(L) 5 Centimeters per Second

[W-General]

I generally don't overanalyse the little details...for me, 5cm/s was more about what it meant.

Spoiler:

Looking at the ending scene again. I am sure that was Akari, not some imagination. He has found her, she has found him.

Takaki's expressions:
Shock, anticipation, disappointment, realization, acknowledgment.

She did not stop for him, and that was a sign to Takaki that it's time for him to move on as well. Which he did. Life will start for him, and hopefully he'll get serious with his new girlfriend. (Did they break up? I thought she was just complaining to him)

That was what this movie was about - before email and cellphone and MSN messenger, before AIM, before ICQ. I don't know where all my friends from elementary school are anymore - since I moved when I was 10. There are friends from later on (before electronic communication) whom I no longer keep in contact with - even though we tried writing letters. It just didn't work out and I think Shinkai perfectly captured this sense of distance - whether a romantic one or just friendship and acquaintances.

I love this movie.

[Quajafrie]

Originally Posted by W-General

I generally don't overanalyse the little details...for me, 5cm/s was more about what it meant.

Spoiler:

Looking at the ending scene again. I am sure that was Akari, not some imagination. He has found her, she has found him.

Takaki's expressions:
Shock, anticipation, disappointment, realization, acknowledgment.

She did not stop for him, and that was a sign to Takaki that it's time for him to move on as well. Which he did. Life will start for him, and hopefully he'll get serious with his new girlfriend. (Did they break up? I thought she was just complaining to him)

My thoughts exactly.

[Xcomp]

Originally Posted by W-General

I generally don't overanalyse the little details...for me, 5cm/s was more about what it meant.

Nothing wrong about discussing a good, well written story

Originally Posted by W-General

Spoiler:

Looking at the ending scene again. I am sure that was Akari, not some imagination. He has found her, she has found him.

Takaki's expressions:
Shock, anticipation, disappointment, realization, acknowledgment.

She did not stop for him, and that was a sign to Takaki that it's time for him to move on as well. Which he did. Life will start for him, and hopefully he'll get serious with his new girlfriend. (Did they break up? I thought she was just complaining to him)

That was what this movie was about - before email and cellphone and MSN messenger, before AIM, before ICQ. I don't know where all my friends from elementary school are anymore - since I moved when I was 10. There are friends from later on (before electronic communication) whom I no longer keep in contact with - even though we tried writing letters. It just didn't work out and I think Shinkai perfectly captured this sense of distance - whether a romantic one or just friendship and acquaintances.

I love this movie.

Well, if you put it that way, I agree with you she was there and about the moving on part only...

Spoiler:

She did stop and look round just as the train sped by. But I guess the very moment they ignored each other gave the message across. Then she looked round as a sort of farewell.

That line I translated as, "Even now if I turn round, I strongly felt that I would see that person turning round towards me too." still works but I guess I interpreted the idea wrong.

It's interesting to see how Shinkai can write different stories based on the same theme.

Good stuff but I still wanted them to get together in the end

[RahX]

Originally Posted by Xcomp

Good stuff but I still wanted them to get together in the end

I agree, this movie could have been much better if they had ended up together in the end.

I know that Shinkai wanted to make a more simple and realistic movie, but the taste that the movie left me was bitter.

Spoiler for Mid spoilers...:

The first two parts were great, the first showed us how deep their relationship was and the struggles that was ahead of them, while the second showed us how Takaki was still waiting for that special someone.
The dramatic atmosphere was setup for a reunion in the third part, but once again Shinkai went back with the bitter and somewhat sweet endings that he likes.

[theDarkHorse]

Somehow, I don't feel as if the movie would have as powerful an impact if the couple ended up together. I think the ending was quite appropriate, all things considered.

[Xcomp]

Originally Posted by theDarkHorse

Somehow, I don't feel as if the movie would have as powerful an impact if the couple ended up together. I think the ending was quite appropriate, all things considered.

No, it definitely wouldn't have been but still...

Originally Posted by Liingo

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.

As they say, when there's a will there's way. In this case, Takaki already had a starting point. Even if Akari moved, he can still track her down if he really wanted to.

Yay, now I have that DBZ image song, "Hikari no Will Power" playing in my head again... I blame you! J/K

[tresor]

"We end with Takaki supposedly moving on…but is that really possible for him?"

[Quajafrie]

Of course it is.

[W-General]

His smile gave it away.

Spoiler:

All he needed was an answer from Akari - something he has been waiting for the past 9 years or so. He got it there at the railroad tracks, and that is "Move on." He has no more regrets.

[tresor]

Actually, I got trolled via the Naruto, but I knew that going in due to comments etc. So the comments stated it was a nice slice of life story etc, mediocre to good. So, it was 10:30 and I was going to bed so I put this on my TV, something light before I went to bed... and I was confused, I re-watched it until midnight, I felt I was way off, thinking this might be the best thing I have ever seen. So, I sought out more accurate information (more when is the next episode) and ended up at AnimeSuki at approximately page 10 or so.

Following it from there I just found it interesting, the details, this Shinkai guy, how he thinks etc. I still have questions from this that I am trying to figure out. I am just posting the next part for those who have an interest in some of these details and questions etc.

Spoiler for details goes to state of mind:

In the music video that comes with the movie, "One More Time" etc. it ends with Tohno looking back not looking forward.
The brutal resolution of Chobi the cat story arc and the foreshadowing of being left alone. The lines of We and together forever are from Akari, men don't really think in terms of we etc, especially one as ungrounded as Tohno which follows to Tohno staring off into the distance whenever a woman/girl is speaking to him.
He should probably been listening more closely for cues/clues. Shinkai releasing these different trailers and music videos that appear to have different messages than the movie itself. Sticking part of what probably belongs in this movie in Hoshi No Koe, and then not really addressing what messages were sent back in forth in 5cm, are we to watch Hoshi No Koe again for more information. Inserting the Mizuno arc? but someone posted maybe Tohno can go back to Mizuno, is Mizuno Mika Shinohara? That whole Mizuno section? Drunken Blurring the email from Akari Shinohara into that section is confusing. In the music video, Tohno Drinking, the man Akari is with, looks suspiciously like Tohno (from the beginning of the section).
Why is the face only from below the eyes down, is this one these drunken blurring in Tohno's mind like the Mizuno section. The limited amount of showings that we see about Akari, my guess is they comprise the last conservation that Tohno had with Akari had with Tohno after what is shown in the movie. That would support never really seeing Akari's husband and the possible "drunken" blurring of Tohno seen and the very limited appearance of Akari in this section, like her or not, Akari Shinohara is an important part of this movie. Thinking back to the Cosmonaut, Akari most definitely probably sent mail to Tohno with her picture, because that whole movie is told from the perspective of Sumida, so she must have seen that picture for that visage of Akari with Tohno to be so accurate.
Also, playing graham parker "You've Got To Be Kidding" to the he has moved on.

[Kaoru Chujo]

I wish they had...

Spoiler:

...ended up together -- but the film would not have been as powerful and beautiful if they had. Maybe he will start thinking back to Kanae now, and realizing what he missed. Of course, that would just be another way of staying distant from the people in his life now....

[W-General]

Originally Posted by Kaoru Chujo

I wish they had...

Spoiler:

...ended up together -- but the film would not have been as powerful and beautiful if they had. Maybe he will start thinking back to Kanae now, and realizing what he missed. Of course, that would just be another way of staying distant from the people in his life now....

No, Kanae's too long ago, he'll just

Spoiler:

treasure Risa more

[coleslaw]

Originally Posted by W-General

No, Kanae's too long ago, he'll just

Spoiler:

treasure Risa more

Spoiler:

Problem is we don't know what Risa was about to tell Takaki when they meet up... I guess we have to wait for the novel.

[Xcomp]

I think someone already said this but, the movie's theme was all about distance set out like this:

Oukasho (Physical distance)
Cosmonaut (Emotional distance)
5cm (Time distance)

Wasn't really thinking about it until I read some other sites. So Shinkai would have had to split up the two in the last part just to keep the theme anyway. Even if people like me wanted them to get back together again.

Originally Posted by W-General

No, Kanae's too long ago, he'll just

Spoiler:

treasure Risa more

No, Takaki will suddenly encounter Kanae in Tokyo by coincidence then another drama begins

Originally Posted by coleslaw

Spoiler:

Problem is we don't know what Risa was about to tell Takaki when they meet up... I guess we have to wait for the novel.

She told him what she wanted to say with a second e-mail afterwards. I guess after the ending...

Spoiler:

They might finally be able to close that "1cm" gap.

[lobabel]

Originally Posted by Xcomp

Spoiler:

They might finally be able to close that "1cm" gap.

Spoiler for Mizuno and Takaki:

I'm afraid this comment is a bit confusing. As we know, Mizuno said in her mail that the gap between her and Takaki was closed "only by 1cm" even after 1000 mails.
I believe she and Takaki also have been broken up completely, the mail was quite a poetic sentence of the final breakup. Maybe I'm too harsh... but I can't help suspecting that her "anatano kotowa imademo sukidesu" was just a kind of lip service...

Spoiler for Date issue:

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 lobabel

Spoiler for Mizuno and Takaki:

I'm afraid this comment is a bit confusing. As we know, Mizuno said in her mail that the gap between her and Takaki was closed "only by 1cm" even after 1000 mails.
I believe she and Takaki also have been broken up completely, the mail was quite a poetic sentence of the final breakup. Maybe I'm too harsh... but I can't help suspecting that her "anatano kotowa imademo sukidesu" was just a kind of lip service...

Spoiler for Date issue:

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 said "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.

Spoiler for Mail:

I'm fairly certain that the line was "even if I send 1000 mails, our hearts won't even move 1cm closer together" or something very similar to that.

It would be nice if they did get back together (Risa and Takaki) but frankly it doesn't really matter to me who he ends up with in the end as long as he is able to move on from Akari. Well, actually I take that back.. it would be nice if he ended up with Sumida but that's such a long shot that it isn't likely to happen.

Spoiler for Response to the date.:

Not too sure what to say about this, but does anyone know when the lunar calender will roll over for 08? It might be that the lunar new year was in late january, meaning that she would have been married for just a few days or a week or so when they pass by each other at the train crossing.

(Lunar new year is the same as Chinese new year correct?, If not, just ignore what I just said..)

But, I still feel that they were reffering to the new year at the start of January since if you listen closely at the start of 5cm, you can hear christmas music in the backgorund as Takaki is walking through the station.

@Xcomp That never occured to me but it does fit with what I've seen.

Takaki meeting up with Kanae randomly in Tokyo. That would be a great way to wrap it up imo.

Spoiler for For who stopped mailing (letters):

Looking at it again, I still stick by my first view that Takaki was the one to stop mailing to begin with.. Since at the mailbox scenes during the music video, we see Takaki happy at the mailbox with a pink letter in the box might I add, followed immediately after by Akari, face down at the mail.

Speculation..
It's possible that the letter that we see Akari writing may have been a breaking off their romantic relationship (of you can say that they had one), which is why she found it so hard to write it (from what we can see). The ending of the relationship would be a reason for Takaki not replying to the letter.

The last shot of Takaki at his mailbox may have been him waiting to see if she still wanted to keep in touch. possibly. The scenes then move to them walking past mailboxes, each waiting for an explanation from each other but never getting one.

So then we're left with Takaki writing SMS/emails on his phone that never get sent, which if you follow my thinking, due to him not wanting to get hurt anymore, but still wanting to cling to what may have been.

[lobabel]

Originally Posted by Liingo

Spoiler for Response to the date.:

Not too sure what to say about this, but does anyone know when the lunar calender will roll over for 08?

7 Feb. So it fits.

Originally Posted by Liingo

Spoiler for Response to the date.:

But, I still feel that they were reffering to the new year at the start of January since if you listen closely at the start of 5cm, you can hear christmas music in the backgorund as Takaki is walking through the station.

Spoiler for Timeline?:

In the station he was in a suit, implying that he hasn't quit his job yet. We can see that it's 00:49 Dec 24 by the date on Risa's phone. (You have to do some frame seeking....)

The following is a rough reconstruction of the timeline of 5cm/s, any comments or corrections welcomed.

23-24 Dec 2007, night: Takaki is feeling that he is at his limit about his life. He walks in a suit, from a station to the streets. Risa calls him. Takaki opens his phone, but doesn't answer. It begins to snow.
Jan 2008 : Takaki quits his job.
1 Feb 2008 : Packing for her wedding, Akari finds the letter she didn't hand to Takaki at their last meeting when they were 13.
1-2 Feb 2008, night : Takaki and Akari dream their last meeting.
2 Feb 2008, day : Akari departs from Iwafune for Tokyo. It snows.
2 Feb 2008, 15:15 : Risa sends her last mail to Takaki. Then she enters a job meeting.
2 Feb 2008, afternoon to night : Takaki goes out to streets. He reads a magazine about the spaceship Elish in a convenience store. Akari is in a train for Tokyo. They talk about their dreams of last night. Takaki walks in snow. Akari meets her fiance in the night.
Mid Feb 2008 : Takaki begins freelancing.
Early Mar 2008 : Akari gets married.
Someday Mar 2008 : Takaki is working in his room. He goes out to have a walk. At the railway crossing, he sees a familiar looking woman crosses in the opposite direction. He looks back, but after passing of trains which blocked the sight, no one is found.

[Xcomp]

Argh, I just finish typing up a long reply and computer freezes...

Originally Posted by lobabel

Spoiler for Mizuno and Takaki:

I'm afraid this comment is a bit confusing. As we know, Mizuno said in her mail that the gap between her and Takaki was closed "only by 1cm" even after 1000 mails.
I believe she and Takaki also have been broken up completely, the mail was quite a poetic sentence of the final breakup. Maybe I'm too harsh... but I can't help suspecting that her "anatano kotowa imademo sukidesu" was just a kind of lip service...

Yeah, you and Liingo were right. I must have still been half asleep when I typed that

Originally Posted by lobabel

Spoiler for Date issue:

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.

Spoiler for Sequence of events in the third part of the movie and the ending.:

Yes she said "お正月 O-Shougatsu" which just means New Year, January 1st. She wished that Akari could stay with them until the New Year but she couldn't there were wedding preparations to be made. It was snowing and Christmas decorations were up when Akari met up with her new husband so I would say it was around December. That means Akari's wedding was in January.

So the sequence of events in the third part of the movie goes like this. Opening scene, Takaki is working away and it is March 2008 as written on his whiteboard and shown on his calendar. After the flash at the crossing, we roll back to December 2007 when Akari is travelling to Tokyo. Next it's February 2008 as shown in Risa's e-mails that Takaki is ignoring. The song "One more chance, one more time" plays and more past scenes are shown and we return to the present at the end... March 2008, resuming the crossing scene.

I didn't even notice the flashback.

Well what do you know... Takaki did move on after all. In the flashback he had a dark messy apartment, drank, smoked and ignored his new girlfriend Risa. I'm thinking it's because he learned about Akari's marriage at this point since it was February. Time passed and eventually something happened and he moved on. We see his apartment is clean and tidy.

This means Takaki didn't move on because he met Akari again at the crossing. I think it was because he soon realised his feelings for her had also gone when he was tiring himself at work.

Edit
Damn, you edited before I could re-type everything. I guess you figured things out too then

Well, ordered the limited edition with Play-Asia. I should have ordered it on Yesasia while it was still available... Hope customs don't charge me for this one.

[lobabel]

Originally Posted by Xcomp

Spoiler for Sequence of events in the third part of the movie and the ending.:

Yes she said "お正月 O-Shougatsu" which just means New Year, January 1st. She wished that Akari could stay with them until the New Year but she couldn't there were wedding preparations to be made. It was snowing and Christmas decorations were up when Akari met up with her new husband so I would say it was around December. That means Akari's wedding was in January.

So the sequence of events in the third part of the movie goes like this. Opening scene, Takaki is working away and it is March 2008 as written on his whiteboard and shown on his calendar. After the flash at the crossing, we roll back to December 2007 when Akari is travelling to Tokyo. Next it's February 2008 as shown in Risa's e-mails that Takaki is ignoring. The song "One more chance, one more time" plays and more past scenes are shown and we return to the present at the end... March 2008, resuming the crossing scene.

Spoiler for Crosscutting:

Yes, the weakest point in my reconstructed timeline is that we cannot exclude the possibility that the cross cutting of Akari and Takaki talking about their dreams was actually not happened same time. Because their voices and images are crossing each other - his voice showing her image, her voice showing his image - it's quite hard not to recognize them to be on the same timeline. So if Mr.Shinkai intended them to be different times, I couldn't help exclaiming his ingenuity. Maybe he plotted some ambiguity intentionally... How wicked.

Spoiler for Timeline II:

So this is the timeline assuming that the cross cutting is of different times. Yet any comments or corrections welcomed.

23-24 Dec 2007, night: Takaki is feeling that he is at his limit about his life. He walks in a suit, from a station to the streets. Risa calls him. Takaki opens his phone, but doesn't answer. It begins to snow.
Someday around xmas 2007, day : Packing for her wedding, Akari finds the letter she didn't hand to Takaki at their last meeting when they were 13.
Same day, night : Akari dreams the last meeting with Takaki.
Nextday, afternoon - night : Akari departs from Iwafune for Tokyo. It snows. In the train for Tokyo, Akari talks about her dream of last night (cross cutting with Takaki's talk). Akari meets her fiance in the night.
Jan 2008 : Takaki quits his job. Akari gets married.
1-2 Feb 2008, night : Takaki dreams his last meeting with Akari.
2 Feb 2008, 15:15 : Risa sends her last mail to Takaki. Then she enters a job meeting.
2 Feb 2008, afternoon to night : Takaki goes out to streets. He reads a magazine about the spaceship Elish in a convenience store. He talks about his dream of last night (cross cutting with Akari's talk). He walks in snow.
Mid Feb 2008 : Takaki begins freelancing.
Someday Mar 2008 : Takaki is working in his room. He goes out to have a walk. At the railway crossing, he sees a familiar looking woman crosses in the opposite direction. He looks back, but after passing of trains which blocked the sight, no one is found.

[lobabel]

Originally Posted by Xcomp

Spoiler for Sequence of events in the third part of the movie and the ending.:

Well what do you know... Takaki did move on after all. In the flashback he had a dark messy apartment, drank, smoked and ignored his new girlfriend Risa. I'm thinking it's because he learned about Akari's marriage at this point since it was February. Time passed and eventually something happened and he moved on. We see his apartment is clean and tidy.

This means Takaki didn't move on because he met Akari again at the crossing. I think it was because he soon realised his feelings for her had also gone when he was tiring himself at work.

<snip>
Well, ordered the limited edition with Play-Asia. I should have ordered it on Yesasia while it was still available... Hope customs don't charge me for this one.

Spoiler for Takaki in 5cm and the theme:

Yes, surely the motivation of Takaki's moving on can't be Akari. But I'm afraid I cannot think that the news about Akari's wedding affected Takaki. I doubt that Takaki had any contact with Akari. After losing all their contacts since high school, and hearing news of wedding... is improbable, and unaesthetic. After so long time, it's not so probable that what he was seeking for so obsessively was Akari in person. Akari was, at best, a symbol attached to his obsession, IMHO.

Considering events and lines in 5cm, I think Takaki's real problem was hardly romance or dating. He says he quit the job, after realizing that he completely lost all the earnest seriousness in his mind (真剣で切実だった思い?) once he had. I doubt if we say about romance or dating in such a manner, and quitting one's job because of problems in dating or memory of old romance is not so realistic. I suppose his problem was probably from his workplace and/or inside of himself, and that was why he decided to quit his job and eventually to freelance. We might imagine what was the actual problem, and how it affected on the relationship with Risa, but cannot know the answers exactly. At least we see that dating Risa didn't help him a lot. So the theme of 5cm I see is neither romance nor memory, its the solitude of a man, who has to move on inspiteof obstacles and shackles the life laid down on him.

Good luck on your DVD!