is a 2007 Japanese
romantic drama
Romance films or movies involve romantic love stories recorded in visual media for broadcast in theatres or on television that focus on passion, emotion, and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters. Typically their journey ...
animated film
Animation is a method by which image, still figures are manipulated to appear as Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent cel, celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited ...
written and directed by
Makoto Shinkai
, known as
, is a Japanese animator, filmmaker, author, and manga artist.
Shinkai began his career as a video game animator with Nihon Falcom in 1996, and gained recognition as a filmmaker with the release of the original video animation (OVA) ' ...
. It theatrically premiered on 3 March 2007. The film consists of three segments, each following a period in the protagonist Takaki Tōno's life and his relationships with the girls around him.
The film was awarded Best Animated Feature Film at the 2007
Asia Pacific Screen Awards
The Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA) is an international cultural initiative overseen by the Asia Pacific Screen Academy and headquartered in Australia. In order to realise UNESCO's goals of promoting and preserving the different cultures th ...
. It received a
novelization
A novelization (or novelisation) is a derivative novel that adapts the story of a work created for another medium, such as a film, TV series, stage play, comic book or video game. Film novelizations were particularly popular before the advent of ...
in November 2007, and a manga adaption illustrated by Seike Yukiko in 2010.
Plot
The story is set in
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
, beginning in the early 1990s up until the present day (2008), with each act centered on a boy named Takaki Tōno.
Episode 1: Cherry Blossom
In 1991, Takaki Tōno quickly befriends Akari Shinohara after she transfers to his elementary school in
Tokyo
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...
. They grow very close to each other due to similar interests and attitudes such as both preferring to stay inside during recess due to their seasonal allergies. Takaki and Akari begin to refer to each other using their given names without honorifics, which is an indicator of close friendship and intimacy in Japanese culture.
![5cm-01-02](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5a/5cm-01-02.JPG)
Right after graduating from elementary school in 1994, Akari moves to the nearby prefecture of
Tochigi due to her parents' jobs. The two keep in contact by writing letters but eventually begin to drift apart. When Takaki learns that his family will be moving to
Kagoshima
, abbreviated to , is the capital city of Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. Located at the southwestern tip of the island of Kyushu, Kagoshima is the largest city in the prefecture by some margin. It has been nicknamed the "Naples of the Eastern wor ...
on the other side of the country the following year in 1995, he decides to personally go see Akari one last time since they will be too far apart to see and visit each other once he moves. He also writes a letter for Akari to confess his feelings for her. However, Takaki loses the letter during the journey and a severe snowstorm delays his train for several hours. When the two finally meet late that night and share their first kiss, Takaki realizes they will never be together. They find a shed to spend the night in due to the severe snowstorm and fall asleep after talking late into the night. Takaki departs from the train station the next morning and the two promise to continue writing to each other. As the train rolls away, Takaki decides that the loss of his letter is not important anymore after the kiss while Akari silently looks at her own letter addressed to Takaki which she decided not to give him.
Episode 2: Cosmonaut
![Tanegasimachuo High school](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/56/Tanegasimachuo_High_school.jpg)
In 1999, Takaki is now in the third year of
senior high
A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...
in
Tanegashima
is one of the Ōsumi Islands belonging to Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. The island, 444.99 km2 in area, is the second largest of the Ōsumi Islands, and has a population of 33,000 people. Access to the island is by ferry, or by air to New ...
, where the
Tanegashima Space Center
The (TNSC) is the largest rocket-launch complex in Japan with a total area of about 9.7 square kilometers. It is located on the southeast coast of Tanegashima, an island approximately south of Kyushu. It was established in 1969 when the ...
is located. Kanae Sumida, a classmate of Takaki, has loved him ever since first meeting him in middle school but has never had the courage to confess her feelings to him. She tries to spend time with him, waiting long after school for the chance to travel home together. However, Takaki appears ignorant of Kanae's feelings and only treats her as a good friend. Kanae observes that Takaki is always writing emails to someone and staring off into the distance as if searching for something far away. It is later shown that Takaki's emails are not being sent to anyone, and he, in fact, deletes them after he finishes writing them. He also has recurring dreams which feature Akari. After a failed attempt to tell Takaki she loves him, Kanae realizes he is looking for something far beyond what she can offer and decides not to say anything, though she believes she will always love him. With such thoughts, she cries herself to sleep.
Episode 3: 5 Centimeters per Second
It is now 2008 and Takaki is a programmer in Tokyo. Meanwhile, Akari is preparing to marry another man. Takaki still longs for Akari to the detriment of his lifestyle. He receives a call from his current girlfriend but does not answer which signifies the end of the relationship. Depressed, Takaki quits his job as he is unable to cope with his feelings for Akari. Akari goes through a box of her old possessions and finds the letter she had written for Takaki thirteen years ago in 1995. Takaki finds himself in a convenience store reading a magazine about the decade long journey of the rocket launched in the 2nd act. Takaki and Akari begin a dual narration where they both recall a recent dream. In the dream they relive their last meeting in the snow-filled
Iwafune and remember the wish to someday watch the
cherry blossom
A cherry blossom, also known as Japanese cherry or sakura, is a flower of many trees of genus ''Prunus'' or ''Prunus'' subg. ''Cerasus''. They are common species in East Asia, including China, Korea and especially in Japan. They generally ...
s together again.
Later, while walking down the same road they knew when they were children, Takaki and Akari appear to pass and recognize each other at the train crossing. It's the same place they had promised to watch the cherry blossoms together thirteen years ago, just before Akari moved to Tochigi. On opposite sides of the tracks, they stop and begin to look back, yet a passing train cuts off their view. Takaki waits for the train to pass and finds that Akari is gone. After a moment, he smiles to himself and continues walking as the cherry blossoms stir in the train's wake.
Characters
;
:
:Takaki is the main character of the film. Because of his parents' jobs, he is forced to move a lot. He and Akari become close friends, but when Akari moves away, they end up attending different junior high schools. In the second arc, he is shown to be an apt
kyūdō
''Kyūdō'' ( ja, 弓道) is the Japanese martial art of archery. Kyūdō is based on '' kyūjutsu'' ("art of archery"), which originated with the samurai class of feudal Japan. In 1919, the name of kyūjutsu was officially changed to kyūdō, a ...
practitioner and a member of his school's kyūdō club.
;
:
:Takaki's best friend and love interest in elementary school. Like Takaki, she and her family move a lot. After elementary school, she moves to
Iwafune. She suggests living with her aunt in Tokyo in order to stay with Takaki, but her parents forbid this. For a while, she and Takaki keep in touch via post.
;
:
:A classmate of Takaki in junior high school and high school. She has been in love with Takaki since he began attending her junior high school, but cannot express her feelings to him. Kanae loves to surf and rides a moped to school. She doesn't know what she wants to do with her future. Her older sister is a teacher at her high school. In the manga, she is seen working as a nurse after the events depicted in the film.
Production
Makoto Shinkai had expressed that, unlike his past works, there would be no fantasy or science fiction elements in this film. Instead, the feature film would attempt to present the real world from a different perspective. Shinkai's film gives a realistic view of the struggles many people have to face: time, space, people, and love. The title ''5 Centimeters per Second'' comes from the speed at which
cherry blossoms
A cherry blossom, also known as Japanese cherry or sakura, is a flower of many trees of genus ''Prunus'' or ''Prunus'' subg. ''Cerasus''. They are common species in East Asia, including China, Korea and especially in Japan. They generall ...
petals fall, petals being a metaphorical representation of humans, reminiscent of the slowness of life and how people often start together but slowly drift into their separate ways.
The movie marks the first time Shinkai has worked closely with a full staff of animators and artists.
Staff
*Director, Writer and Original Creator:
Makoto Shinkai
, known as
, is a Japanese animator, filmmaker, author, and manga artist.
Shinkai began his career as a video game animator with Nihon Falcom in 1996, and gained recognition as a filmmaker with the release of the original video animation (OVA) ' ...
*Character Design and Chief Animation Director: Takayo Nishimura
*Background Art: Takumi Tanji, Ryoko Majima
*Music:
Tenmon
is the ninja art of understanding and using meteorology
Meteorology is a branch of the atmospheric sciences (which include atmospheric chemistry and physics) with a major focus on weather forecasting. The study of meteorology dates back m ...
*Production and Distribution:
CoMix Wave, Inc.
Music
As in Shinkai's previous works,
Tenmon
is the ninja art of understanding and using meteorology
Meteorology is a branch of the atmospheric sciences (which include atmospheric chemistry and physics) with a major focus on weather forecasting. The study of meteorology dates back m ...
composed this film's soundtrack. The film's ending theme was "
One More Time, One More Chance" by
Masayoshi Yamazaki
is a Japanese singer-songwriter who plays guitar-driven blues, rock, and pop music, though he has also recorded piano ballads. Though he primarily plays the guitar, he has played the drums, piano, percussion, saxophone, and glockenspiel on so ...
.
Release
Finished on 22 January 2007, the first part streamed on
Yahoo! Japan
is a Japanese internet company originally formed as a joint venture between the American internet company Yahoo! (later divested by Verizon into Altaba) and the Japanese company SoftBank. It is headquartered at Kioi Tower in the Tokyo Garden Terr ...
to Yahoo! Premium members from 16 to 19 February 2007. On 3 March 2007, the full-length film had its theatrical premiere at Cinema Rise in
Shibuya
Shibuya ( 渋谷 区 ''Shibuya-ku'') is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. As a major commercial and finance center, it houses two of the busiest railway stations in the world, Shinjuku Station (southern half) and Shibuya Station.
As of April 1 ...
, Tokyo.
In 2022, the film has received limited
IMAX DMR release on 30 September 2022 in Japan in celebration of ''
Suzume no Tojimari'' 's release. This marks its first time IMAX release.
Overseas releases
In the Philippines, ''5 Centimeters per Second'', along with Shinkai's previous work ''
The Place Promised in Our Early Days
is a 2004 Japanese anime film written, produced, cinematographed, directed and edited by Makoto Shinkai in his feature film debut. Set over several years in an alternate history where the Soviet Union occupies half of Japan, it follows two ...
'', was premiered on July 21, 2013 at the
SM Mall of Asia
SM Mall of Asia, also abbreviated as SM MoA, or simply Mall of Asia or MoA, is a large shopping mall in the Philippines, located at Bay City, Pasay, Philippines, within the SM Central Business Park, a reclaimed area within Manila Bay, and the ...
as part of the Philippines-Japan Friendship Month, with the help and cooperation from the Embassy of Japan in the Philippines, Japan Foundation Manila, SM Mall of Asia Cinema and the
Film Development Council of the Philippines
The Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) is the national film agency under the Office of the President of the Philippines responsible for film policies and programs to ensure the economic, cultural and educational development of th ...
(FDCP). The showings attracted 1,500 moviegoers watching the anime films that tackles and focuses on friendships and love.
Home media
The DVD was released on 19 July 2007 in Japan. The title was licensed by
ADV Films
A.D. Vision Holdings, Inc. (known simply as ADV and also referred to as ADV Films) was an American multimedia entertainment distributor headquartered in Houston, Texas, and founded in 1992 by video game fan John Ledford and anime fans Matt Gre ...
and scheduled for a December 2007 release, but the release was delayed until March 2008.
The film's Region 2 DVD release date was pushed back from 4 March 2008 to April 2008. The Blu-ray version of the film has been released on 18 April 2008 in Japan.
The HD DVD version of the film has also been released on 18 April 2008, which is region-free by default.
The official Russian release by
Reanimedia
Reanimedia is an anime distributor in Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and the Baltic States, working in cooperation with Reanimedia Japan. The company was founded in 2007.
The main declared objective of the company is to distribute Russian edition ...
was already in stock in January 2008. The film is also licensed in Taiwan by Proware Multimedia International. On 11 July 2008, ADV announced that it was discontinuing print of the DVD.
Bang Zoom! Entertainment
Bang Zoom! Entertainment is an audio post-production studio with its headquarters in Burbank, California, in Greater Los Angeles. It has worked on anime, video games, television series, feature films, and original animation projects.
Their work ...
has re-dubbed the entire film at the request of its original Japanese distributor, and the new dub was first streamed via
Crunchyroll
Crunchyroll is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Sony through a joint venture between Sony Pictures and Sony Music Entertainment Japan's Aniplex. The service primarily distributes films and tel ...
as part of their Day of Makoto Shinkai on 28 February 2009. On 13 August 2010, Crunchyroll CEO Kun Gao announced plans to release titles on DVD, starting with ''5 Centimeters per Second''.
Bandai Entertainment
was a Japanese anime, film production, and distribution enterprise, established by Bandai and a subsidiary of Bandai Namco Holdings. They focused mainly in international distribution of anime properties in North America.
Most of the anime and f ...
manufactured and distributed the DVDs, which included the
Bang Zoom! dub. This version was released 22 February 2011. In 2015,
Discotek Media
Discotek Media is an American entertainment company based in Altamonte Springs, Florida, focused on distribution and licensing Japanese anime, films, and television series.
Formed in 2005, Discotek primarily focuses on licensing retro titles fr ...
announced that it had licensed ''5 Centimeters per Second'' for a DVD release on 2 June that year, and then 28 February 2017 on Blu-ray. On March 10, 2022,
GKIDS
GKIDS is an American film distributor based in New York with, according to the ''Los Angeles Times'', a focus on "sophisticated, indie" animation. GKIDS releases critically acclaimed, mostly hand-drawn, international films—such as the works o ...
announced they have licensed ''5 Centimeters per Second'', along with three other works by Makoto Shinkai and will re-release it on home video in 2022.
On 29 March 2009, distribution company
Madman Entertainment
Madman Entertainment Pty. Ltd., also known as Madman Films, is an Australian distribution and rights management company headquartered in East Melbourne, Victoria, specialising in feature films, documentaries and television series across theatr ...
announced plans to release ''5 Centimetres Per Second'' in Australia, and released the DVD on 19 August 2009. Madman later released the film on Blu-ray alongside ''
Voices of a Distant Star
is a Japanese science fiction original video animation (OVA) short film created and animated by Makoto Shinkai. It follows the lives of two close childhood friends, a boy and a girl, who get separated once the girl is sent into space to f ...
'' on 9 October 2019. In the United Kingdom and Ireland,
Manga Entertainment
Manga Entertainment was a producer, licensee, and distributor of anime in the United States and the United Kingdom. Originally founded in the UK in 1987, the UK branch became Funimation UK and Ireland in 2021, also currently known as Crunchyro ...
distributed the film on DVD within the region on 14 March 2011, and on Blu-ray on 29 October 2018.
Anime Limited
Anime Limited, also known as All the Anime is a British anime distribution company based in Glasgow, Scotland. It releases anime for British, Irish, French and other European audiences. The company was established in 2012 by Andrew Partridge, b ...
later acquired the distribution rights within the United Kingdom and Ireland.
Reception
Natsuki Imai, a Japanese television and film director known for her 2007 film ''
Koizora
, or for short, is a 2005 best-selling Japanese coming of age and romance novel written by Mika. Originally posted on the cell phone website "Mahō no iLand", where chapters would be released exclusively for mobile reading, ''Koizora'' rec ...
'', views ''5 Centimeters per Second'' as a film "completely for adults even though it is an anime".
The film won the Lancia Platinum Grand Prize at the Future Film Festival for best movie in animation or special effects. It won the Award for Best Animated Feature Film at the 2007
Asia Pacific Screen Awards
The Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA) is an international cultural initiative overseen by the Asia Pacific Screen Academy and headquartered in Australia. In order to realise UNESCO's goals of promoting and preserving the different cultures th ...
. The limited edition DVD of the film was ranked 3rd on the Tohan charts between 18–24 July 2007, while the regular edition of the film was ranked 7th. The film was Japan's fourth most popular Blu-ray film in 2008.
Mania.com lists ''5 Centimeters per Second'' as the best anime not by
Hayao Miyazaki
is a Japanese animator, director, producer, screenwriter, author, and manga artist. A co-founder of Studio Ghibli, he has attained international acclaim as a masterful storyteller and creator of Japanese animated feature films, and is widel ...
. ''
The Japan Times
''The Japan Times'' is Japan's largest and oldest English-language daily newspaper. It is published by , a subsidiary of News2u Holdings, Inc.. It is headquartered in the in Kioicho, Chiyoda, Tokyo.
History
''The Japan Times'' was launched by ...
''s
Mark Schilling
Mark Schilling (born 1949) is an American film critic, journalist, translator, and author based in Tokyo, Japan. He has written for ''The Japan Times'', ''Variety'', and ''Screen International''.
Biography
Schilling began working for ''The Japan ...
commends Shinkai saying that he is better than Miyazaki "at piercing the veil of the everyday to reveal a poignant, evanescent beauty most of us notice only in rare moments." ''
Anime News Network
Anime News Network (ANN) is a news website that reports on the status of anime, manga, video games, Japanese popular music and other related cultures within North America, Australia, Southeast Asia and Japan. The website offers reviews and oth ...
s Bamboo Dong commends the anime for its "heartbreakingly gorgeous" piano score composed by
Tenmon
is the ninja art of understanding and using meteorology
Meteorology is a branch of the atmospheric sciences (which include atmospheric chemistry and physics) with a major focus on weather forecasting. The study of meteorology dates back m ...
, which "contributes to the dreamlike quality that the film has". She also comments that film "never comes out and tells you what the characters are feeling. It never follows a strict storyline, but between the interactions on the screen and well-timed shots of lonely landscapes, everything is as clear as night and day". Mania.com's Chris Beveridge criticises the anime for its aliasing as well as it "seems to get a fairly low bitrate during a lot of it which leads to some noisy and overly grainy feeling areas. The film has so many lush colors to it that a lot of them start to show too much noise at times which is almost as distracting as the aliasing." Theron Martin reviewing for ''Anime News Network'' commends "The production
hich
Ij ( fa, ايج, also Romanized as Īj; also known as Hich and Īch) is a village in Golabar Rural District, in the Central District of Ijrud County, Zanjan Province, Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also ...
also excels in its use of sound effects, especially in the bow-shooting scenes in Part 2".
In 2010, "Trains" magazine rated this film 45th of the 100 Greatest Train Movies.
Adaptations
Novel
The novel version of ''5 Centimeters per Second'', licensed by
Media Factory
, formerly is a Japanese publisher and brand company of Kadokawa Future Publishing.
History
It was founded on December 1, 1986, and its headquarters are situated in Shibuya, Tokyo. It is a subsidiary of Recruit Co., Ltd. Media Factory was possi ...
, was released on 16 November 2007 in Japan. It was the first novel written by Makoto Shinkai. The photographs in the novel were also taken by Shinkai. The novel is licensed by
Yen Press
Yen Press, LLC is an American manga and graphic novel publisher co-owned by Kadokawa Corporation and Hachette Book Group. It published ''Yen Plus'', a monthly comic anthology, between 2008 and 2013. In addition to translated material, Yen Press ...
for North America.
The English translation was done by Taylor Engel. Another version of the novel, ''One more side'', was released on 20 May 2011 in Japan. The author is Shinta Kanou, who also wrote the novels for ''
Voices of a Distant Star
is a Japanese science fiction original video animation (OVA) short film created and animated by Makoto Shinkai. It follows the lives of two close childhood friends, a boy and a girl, who get separated once the girl is sent into space to f ...
'' and ''
The Place Promised in Our Early Days
is a 2004 Japanese anime film written, produced, cinematographed, directed and edited by Makoto Shinkai in his feature film debut. Set over several years in an alternate history where the Soviet Union occupies half of Japan, it follows two ...
'', two of Shinkai's other films. The English translation of ''One more side'' was released on 26 February 2019 by Vertical Inc.
Manga
A manga adaptation of the film, illustrated by manga artist Yukiko Seike, was serialized in
Kodansha
is a Japanese privately-held publishing company headquartered in Bunkyō, Tokyo. Kodansha is the largest Japanese publishing company, and it produces the manga magazines ''Nakayoshi'', ''Afternoon'', ''Evening'', ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine'' an ...
's
''seinen'' manga magazine ''
Afternoon
Afternoon is the time after solar noon. It is the time when the sun is descending from its peak in the sky to somewhat before its terminus at the horizon in the west. In human life, it occupies roughly the latter half of the standard work a ...
'' from 25 May 2010 to 25 March 2011. Its chapters were collected in two ''
tankōbon
is the Japanese
Japanese may refer to:
* Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia
* Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan
* Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or cultur ...
'' volumes by Kodansha, released on 22 November 2010 and 22 April 2011. It has been published in English as a single volume omnibus by
Vertical Inc. The English translation was done by Melissa and Taka Tanaka. In the manga adaption, the second two sections of the story are expanded upon. Akari, Kanae, and Risa (Takaki's girlfriend from Episode 3) all receive much more focus.
Closet drama
A
live recitation of the film is scheduled on 21 October 2020 to 25 October 2020 by the drama company "Reading Love" where all the 3 parts of the movie will be recited.
Notes
References
External links
*
*
Madman New Zealand5 Centimetres per Secondat Madman Australia
''5 Centimeters per Second'' Reviewat Anime+ Podcast
''5 Centimeters per Second'' Reviewat HK Neo Reviews
Chris Beveridge's ''5 Centimeters per Second'' Manga Review*
{{Afternoon
2007 anime films
2007 Japanese novels
ADV Films
Anime with original screenplays
Bandai Entertainment anime titles
Best Animated Feature Film Asia Pacific Screen Award winners
CoMix Wave Films films
Discotek Media
Fiction set in the 1990s
Fiction set in the 2000s
Films directed by Makoto Shinkai
Films set in 1993
Films set in 1995
Films set in 1999
Films set in 2007
Films set in 2008
Films set in Kagoshima Prefecture
Films set in Saitama Prefecture
Films set in Tochigi Prefecture
Films set in Tokyo
2000s Japanese-language films
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Yen Press titles
Japanese anthology films