Byôsoku 5 senchimêtoru (2007)

Director:

Makoto Shinkai

Writers:

Steven Foster (adaptation) and
Makoto Shinkai (writer)

Release Date:

3 March 2007 (Japan)

Genre:

Animation | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

A chain of short stories about their distance

Plot:

Told in three interconnected segments, we follow a young man named Takaki through his life as cruel winters, cold technology, and finally, adult obligations and responsibility converge to test the delicate petals of love.

Plot Keywords:

Petal | Love | Dream | Telephone | Wave

Cast

Kenji Mizuhashi	...	Takaki Toono (voice)
Yoshimi Kondou	...	Akari Shinohara (segment "Oukashou") (voice)
Satomi Hanamura	...	Kanae Sumita (segment "Cosmonaut") (voice)
Ayaka Onoue	...	Akari Shinohara (segment "Byousoku 5 Centimeter") (voice)
Risa Mizuno	...	(voice)
Yuka Terazaki	...	(voice)
Yuko Nakamura	...	(voice)
Masami Iwasaki	...	(voice)
Rei Kondo	...	(voice)
Hiroshi Shimozaki	...	(voice)
Takahiro Hirano	...	(voice)
Akira Nakagawa	...	(voice)
Keiko Izeki	...	(voice)
Suguru Inoue	...	(voice)
Rion Kako	...	(voice)

Also Known As:

5 Centimeters per Second (International: English title) (literal title) (USA)
5 Centimeters per Second: A Chain of Short Stories About Their Distance (International: English title)
5 Centimetres per Second (UK)

Runtime:

Japan:63 min (original version)

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color (animation)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Hong Kong:I | South Korea:All | Canada:PG | USA:TV-PG | Australia:G

Company:

CoMix Wave

Trivia:

In 2009 a Chinese animation company Liuzhou Lan Hai technologies Ltd. admitted to plagiarizing several backgrounds from the film to use in their own animation series.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Akari Shinohara: Hey... They say it's five centimeters per second.
Takaki Toono: What do you mean?
Akari Shinohara: The speed at which the sakura blossom petals fall... Five centimeters per second.

Movie Connections:

References Kanojo to kanojo no neko (1999) (V)

In search of love in Japan

Very high craftsmanship as always for Makoto Shinkai's anime. The story is very intimate and touching, but that's what I don't like about these gen-X directed movies. The scope is always about only two people with these guys. What's wrong with them ? At least the movie didn't leap into the destruction of the world with the two characters in the middle of it (like Tenkai's other anime Voices of a Distant Star) and so many other gen-X film maker's plot (like "Saikano").

They must have a fetish about a story the whole world revolves around the tiny world of two individuals.

And the usual sad (and hopeless) ending is another characteristic of these film makers.

I'm against these melancholy entertainment, because I see the selfishness that its okay if things are intimate between two people (but why it usually ends on a sour note is beyond me) and who cares what happens to the world around them.

These guys are young, and I hope a bit more healthy outlook prevails for the characters in the movie.