5 Centimeters Per Second contains three short stories, connected by the main character and his childhood love-interest, essentially following their grow up. As many others already marked, the animation is simply gorgeous, and I can't add any more to this - Makoto Shinkai is indubitably one of the greatest animation geniuses of all time.
While the visuals are superb, the plot is mediocre at best. I'm an otherwise emotionally sturdy, level-headed guy, but I'm also an absolute sucker for romantic tragedys. This stuff - even the cheesier ones - can make my eyes wet like putting my head in a bucket full of red onion. With 5CPS however, my eyes remained dry and my heart remained... err... unbroken?
Each sequence is overshadowed by the immense despair of Takaki, longing for his never-fulfilled love to Akari. In the first episode, Cherryblossoms, it works well: my suspense built with Takakis during the train scene, and I felt soooo relieved when Akari was still at the station. It was sweet. During the sad goodbye, I was sure they were going to meet again, and that we're going towards a happy end. The second sequence then broke this expectation of mine. Instead of searching ways to stay in contact, Takaki goes full hopeless, writing emo messages to himself, while completely ignoring Sumida, a girl who fell in love with him. I GET THE VERY BLATANT MESSAGE, MR. SHINKAI! But come on: Takaki were in his 17-18's at the time. When did Takaki and Akari stopped sending mails to eachother? Why didn't they change numbers? And if Takaki was so goddamn in love, couldn't he visit Akari... like in the summer? If their love was truly impossible to be fulfilled, then this desperation of Takaki were justified. But I feel like it wasnt, and otherwise real and deep emotions regarding love felt like teenage angst and self-pitying. This organically carried on to the third sequence. Thats where realism finally kicked in: while Takaki was still deep in depression, Akari lived her life on, getting engaged and stuff. And when they met again at the intersection, I was so glad Takaki didn't run after Akari, but let her go - the only sensible thing he had done since sequence one.
Overall it's a good one-hour movie, and a must-see for the visuals. The plot however is very lacking in some aspects, making very hard to live up to the emotions 5CPS intended to induce.
While the visuals are superb, the plot is mediocre at best. I'm an otherwise emotionally sturdy, level-headed guy, but I'm also an absolute sucker for romantic tragedys. This stuff - even the cheesier ones - can make my eyes wet like putting my head in a bucket full of red onion. With 5CPS however, my eyes remained dry and my heart remained... err... unbroken?
Each sequence is overshadowed by the immense despair of Takaki, longing for his never-fulfilled love to Akari. In the first episode, Cherryblossoms, it works well: my suspense built with Takakis during the train scene, and I felt soooo relieved when Akari was still at the station. It was sweet. During the sad goodbye, I was sure they were going to meet again, and that we're going towards a happy end. The second sequence then broke this expectation of mine. Instead of searching ways to stay in contact, Takaki goes full hopeless, writing emo messages to himself, while completely ignoring Sumida, a girl who fell in love with him. I GET THE VERY BLATANT MESSAGE, MR. SHINKAI! But come on: Takaki were in his 17-18's at the time. When did Takaki and Akari stopped sending mails to eachother? Why didn't they change numbers? And if Takaki was so goddamn in love, couldn't he visit Akari... like in the summer? If their love was truly impossible to be fulfilled, then this desperation of Takaki were justified. But I feel like it wasnt, and otherwise real and deep emotions regarding love felt like teenage angst and self-pitying. This organically carried on to the third sequence. Thats where realism finally kicked in: while Takaki was still deep in depression, Akari lived her life on, getting engaged and stuff. And when they met again at the intersection, I was so glad Takaki didn't run after Akari, but let her go - the only sensible thing he had done since sequence one.
Overall it's a good one-hour movie, and a must-see for the visuals. The plot however is very lacking in some aspects, making very hard to live up to the emotions 5CPS intended to induce.