5 Centimeters Per Second is never far from my mind. Any small thing can set me off, and I can’t stop thinking about it. Watching the movie again is always a painful experience, but it’s the pain of being truly alive. The problem with a “From the Vault” for it isn’t finding things to say, it’s putting the elemental feelings this film elicits into words. But I knew I had to try, so here you go – Shinkai’s greatest work, from anime’s greatest year – 2007.
Red
May 3, 2021 at 10:34 pmHow was the rewatch compared to the first? I don’t think I’d like to view it a second time, the experience of the first, with all the pain and sadness it entails will always be a special memory to me and wouldn’t want to uhm dilute it with a second watch. Wholefully agree that it is Shinkai’s finest and by a wide margin, my 2nd and 3rd are kinda close (Voices of a Distant Star and Your Name, interchangeably), wonder what’s your 2nd.
Guardian Enzo
May 3, 2021 at 10:46 pmMan, second time was in the rearview a long time ago. I don’t actually know how many times I’ve seen it, but it’s been a few years this go-around. I have to psyche myself up for it, knowing it will hurt, but the experience is never any less powerful.
My second would probably be Place Promised, with Garden of Words in 3rd. But I haven’t systematically ranked them – all I know for sure is that 5 CM is #1 by a mile.
Ronbb
May 5, 2021 at 11:54 am5 CM is also my #1. It’s just a story (or three) that I would feel a hole in my heart no matter how much I prepped myself beforehand. In terms of visuals, I find Garden of Words more stunning though.
Anchen
May 3, 2021 at 11:59 pmI think I’ve mentioned it somewhere before here (Weathering with You talk?) but I really feel if you haven’t seen 5 centimeters per second, that Your Name loses just a bit of its emotional impact. And it still has great emotional impact even as is, as seen by how popular it got worldwide. I’m aware that it was fairly emotionally manipulative, but the way that the ending scenes of 5 centimeters per second and Your Name play out I think are sort of the ultimate complement to each other.
I also sort of think that both endings were appropriate for the characters in their actual situations. Taki and Mitsuha I think both ultimately had a void in their lives from their experience. It’s a more classical ‘meant’ for each other I think. In a way I think even though it was a shorter time compared to Takaki and Akari, they were also a little older, and maybe its the whole body swapping thing but they were more emotionally linked to one another. It’s very much the fairy tale-esque story of lovers and fate, and I do think it’s ultimately told well.
Takaki and Akari were younger when they separated, and ultimately it was more about a childhood friendship/romance, and how in the real world those usually don’t last, especially with distance. There is also no supernatural element that pushes them, so I think it shows a very natural and authentic feeling. And, I do think it ultimately ends hopeful. I feel like Takaki in the final moments is finally ready to move on with his life, as Akari has ultimately already done with hers, and its a theme of sometimes the heathiest thing is to let go. It’s a real life lesson I struggle with more than I would like.
Guardian Enzo
May 4, 2021 at 12:13 amThere are a lot of ways that ending can be interpreted, but ultimately they all add up to a beautiful and terrible sadness for me. Makes me want to watch Tsuki ga Kirei, which for me is the true antidote to that sadness more than Your Name is, and another of anime’s very finest takes on true love.
There’s a cynical side of me that says the difference in the endings of 5 CM and YN isn’t due to thematic reasons, but Shinkai calculating what he thought his viewers wanted and trying to make a crowd-pleaser. The fact that he chose such similar physical surroundings only strengthens that impression for me.
Nadavu
May 4, 2021 at 3:47 amWatching the final moments of Kimi no Na wa I for me was like watching a ten-ton truck about to crash into a double-decker bus, and then somehow skip to the side at the very last moment, avoid the collision and drop a ton of free sandwiches on the side walk. In my mind I was saying “Oh, no, not again Shinkai, not again, don’t do this to me again–” and then Taki and Mitsuha face each other, and a part of me that was sad and bitter for a decade suddenly got a sense of closer.
John
May 4, 2021 at 9:10 amWish there were more like you on YouTube. Great video!
Guardian Enzo
May 4, 2021 at 9:30 amThanks, John!
Penguin
May 4, 2021 at 1:14 pmCan I just say I’m glad that we share the same sentiments on this movie? Shinkai “shot to fame” with Kimi no Na wa, but I’ve always thought 5cm/s was the one most deserving of attention. KnNw is the gateway drug, but 5cm/s is THE PEAK of the “Shinkai experience”. Surely both personal projects, but the former more commercial and the latter more expressive and intimate. I’m hoping we’ll get to see the more poetic side of Shinkai again sometime soon.
Guardian Enzo
May 4, 2021 at 2:22 pmMaybe it will coincide with the Tenmon reunion. But the truth is, now that he’s achieved a commercial success he feels he has to maintain – and his likely perception of how he attained it – it’s very unlikely we’ll every see a full-on return to the poetical Shinkai.
Wangwang
May 5, 2021 at 7:38 pm5cm/s is like someone who took a depressing radio and amp it up to eleven. Half way through I really can not tolerate all the mute sound anymore. I know it sad to part with the one you love but life has more than that you know. In Kimi no Na wa we have mystery, we have friends, we have lively Tokyo and beautiful countryside. We have a freaking meteor that probably make producer sweat in budget anxious. There’s a lot of thing happen in Kimi no Na wa besides a love story. And the same with Tenki no Ko. May be 5cm/s is not as popular as Kimi no Na wa not because people have bad taste, but because people can only stomach so much melancholy and depression.
Litho
May 6, 2021 at 12:36 pm1st part is probably Shinkai’s best work. 2nd part seemed to meander too much and felt unresolved adaptation (manga solves this). Last part was let down by ultra cheesy music. That’s my take. He should’ve just released the first third as a standalone and called it a day.