so I was little affected. Probably because that my ex dumped me when I was in the 'States almost eight years ago; I have never tried to actively pursue a stable relationship ever since, for I move a lot after then, and my schedule (serving in Coast Guard / doing biological research) prohibits me from investing sufficient time and money on one. Right now I'm very passive; such relationship (coupled with some awful experiences from quietly observing girls around me; I couldn't stop shaking my head) is no longer on the top of my priority list, probably similar to Takaki in part 2, although not as dumb and insensitive. And I'm not attractive at a first glance anyway. |
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Clodus
 Posts: 497 Location: Kansas |
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thread 1 thread 2 there has been several other threads mentioning 5cm in the past but none of them really escalated into a long discussion. at that time when i first saw it, i was astonished because of the strong empathy. i feel it captures the feel of life well enough. of course, i do plan on buying it this winter when the dubbed version comes out by ADV |
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dormcat
Encyclopedia Editor
Posts: 9902 Location: New Taipei City, Taiwan, ROC |
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Maybe most people simply forgot about it (not currently on air or being solicited in US, plus the two latter parts are not as widely available in fansub form). It has no action, no fan service, no epic adventure. All it has was bittersweet and somewhat immature (albeit forgivable) romance. I should add that its box office has exceeded licensor's expectation in Taiwan. Originally, they only arranged one theater in Taipei (the biggest city) for a single week, with only the premiere Friday in the great hall with ~1000 seats; all the following days are screened in smaller rooms with ~150 seats. However, soon after the premiere they changed the schedule so every following screening is in the great hall, plus an additional week on air. A week later they announced a new screening plan in four additional theaters in four respective cities. 
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ace52387
 Posts: 61 |
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The way 5cm was narrated reminded me very much of the narration in Voices of a Distant Star. It's like reading a diary while you're watching the movie. In every scene, feelings, physical and emotional, are laid out for you in detail by the narrator. I am in total agreement that the backdrops, especially sci-fi elements feel incomplete, and work against the general mood of his features, which always seems to be a nostalgic melancholy. Much like in Voices of a Distant Star, and to a lesser extent, The Place Promised in Our Early Days, 5cm isn't about relationships as much as it is about the absence, and yearning for one. While I enjoyed the second story, I had a problem with the way it didn't flow with the other two. spoiler[Not only was the narrator no longer Takaki, but the whole tone of the girl's story felt totally different from the first and the third. It felt like a familiar girl's high school crush setup, where Takaki was no more than a distant object that really had very little personality.]
spoiler[ I felt it was pretty appropriate for the situation. Akari was apologizing left and right, and Takaki knowing that they were both powerless eventually said something that sounded in context like, "I've heard enough, lets change the subject." It had this air of surrender to it, but I never felt it was an A-holish thing to say. They don't show anymore of the convo but Akari stays in the phone booth and I can only guess they didn't end it like that.] Something about the story just doesn't make sense to me though. spoiler[Can you really picutre a guy that hung up over a middle school sweetheart?] I still couldn't help being impacted by it though, even knowing Shinkai's affinity to wallowing, lonely characters. Last edited by ace52387 on Sat Sep 15, 2007 6:13 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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dormcat
Encyclopedia Editor
Posts: 9902 Location: New Taipei City, Taiwan, ROC |
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Perhaps that was because you didn't know how strong the word is in Japanese. While it's "enough!" literally, the best English equivalent would fall between "silence!" and "shut the fxck up!" Last edited by dormcat on Sat Sep 15, 2007 10:32 am; edited 1 time in total |
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ace52387
Posts: 61 |
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He said "mo yi" right?
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dormcat
Encyclopedia Editor
Posts: 9902 Location: New Taipei City, Taiwan, ROC |
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Yes, and I just found that I've made a mistake in the previous post. A more appropriate literal translation should be "enough!" Either way, Takaki should comfort her by saying "it's not your fault, nor is it anyone's fault; I'll keep writing to you, 'kay?" instead of "stop crying cause I'm tired of it." |
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Steve Berry
Posts: 522 Location: San Francisco Bay Area, CA |
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One of the things that I actually liked about the 2nd and 3rd shorts was how they reflected on each other. The situation of the girl in the 2nd is very much the position of Takaki in the 3rd-- the one who is left behind, so to speak. I think this is part of what bound the 2nd two shorts together a bit for me-- they can really work as a sort of commentary on each other.
I also thought that Takaki never really came off as terribly insensitive. That's an interesting perspective to come from. I thought he acted like any typical person would-- when Akari tells him she's leaving, his response seemed like the type a person would say who was too overwhelmed emotionally to know what to do. I guess you're right, in that if he were a really mature middle schooler he would have comforted her and empathized with her, but that just didn't seem like an honest, emotionally realistic response from a person in his position. I thought his attitude in the 2nd short was also very realistic-- his not cruel or mean, he's just very very involved in his own emotional hang ups. I dunno-- I admit, over a decade ago I had an experience much like the one in the first and 3rd shorts, so it came across as very real to me. There are situations where you meet people you might have really truly grown close with romantically, but "life" tends to seperate you two, and that's just the way it goes. You become different people, and have to learn to move on. And I did feel like that was the point of the films. And that's probably my one real critique of the film-- if the 3rd short is supposed to really be about reconciing yourself in some way to the past, and appreciating it for what it was (and wasn't), I would have liked more of that to come across in the 3rd short. There's that brief smile at the end, but it's never enough to really hold on to emotionally. I feel, in some way, like the trilogy is really only showing 1 part of a very complex emotional equation-- and that although it hints briefly at the resolution that's possible at the end of the 3rd short, it never really goes there. Thus, the endless sense of melancholy on finishing my viewing of it. Perhaps that's more of an emotional/philosophical critique that a technical one (for which it's hard to fault the maker, as the product is still a very well made one), but that's the gist of my complaint. |
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ryokoalways
Posts: 562 |
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5 cm is my favorite out of the three because it required no special setting to convey the feeling. While the theme has always been the similar, the work is always so well done that it must warrant consideration by anyone, based on even just the visuals alone. The only thing I didn't quite like about 5 cm is that I found the music to be a bit "less" than Yakusoku no basho.
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isaac_van_mosley
Posts: 10 Location: Canada |
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when does this movie come out in english, i have never seen the japanese version but i read about it in the Anime Insider, and thought it sounded good, i like those kinds of emotional touch your heart movies. anyways, so ya, i was just wondering when it is going to come out in the u.s, anymore detail on its release then the fact that its coming out this winter. |
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dormcat
Encyclopedia Editor
Posts: 9902 Location: New Taipei City, Taiwan, ROC |
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Please send your question to ADV. |
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Steve Berry
Posts: 522 Location: San Francisco Bay Area, CA |
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One of the things I thought interesting, that occurred to me the other day is this movie's "relationship" with Ghibli's "Ocean Waves" (or "I Can Hear the Sea"). Both of these movies start and end with trains seperating 2 people, with the ending result spoiler[being the opposite for each movie.]
Ex- 5 cm- starts with the 2 being seperated, and she waits for him until the train passes. The series of shorts ends with spoiler[the same situation (possibly), but the result is just the opposite-- if she was there at all, she didn't wait for him. He's alone at the end.] Ocean Waves- this (underrated) movie starts with the 2 being seperated by a train, but when the train leaves the station, she's no longer on the opposite platform (presumably getting on the train). The movie endsspoiler[, however, with he running down the stairs and going over to her platform, finding her there (to his surprise)-- thus starting (or re-starting) something between them.] I thought this similarity oddly compelling. This isn't a common motif for me in anime either, so I wondered if somehow 5 cm was riffing off of Ocean Waves. Or, if it's simply a way of understanding how these two films approach the same subject (young romance, nostalgia, dealing with past mistakes, alienation) in very different ways. Subject-wise they're so similar, but I found it interesting how different their final take was on the subject. Has anyone else seen both of these films? Both great films, btw, in my opinion. I've never really understood why Ocean Waves isn't more liked-- it's very "Takahata", although not directed by him. |
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dormcat
Encyclopedia Editor
Posts: 9902 Location: New Taipei City, Taiwan, ROC |
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Nah. Couples being separated by passing trains is a fairly common way to figuratively present the distance between the two. I wouldn't call one ripping off the other.
Why do you think I'd write this reply then? 
1. It's Ghibli but not directed by either Miyazaki or Takahata. While Tomomi Mochizuki is an excellent anime director, he's basically unknown outside the hardcore anime fandom. 2. It has no sci-fi adventure or fluffy animals; everything is realistic and set in present time. This can bore down many younger anime watchers (I wouldn't call them fans yet) and their parents. The theme is not very apprehensible by anyone younger than older teen / young adult age group either. 3. It's not licensed in North America. In fact, according to Nausiacaa.net, the only releases outside Japan are traditional Chinese editions in Hong Kong (by IVL) and Taiwan (by now-defunct BVHE Taiwan). All DVD releases (including that of Japan) have English subtitles, though. OT: Thanks for reminding me to replace the title picture for Ocean Waves. The current picture was from the LD cover, which was better than those of VHS and DVD covers. |
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