(L) 5 Centimeters per Second

[Chama]

Very informative and big spoiler in Japanese language:
http://pw1.atcms.jp/byousoku5cm/index.php

[Liingo]

And so it ends again.

This time with subs, meaning I could understand it all now.
It was a lot more meaningful and emotional this time. Especially the last 5 or so minutes with One more time, One more chance playing. The lyrics of the song match extremely well with the images on screen.

Spoiler for Question?:

Are we told who breaks off the communication first? I'm assuming Tahno since we're always shown him writing mails that don't get sent, but is it ever said anywhere?

This is just so I can figure out if I'm supposed to be mad at him for not keeping in touch, even if only as friends.

[theDarkHorse]

The lyrics of the song fit extraordinarily well. I wonder if Makoto Shinkai had this song in mind before he even started writing the storyline.

Spoiler for Answer to Liingo:

No, we're never told specifically who breaks off communication first.

However, I think there was a line of thought by Takaki: "When did I start typing messages that are never sent?" That seems to me to indicate that Takaki Tohno was the one who broke communication with Akari.

In other words, you're supposed to be mad at him for not keeping in touch.

edit: my bad, you've mentioned those lines. just clearing up that he specifically thought that.

[Liingo]

Thanks Darkhorse.

I was pretty sure that I hadn't seen that anywhere else and just wanted clarification.

Sigh..... a very realistic story that happened, but if only they had gotten together. (It would have been much better for my emotional state..)

Now to wait for the Dvd.

[Quajafrie]

Spoiler:

I actually think it's Akari that stopped the communication. We saw her opening the mailbox and finding Takaki's letters, but when Takaki opened his mailbox he didn't find any letters at all. Although Takaki is disappointed, he still wants to get in touch with Akari through mail messages, but in the end he doesn't find the courage to send them.

Generally it seemed that this relationship was more important to Takaki, who couldn't find peace in his heart (even though he has a relationship with the megane-girl he wasn't pleased and we saw him drinking in a bar instead of being in his home) than Akari who managed to get married and live happily (?).

One of the things I'm not really sure about is if it was really Akari in the end (and left while the trains were blocking the road) or it was just Takaki's imagination. I think it's the first one, actually...

[theDarkHorse]

Spoiler for ending:

For some reason, I highly doubt that Akari could have really been there, and leave in the short time the train was there. She would have had to run, at least to the side, and it seems unlikely to me that she could have disappeared out of the range of Takaki's vision in that amount of time.

I think it was just Takaki's imagination, but I could very likely be wrong.

[Quajafrie]

Spoiler:

Well, the train-crossing took a long time, I think that it is possible.

Anyway, maybe there isn't a definite answer and Shinkai wanted to leave this on the air.

[Xcomp]

Originally Posted by Quajafrie

Spoiler:

I actually think it's Akari that stopped the communication. We saw her opening the mailbox and finding Takaki's letters, but when Takaki opened his mailbox he didn't find any letters at all. Although Takaki is disappointed, he still wants to get in touch with Akari through mail messages, but in the end he doesn't find the courage to send them.

Generally it seemed that this relationship was more important to Takaki, who couldn't find peace in his heart (even though he has a relationship with the megane-girl he wasn't pleased and we saw him drinking in a bar instead of being in his home) than Akari who managed to get married and live happily (?).

One of the things I'm not really sure about is if it was really Akari in the end (and left while the trains were blocking the road) or it was just Takaki's imagination. I think it's the first one, actually...

Spoiler:

Actually, we saw them both opening their mailboxes to find each other's letters inside. Akari opened up first then Takaki. After that, Akari opened it up in the rain and there was no letter. The same happened with Takaki afterwards. Since then, they've been staring at the postbox whenever they passed it.

If you follow that order then, it was Takaki who stopped writing... Maybe after Kanae started chasing after him after school? She did fall for him after he moved schools after all. But somehow, I don't really think those scenes were in any specific order but who knows.

It does somehow feel like Akari abandoned Takaki, though since his feelings towards her were still strong. Strong enough to make him resort to drinking alone. On the other hand, there was nothing stopping him from going to find her before he started dating Risa, the girl with the glasses. Just courage.

As for the scene where the grown-up Takaki "saw" Akari at the crossing, he didn't. He said, "Even now if I turn round, I strongly felt that I would see that person turning round towards me too." It's just his memories and feelings. Akari wasn't really there.

I think the novelised version will have some extra info in it. Shinkai did write it because people were asking about the reason behind some of his sketches after all.

[theDarkHorse]

Spoiler for a name:

Where does it mention the name of the other girl Takaki was dating? You have it down as Risa, but I can't find any mention of it.

[tresor]

There is no continuity in the 3rd movie, giving you some kind of unrealistic look at the discontinuity. It is too arty and too frustrating for my tastes.

[Quajafrie]

Spoiler for name:

It's on the mail that she sends to him.

[tresor]

Spoiler for Caught in Her Own Tracks? Is it really Akari Shinohara?:

Well, at least when I posted it previously I did it with double spoilers but the geniuses at ADV grrr ICV2 apparently did not have such a dilemma:
"The third story "5cm Per Second" takes place in the present during Takaki's adult years and ends with a fleeting encounter with a woman from his past." -ADV grr ICV2 article.
I also think ADV grrr ICV2 should spend more time on the product then trying to analyze the feelings of its customers via an "otaku" straw man.

[theDarkHorse]

ADV sure should do a good job of the R1 DVD release. Hopefully it'll be as packed as the R2 release was...

[tresor]

Spoiler for Communications Facts:

Akari took a long time to send Tahno a mail (from the beginning of the movie). I think that is the only fact we have on the letters.

Spoiler for Voices of a Distant Star:

The mail messages, how they became less frequent (but they did not stop). Towards the End of the Voices of a Distant Star apparently we have more information about 5cm. During the rains of Agarta music/scene the Akari stand in has this rather odd encounter, which I never understood how that scene related to the rest of that movie (specifically); now it appear that scene was really part of the 5cm movie. In an interview about Hoshi No Koe, Shinkai said something like "I solely sympathize with the male character." I was like, Woa Dude, How do you get that conclusion from the that I saw on the screen? But the Dude was the person who actually wrote the movie, but I still did not understand that quote until I saw 5cm.

Spoiler for Cosmonaut Communications - State Of Mind:

From Cosmonaut, we see Tohno has a pretty accurate portrait of what Akari looks like, which kind of threw me at the time. Now, I think a logical conclusion can be reached, Akari sent Tohno mail that included her picture. Specifically, there is now way Tohno would have that accurate a picture of Akari in his mind, else the picture would have been the picture from when he last saw her from the first movie. I think that with Tohno composing mail/messages etc, it seems like every night, I think Tohno was just pretty far ahead of where Akari was...

[tresor]

Spoiler for On the other hand:

Spoiler for On the other hand, there was nothing stopping him from going to find her:

"On the other hand, there was nothing stopping him from going to find her before he started dating Risa, the girl with the glasses. "I think it is a valid and accurate point, but then again hindsight is 20/20. But there is another part to this, and I think it is a type of thing one buys into or does not bye into. When a promise is made of this nature it is the type of promise that is meant to be kept. I will turn this around, so as not to just be in this bash Akari box, from the feminist perspective I think that when a promise of this nature is made, it becomes beyond promises, meaning the possibility of an alternate outcome is not in question.
And, if the promise was broken, then there would be a final act different than the one depicted in the movie. The final act would be called The Final Part of The Contract which would feature, "Hell hath no fury, Like A Woman Scorned."
At one point should Tohno have broken the contract with Akari? It is pretty obvious that Akari is stringing him along (how we do not know, not actually seen in the movie, which is very frustrating) but poor Tohno is "All In."
I think the quote from the very first preview states it "at what speed must I live in order to be able to see you again?" I bet Tohno got some sort of leading answer back like "asking me questions like that will not bring our hearts close together but make them further apart." I think the two telling things that almost definitively support the previous statements is the fact the Akari can make it into Tokyo to see her "new boyfriend" but not Tohno and the fact that Akari does not stop for Tohno at the end of the movie to at least tell him that she is getting married to some else portends she was planning to keep stringing him along as long as possible.
But then again, the question itself is superfluous, because after 3 similar movies he's still there through the bitter end.
But, then again if one can make promises w/o expecting any consequences from them I guess life is easier.

[tresor]

Spoiler for Shinkai Thinking Speculation includes spoilers (emphasis on spoilers and speculation):

I think Shinkai wants to impart more info, but after the negative reaction to the ending of Hoshi No Koe and the subsequent positive reaction to the alternate ending Manga "that was produced after the fact." I think Shinkai would also like to have a nice lifestyle, so leave it open ended. But from the factual perspective, Shinkai does not/can not leave it at the walk away ending. Before the movie is release, but after the movie is made a trailer/preview is released with some new information that is not available in the movie, or the information is included from the movie and is re-contectualized. Then, before/right at the time the movie is released, there is a music video released which re-contectualized numerous things from the movie (go back to page 15 of this forum which included excellent discussion and insight), i.e., that text message about 1000 is really from Akari Shinohara. I say OK, so what, it is all speculation etc. But then Shinkai comes out with the quote, "his personal push is One more time, One more chance music video." Why?
You get to the end of the movie, and O.K., w/o giving away the ending use the pause frame forward at ~59:09 to see 2 clear faces, one male and one female. If you have ever experienced that look on the face before, you know exactly what it means. Why would Shinkai put that much detail emphasis there instead of the usual blah/blank faces animation that is usually used. I am skipping the part of why it was done in this "sneaky" manner because I do not agree with that way of doing it. O.K., its still all cool, Tohno walks on with a smile, then all of a sudden in the next scence, the credits/Ending Theme, Shinkai says "I'm all in." and then again I'm like "Woa, Why so much?" Why not, without specifying a good or bad, happy or sad, a less intense music ending. Then I think, he had the happy smile at the end, but after the ENDING THEME it hits me again, its the same smile his male protaginist during the beginning sequence of Places Beyond Promises and Clouds/Kimi No Koe and that beginning of Kimi No Koe still rips my heart out.

[lobabel]

Originally Posted by Quajafrie

Spoiler:

I actually think it's Akari that stopped the communication. We saw her opening the mailbox and finding Takaki's letters, but when Takaki opened his mailbox he didn't find any letters at all. Although Takaki is disappointed, he still wants to get in touch with Akari through mail messages, but in the end he doesn't find the courage to send them.

Originally Posted by Xcomp

Spoiler:

Actually, we saw them both opening their mailboxes to find each other's letters inside. Akari opened up first then Takaki. After that, Akari opened it up in the rain and there was no letter. The same happened with Takaki afterwards. Since then, they've been staring at the postbox whenever they passed it.

If you follow that order then, it was Takaki who stopped writing... Maybe after Kanae started chasing after him after school? She did fall for him after he moved schools after all. But somehow, I don't really think those scenes were in any specific order but who knows.

Spoiler for who stopped mailing?:

I agree with Quajafrie about this matter, based on another scene. Around the beginning of the ending song, we can see Akari writing some letter for Takaki, but she stops the letter and falls on her desk. It seems that she tried to write a letter, but eventually gave it up. I believe it was her last trial of writing to Takaki. We can see a high school mathematics book on the desk. Regarding its title the most chance is that it was an event of their second year in high school (or first). One or two years, not so far from the time of Cosmonaut, and I think Takaki's despair (writing mail to nowhere and deleting it) is understandable.

Originally Posted by Quajafrie

Spoiler:

Akari who managed to get married and live happily (?).

Spoiler for Akari's life:

Yes, it's quite certain that she is married at the time of the final crossway event. It's March 2008 by the whiteboard in Takaki's room (we can also see that Takaki is freelancing as a programmer after quitting his job). So the main events in the following flashbacks, that are Akari returning from Iwafune to Tokyo and Takaki walking in snow, talking about their dreams, cannot be later than Dec 2007. Akari's parents hoped for Akari to stay until January, and Akari said it's one month to her wedding, so Akari should got married in (or at least before) Jan 2008. There is a short shot that shows Akari watering pots in a balcony in the flashbacks. I believe it's Akari in her honeymoon.
-- (I added another post, but also add an edit here to prevent any confusion.)
BTW, I noticed that the day Mizuno sent the mail was 2nd Feb. So it should be the day that Akari returned from Iwafune to Tokyo. Did Akari's mother say "Osyougatsu" by lunar calendar? I thought they don't count lunar calendar in Japan...
So Akari's wedding should be in early Mar 2008. And yet it's little chance that Akari haven't got married at the event of crossing.

[Liingo]

Originally Posted by Quajafrie

Spoiler:

I actually think it's Akari that stopped the communication. We saw her opening the mailbox and finding Takaki's letters, but when Takaki opened his mailbox he didn't find any letters at all. Although Takaki is disappointed, he still wants to get in touch with Akari through mail messages, but in the end he doesn't find the courage to send them.

Generally it seemed that this relationship was more important to Takaki, who couldn't find peace in his heart (even though he has a relationship with the megane-girl he wasn't pleased and we saw him drinking in a bar instead of being in his home) than Akari who managed to get married and live happily (?).

One of the things I'm not really sure about is if it was really Akari in the end (and left while the trains were blocking the road) or it was just Takaki's imagination. I think it's the first one, actually...

I'll have to watch that bit again. I must have missed those details on my previous watching..

I definately agree with your second comment, that the relationship is important to Takaki.. But I'd say that is is actually Akari at the end. There's a nearly 20 seconds before the view clears, which is enough time to get around the corner. (if you watch the first part again the end at which she's standing goes up the hill around the corner.)

Originally Posted by Xcomp

Spoiler:

Actually, we saw them both opening their mailboxes to find each other's letters inside. Akari opened up first then Takaki. After that, Akari opened it up in the rain and there was no letter. The same happened with Takaki afterwards. Since then, they've been staring at the postbox whenever they passed it.

If you follow that order then, it was Takaki who stopped writing... Maybe after Kanae started chasing after him after school? She did fall for him after he moved schools after all. But somehow, I don't really think those scenes were in any specific order but who knows.

It does somehow feel like Akari abandoned Takaki, though since his feelings towards her were still strong. Strong enough to make him resort to drinking alone. On the other hand, there was nothing stopping him from going to find her before he started dating Risa, the girl with the glasses. Just courage.

As for the scene where the grown-up Takaki "saw" Akari at the crossing, he didn't. He said, "Even now if I turn round, I strongly felt that I would see that person turning round towards me too." It's just his memories and feelings. Akari wasn't really there.

I think the novelised version will have some extra info in it. Shinkai did write it because people were asking about the reason behind some of his sketches after all.

You say that there's nothing stopping him. What about just not being able to find her. Finding one person in a city of millions wouldn't exactly be an easy thing.

Perhaps he did, perhaps he didn't but it seemed like he was able to move on from at the end of it.

I just hope that I'll be able to find the novel later on once it get's released.

Originally Posted by tresor

Spoiler for Communications Facts:

Akari took a long time to send Tahno a mail (from the beginning of the movie). I think that is the only fact we have on the letters.

Spoiler for Voices of a Distant Star:

The mail messages, how they became less frequent (but they did not stop). Towards the End of the Voices of a Distant Star apparently we have more information about 5cm. During the rains of Agarta music/scene the Akari stand in has this rather odd encounter, which I never understood how that scene related to the rest of that movie (specifically); now it appear that scene was really part of the 5cm movie. In an interview about Hoshi No Koe, Shinkai said something like "I solely sympathize with the male character." I was like, Woa Dude, How do you get that conclusion from the that I saw on the screen? But the Dude was the person who actually wrote the movie, but I still did not understand that quote until I saw 5cm.

Spoiler for Cosmonaut Communications - State Of Mind:

From Cosmonaut, we see Tohno has a pretty accurate portrait of what Akari looks like, which kind of threw me at the time. Now, I think a logical conclusion can be reached, Akari sent Tohno mail that included her picture. Specifically, there is now way Tohno would have that accurate a picture of Akari in his mind, else the picture would have been the picture from when he last saw her from the first movie. I think that with Tohno composing mail/messages etc, it seems like every night, I think Tohno was just pretty far ahead of where Akari was...

That sounds logical about the photo. Pretty far ahead? Could you clarify?

Originally Posted by tresor

Spoiler for On the other hand:

Spoiler for On the other hand, there was nothing stopping him from going to find her:

"On the other hand, there was nothing stopping him from going to find her before he started dating Risa, the girl with the glasses. "I think it is a valid and accurate point, but then again hindsight is 20/20. But there is another part to this, and I think it is a type of thing one buys into or does not bye into. When a promise is made of this nature it is the type of promise that is meant to be kept. I will turn this around, so as not to just be in this bash Akari box, from the feminist perspective I think that when a promise of this nature is made, it becomes beyond promises, meaning the possibility of an alternate outcome is not in question.
And, if the promise was broken, then there would be a final act different than the one depicted in the movie. The final act would be called The Final Part of The Contract which would feature, "Hell hath no fury, Like A Woman Scorned."
At one point should Tohno have broken the contract with Akari? It is pretty obvious that Akari is stringing him along (how we do not know, not actually seen in the movie, which is very frustrating) but poor Tohno is "All In."
I think the quote from the very first preview states it "at what speed must I live in order to be able to see you again?" I bet Tohno got some sort of leading answer back like "asking me questions like that will not bring our hearts close together but make them further apart." I think the two telling things that almost definitively support the previous statements is the fact the Akari can make it into Tokyo to see her "new boyfriend" but not Tohno and the fact that Akari does not stop for Tohno at the end of the movie to at least tell him that she is getting married to some else portends she was planning to keep stringing him along as long as possible.
But then again, the question itself is superfluous, because after 3 similar movies he's still there through the bitter end.
But, then again if one can make promises w/o expecting any consequences from them I guess life is easier.

A good other point of view, which will be good for discussion. I'll see if I can reply properly once I have more time... I;m at uni at the moment..

Originally Posted by lobabel

Spoiler for who stopped mailing?:

I agree with Quajafrie about this matter, based on another scene. Around the beginning of the ending song, we can see Akari writing some letter for Takaki, but she stops the letter and falls on her desk. It seems that she tried to write a letter, but eventually gave it up. I believe it was her last trial of writing to Takaki. We can see a high school mathematics book on the desk. Regarding its title the most chance is that it was an event of their second year in high school (or first). One or two years, not so far from the time of Cosmonaut, and I think Takaki's despair (writing mail to nowhere and deleting it) is understandable.

Spoiler for Akari's life:

Yes, it's quite certain that she is married at the time of the final crossway event. It's March 2008 by the whiteboard in Takaki's room (we can also see that Takaki is freelancing as a programmer after quitting his job). So the main events in the following flashbacks, that are Akari returning from Iwafune to Tokyo and Takaki walking in snow, talking about their dreams, cannot be later than Dec 2007. Akari's parents hoped for Akari to stay until January, and Akari said it's one month to her wedding, so Akari should got married in (or at least before) Jan 2008. There is a short shot that shows Akari watering pots in a balcony in the flashbacks. I believe it's Akari in her honeymoon.

Some nice points here that make sense if you've read the other cloaked posts up above.

I'll be back afterwards in a few hours once I get back home to continue replying.

[Quajafrie]

Originally Posted by Xcomp

Spoiler:

As for the scene where the grown-up Takaki "saw" Akari at the crossing, he didn't. He said, "Even now if I turn round, I strongly felt that I would see that person turning round towards me too." It's just his memories and feelings. Akari wasn't really there.

Spoiler for ending:

But then, why do we see both of them walking in the "sakura road" in a couple of shots before their encounter?

[theDarkHorse]

Originally Posted by Quajafrie

Spoiler for ending:

But then, why do we see both of them walking in the "sakura road" in a couple of shots before their encounter?

Spoiler for reply to Quajafrie:

Might just be his imagination, or reflection upon the past/what may have been.

Rather like A Beautiful Mind. Heh. I was watching that yesterday. If you've watched it you should know what i mean.

So the fact that Akari most likely wasn't there doesn't bother me.