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| 5 Centimeters Per Second | |
|---|---|
 Old DVD cover for ADV's Dub | |
| 秒速5センチメートル (Byōsoku Go Senchimētoru) | |
| Genre | Drama, Romance |
| Anime film | |
| Directed by | Makoto Shinkai |
| Written by | Makoto Shinkai |
| Music by | Tenmon |
| Studio | CoMix Wave Inc. |
| Licensed by |  Asia Video Publishing Co.,Ltd. |
| Released |  March 3, 2007 August 31, 2007 September 20, 2007 October 11, 2007 November 15, 2007 December 5, 2007 January 17, 2008 April 8, 2008 July 10, 2008 |
| Runtime | 63 minutes |
| Novel | |
| Written by | Makoto Shinkai |
| Published by | Media Factory |
| Published | November 19, 2007 |
5 Centimeters Per Second: a chain of short stories about their distance (秒速５センチメートル： アチェインオブショートストリーズアバウトゼアディスタンスByōsoku Go Senchimētoru: a chein obu shōto sutorīzu abauto zea disutansu), is a 2007 Japanese animated feature film by Makoto Shinkai. The film was finished on 22 January 2007.[1] The first part of the film was debuted on Yahoo! Japan as streaming video to Yahoo! Premium members from 16 February to 19 February 2007.[2] On 3 March 2007, the full length featured film had its theatrical premiere at Cinema Rise in Shibuya, Tokyo.[3] The film consists of three segments: Cherry Blossom (桜花抄 Ōkashō), Cosmonaut (コスモナウト Kosumonauto), and 5 Centimeters per Second (秒速5センチメートル Byōsoku 5 Senchimētoru), totaling about an hour of runtime. As in Shinkai's previous works, Tenmon composes for this film's soundtrack. The DVD was released on 19 July 2007. A novel of 5 Centimeters Per Second is sold on the Japanese market,[4] which includes stories that are not featured in the anime.
[edit]Characters
- Takaki Tōno (遠野 貴樹 Tōno Takaki)
Voiced by: Kenji Mizuhashi (Japanese), David Matranga (ADV), Johnny Yong Bosch (Bang Zoom!) (English)
- Takaki is the central 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 practitioner and a member of his school's kyudo club.
- Akari Shinohara (篠原 明里 Shinohara Akari)
Voiced by: Yoshimi Kondō (Part 1) and Ayaka Onouei (Part 3) (Japanese), Hilary Haag (ADV), Erika Weinstein (Part 1), Tara Platt (Part 3) (Bang Zoom!) (English)
- Takaki's best friend and supposed love interest in elementary school. Like Takaki, she and her family move a lot. After elementary school, she moves to Iwafune. Apparently 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.
- Kanae Sumida (澄田 花苗 Sumida Kanae)
Voiced by: Satomi Hanamura (Japanese), Serena Varghese (ADV), Kira Buckland (Bang Zoom!) (English)
- A classmate of Takaki in 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.
Plot
The plot is set in Japan beginning from the 1990s and ending in modern day, with each segment centered on a boy named Takaki Tōno. It is important to note that the first episode takes place during a time period when cell phones are uncommon and e-mail has not yet reached the general populace.
Episode 1: Cherry Blossom
Takaki Tōno quickly befriends Akari Shinohara when she transfers to his elementary school. They grow closer to each other due to similar interests and attitudes; for instance, they both prefer to stay inside during recess due to their seasonal allergies. As a result, they form a strong bond; they speak to each other using their given names without any form of honorifics, which is very unusual in Japan, even among people who are romantically involved. This fact is lost in the movie's translation to English and other languages, which reduces the implied closeness of their relationship.
Upon graduating from elementary school, Akari moves to Tochigi, due to her parents' jobs. The two keep in contact by writing letters, but despite the feelings that exist between them, they inevitably begin to drift apart. When Takaki becomes aware that his family will be moving to Kagoshima, he decides to go see Akari since they will be too far apart to visit each other at all after he moves. He also prepares a letter for Akari, revealing his true feelings. However, during the journey, he loses the letter, and a severe snowstorm continuously delays Takaki's trip by several more hours. The two finally meet, and as they share their first kiss, Takaki realizes they will never be together again. Stranded in a shed due to the snowstorm, they fall asleep after talking late into the night. Takaki departs the next morning, and they promise to continue writing to each other. As the train rolls away, Takaki regrets the loss of his letter, while Akari silently looks at a letter she had intended to give to him.
Episode 2: Cosmonaut
Takaki is now in the third year of senior high in Tanegashima, where the Tanegashima Space Center is located. Kanae Sumida, a classmate of Takaki, had fallen in love with Takaki ever since she met him in middle school, but does not have the courage to openly confess her feelings. She spends all the time she can with him, even waiting long after school for the chance to go home together. It is obvious Kanae has strong feelings for Takaki, but he appears to be blind to them; he simply regards Kanae as a good friend. Over time Kanae observes that Takaki is always writing emails to someone, or staring off into the distance as if searching for something far, far away. It is revealed later in this segment, that the emails Takaki is constantly writing are merely to himself, and he has had recurring dreams in which Akari is featured. Despite her feelings for Takaki, Kanae believes he is searching for things far greater than anything she can offer and eventually decides against telling him how she feels.
Episode 3: 5 Centimeters Per Second
It is 2008, and all three characters have gone their separate ways. Takaki is now a computer programmer in Tokyo, Akari is preparing to get married, and Kanae appears to have continued her passion for surfing. We last see Kanae in the ending montage clearly distraught as she watches Takaki's plane take off; knowing she had to let him go since her love was unrequited. Meanwhile, Takaki is still longing for Akari to the detriment of his lifestyle and other relationships. His mundane life coupled with his deep desire for Akari puts him in a deep depression which eventually forces him to quit his job. Sometime after, Akari finds an old letter she meant to give Takaki but never did. It sparks a dream similar to the last night they spent together. A dual dialog ensues where Takaki reveals he had the same dream. In this dream they both come to the conclusion that someday they will watch the cherry blossoms fall again.
In the final scene, Takaki and Akari pass each other as they cross a set of train tracks (while the cherry blossoms are falling). They both realize it and turn, but at the last second a pair of trains cut off their view after just a glimpse. Takaki is seen waiting for the trains to pass, but when they do Akari is gone. After a brief pause Takaki smiles. He realizes that since Akari did not wait she must have moved on, and because of that he can too. Takaki, still smiling, does not chase her as he undoubtedly could. He instead turns around and keeps heading in the direction he was; finally content and able to let her go.
Development
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. Makoto's film gives a realistic view of the struggles many face against: time, space, people, and love. The title 5 Centimeters Per Second comes from the speed at which cherry blossoms 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.[5] The movie marks the first time Shinkai has worked closely with a full staff of animators and artists.[6]
Staff
- Director, Writer and Original Creator: Makoto Shinkai[7]
- Character Design and Chief Animation Director: Takayo Nishimura[7]
- Background Art: Takumi Tanji, Ryoko Majima[7]
- Music: Tenmon[7]
- Production and Distribution: CoMix Wave, Inc.[7]
DVD releases
The DVD was released on the 19 July 2007 in Japan.[8] The title was licensed by ADV Films and scheduled for a December 2007 release,[9][10] but the release was delayed until March 2008.[11][12]The film's Region 2 DVD release date was pushed back from March 4, 2008 to April, 2008.[13][14] The official Russian release by Reanimedia was already in stock in January 2008.[15] The film is also licensed in Taiwan by Proware Multimedia International.[16] On July 11, 2008, ADV announced that it was discontinuing print of the DVD.[17][18] Bang Zoom! Entertainment has re-dubbed the entire film at the request of its original Japanese distributor, and the new dub was first streamed via Crunchyroll as part of their Day of Makoto Shinkai on 28 February 2009.[19] On August 13, 2010, CrunchyrollCEO Kun Gao announced plans to release titles on DVD, starting with 5 Centimeters per Second.[20] Bandai Entertainment will manufacture and distribute the DVDs and will include the Bang Zoom!dub. This DVD release is scheduled for October 8, 2010. [21]
On 29 March 2009 the distribution company Madman Entertainment announced plans to release 5 Centimetres Per Second in Australia.[22] The film's ending theme was "One More Time, One More Chance" by Masayoshi Yamazaki. The Blu-ray version of the film has been released on April 18, 2008 in Japan.[23] The HD version of the film has also been released on April 18, 2008, which is region-free by default.[23]
Novel
The novel version of 5 Centimeters Per Second, licensed by Media Factory, was released on November 16, 2007 in Japan. It was the first novel written by Makoto Shinkai. The photographs in the novel were also taken by Shinkai.[24]
Controversy
The popular Chinese television animation program Xin Ling Zhi Chuang (Spirit's Window) is accused of copying several backgrounds from 5 Centimeters Per Second with minor modification. The program's introduction describes it as "a program produced for the youth of China, and animation to raise wholesome minds and teach a noble view of life."[25]
Reception
The film won the Lancia Platinum Grand Prize, the Future Film Festival for best movie in animation or special effects.[26] It won the Award for Best Animated Feature Film at the 2007 Asia Pacific Screen Awards.[27] The limited edition DVD of the film was ranked 3rd on the Tohan charts between July 18–24, 2007, while the regular edition of the film was ranked 7th.[28] The film was Japan's fourth most popular Blu-ray film in 2008.[29]
| “ | Shinkai has been hailed as the next Miyazaki, and his dreamy mindscapes often equal or surpass the anime maestro in breadth of detail and depth of emotion. Shinkai extends the innate possibilities of the anime dynamic, reapplying its principles of lush effects, inflated background detail and sometimes undernourished character animation to mirror the interiority of the characters in every nuance of their surroundings." - Ronnie Scheib from Variety[7] | ” |
Mania.com lists 5 Centimeters Per Second as the best non-Miyazaki anime.[30] The Japan Times's Mark Schilling commends Shinkai saying that he is better than Hayao Miyazaki "at piercing the veil of the everyday to reveal a poignant, evanescent beauty most of us notice only in rare moments."[31] Anime News Network's Bamboo Dong commends the anime for its "heartbreakingly gorgeous" piano score composed by Tenmon, 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".[32] 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."[33] Theron Martin reviewing for Anime News Network commends "The production [which] also excels in its use of sound effects, especially in the bow-shooting scenes in Part 2".[34]
| “ | Taken individually, the parts offer nice little vignettes, but taken as a whole they paint a broader picture about the progression of life and love. The ending, which is where this work differs most from Shinkai's previous efforts, will doubtless be controversial and may leave some fans unsatisfied, as it opens itself to multiple interpretations. Some may feel as if it just ends without resolving anything, but if one considers Takaki's few lines of narration in part two, how that part ends, and how everything fits together, it becomes clearer that actually resolving things was never the point. Whereas Voices was about trying to maintain a connection and Place Promised was about reestablishing one, Five Centimeters is ultimately about moving on from past connections instead of just living in the past, about finding a way to become happy in the present rather than just pining for what has been lost over time. In that sense Five Centimeters is Shinkai's most mature and complicated work yet." - Theron Martin, Anime News Network[34] |
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