Byôsoku 5 senchimêtoru (5 Centimeters per Second) (A Chain of Short Stories about Their Distance) (2008)
Average Rating: N/A
Critic Reviews: 2
Fresh: 2 | Rotten: 0
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Average Rating: 4.3/5
User Ratings: 4,773
My Rating
Movie Info
Director Makoto Shinkai's heartfelt animated drama tells the tale of two close friends separated by chance, and reunited by determination. As schoolchildren, Tono Takaki and Shinohara Akari were inseparable. But shortly after graduating elementary school, their families each moved and the distance between them grew. Despite the fact that each worried they would never see the other again, Takaki and Akari never lost touch. Later, Takaki decides to pay a visit to Akari, and sets out on the road
Mar 3, 2007 Wide
Mar 4, 2008
CoMix Wave
Cast
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Kenji Mizuhashi
Voice -
Satori Hanamura
Voice -
Yoshimi Kondou
Voice -
Ayaka Onoue
Voice
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All Critics (2) | Top Critics (2) | Fresh (2) | Rotten (0)
exquisite, light-drenched tone poem
Top CriticAs poet of heartbreak, Shinkai could be accused of treacly mush (the voice-overs are a bit florid, and the saccharine piano score doesn't help), but he's got a delicate touch with sentiment that will have receptive viewers reaching for a Kleenex.
Audience Reviews for Byôsoku 5 senchimêtoru (5 Centimeters per Second) (A Chain of Short Stories about Their Distance)
Super Reviewer
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- Voice: The things I had to tell her... and the things I hoped she would listen to. There were so many of them.
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- Voice: We humans desperately and recklessly launched something of that mass and size into the air, gazing off into the distance, towards something far beyond our wildest dreams.
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- Voice: When did I start typing messages that are never sent?
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- Voice: At what speed must I live, to be able to see you again?
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- Voice: The speed at which the sakura blossom petals fall... Five centimeters per second.
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Foreign Titles
- 5 Zentimeter pro Sekunde (DE)
- 5 Centimeters Per Second (Byousoku 5 senchimeetoru) (UK)
The animation deserves the praise but the quality of the narrative doesn't justify this films almost 'Citizen Kane'-level of critical praise. The story is split up into three episodes in which it follows two young people named Takaki and Akari as they try to preserve their romantic relationship despite long distances. Despite it's broad themes of separation, time, and moving on with life; the plot is rather cookie-cutter. The story never separates itself from a typical one-note angst teen-romance film.
The straightforward plot would not be too much of a problem if it weren't for the one-dimensional characters and the film's pretentiousness. Takaki comes off as a constantly depressed emo, and Akari is never defined outside of being smart. The closest the film gets to a fully developed character is Kanae, and that is only because she loves to surf but even then it's hard to relate to her due to her obsessive behavior towards Takaki.
Another looming issue with the film is that it is pretentious. The word "pretentious" tends to be over-used but here it's appropriate. Even down to the title (which is just a random line that was said in the beginning that provides as a superficial metaphor for time) this film seems to think it is being more profound than what it really is. Dialogue is delivered in strange broken fragments and the music is the typical melancholy piano loops that would not feel out of place in an average indie romance flick.
From an animation standpoint this film is fantastic but great animation can only take a film so far. The under-whelming romance story hinders this film from greatness. It puzzles me why critics and fans alike love this movie so much. It is not particularly deep nor though provoking, it is just an okay straightforward romantic melodrama.