Anime (Movie) Review: 5 Centimeters per Second

I recently watched this and The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. Both were fantastic, and transcend their medium.

Summary: 5 Centimeters per Second is a collection of three stories about the life of a man. The first story is from his young childhood, about the gradual separation between him and a friend. The second story is told from the viewpoint of a girl interested in him in his teenage years. The third story is about his adult life.

Length: 22 minutes per episode, 66 minutes total.

Pacing: Each story has an episodic pacing tied to the other stories. There is a time gap between episodes, but nothing related to the story happens. On a whole the pacing is fairly even. Most movies have even pacing.

Conclusion: Full circle. Ties it all down. Well done.

Characters: Movie character development usually doesn’t get as deep as TV Shows, and focuses more on developing the main character(s) as the story progress. 5 Centimeters per Second is no exception. Story is generally more important than characterization in a well done movie.

Entertainment Value: Should leave you feeling a bit fulfilled, though not necessarily happy. This is something most audiences can enjoy.

Rewatch Value: As a movie, it doesn’t take a lot of time to rewatch, and doesn’t require a lot of memory or focus. Movies therefore have a moderate to high rewatch, more based on your enjoyment of the movie than anything else.

Lessons: Movies love lessons. The show is about life, love, and growing up. You’ll find several lessons if you look for them.

Recommended For: Pretty much anyone, even people who don’t generally watch anime.

Not Recommended For: Action lovers. There is no action.

Other: Reviewing a movie is different than a TV show, so maybe I should change my format a bit for movies.