Anime Information

Forums

Well, I finally got my R1 copy of this and watched it for the first time. The animation was truly beautiful. I really love this animation style and the wonderful use of light, shadows and skies to underscore the moment. But once again, dwelling on the theme of separation. I'm not sure how many different ways you can express this sentiment without starting to sound repetitive. I wish he would apply this tremendous artistry to a different theme. Akari was able to eventually move on, while Touno allowed himself to remain stuck in his childhood memories. Toward the end Akari found the letter she was never able to give to Touno, and she had a brief moment of nostalgia over a fond childhood memory. She had clearly moved on. His memory of this brief, yet impactful time in his life set him on a path that turned out to be pretty damn pointless. I am not able to relate to this sort of thinking as I am the resilient, cup half full sort. I would move on. You never forget moments like that, but you do move on.

So, I think I would have enjoyed this more if it had been an hour and a half and had also followed Akari's response to their parting and her way of handling the situation and feelings. It may have made for an interesting contrast. In the end, it was a touching, sad tale, but I had no pity for Touno.

I think it was Akari at the very end that walked past Touno at the train crossing. Yes Akari, full of thoughts of the present, didn't notice it was Touno at all and kept on going - just as she had done in her own life and with choices she had to make; while Touno was stopped in his tracks once again, and turned around, looking back to the past for something that had long since passed him by.

I gave it an 8. Astounding animation and storytelling technique spent on a rather boring, one-dimensional character.

I also felt like the ending was awful. NOT because it wasn't a perfect ending (though i would have loved that) i just felt like it didn't end. the first episode was amazing, and i teared up during it. like someone mentioned on the first or second page, i was expecting there to be a deep connection between the two of them throughout the movie. but instead it was just amovie about them drifitng apart. I did like the second episode, but it didn't really do much for the story besides confirm that tohno still liked akira.

the third episode, was awful. it really just was scenes to music. who is mizuno? what happened? the least they could have given us at the end was akira standing there after the trains had left. or if they had met up at the end, so that tohno could have moved on with his life. In the end he comes off as an almost pathetic character who can't seem to get out of his first childhood love.

they could have done a lot at the end to make it a beautiful sad ending. but instead they sort of left it. i've seen way too many sad romance movies and this one fell short in comparison.

as for each episoderatings, for me it would be 10 / 8 / 5.

this was not his best work. the place promised in our early days was better.

Last episode really lost touch. In my opinion, the movie would probably have been better if it just didn't exist. Still, the art direction and overall power of this movie is astounding. It's hard for me to decide whether I liked part 1 or 2 better. 5 cm/s draws much of its power because of its realism and how themes relate to situations and feelings in real life. Episode 1 is an emotional tour-de-force between anxiety, happiness, and raw emotion. Episode 2 can become a real tearjerker, too. For each episode, I'd say 10/10/7. Also, 10 for the Ending credits roll. I dunno, some kind of combination of the font, little sketches, the fact I just finished an epic movie, the layout, and the music just combines and makes me cry. I'm so pathetic. :P
10 on the trailer, too. Watching the trailer even makes me tear up :/

Now that I've gotten my hands on the 1080p version, I kinda want to re-watch it. Though, that means less time to watch stuff I haven't seen before, so I don't know. Maybe I'll just wait 'til I at least have a monitor that I won't have do downscale it on...

what an amazing story and animation on this one, left me speechless
altho i didn't like the finally, i was hoping for them to be together
even with that i am giving it a 10/10

I was really hoping for a happy ending, but the line "I wonder when I got into the habit of writing messages to nobody" just killed all my hopes for such a thing to happen...

The third episode should have been fleshed out more, was lacking compared to the first 2 episodes. I felt sorry for Takaki, but I'm glad he seemed to have moved on...about time! xD

Another masterpiece by Makoto Shinkai, although Beyond the Clouds and Hoshi no Koe had a better story in my book.

Sounds like you've never been in love.

Augh, I too was hoping that this would end happily. And indeed, even if they did exchange more texts their hearts still wouldn't be closer. He did really have to love her to not be able to move on... but I guess he was in a relationship with the girl with glasses? (Was that the girl in the 2nd episode?)
He kind of moved on... but he looked back anyway, like he's still searching for her. And maybe he always will be but he's realized that it's better to move on...
The first episode made me teary, and made it seem like the relationship had hope... but it kept continually going down and down D: ... the last episode was unique because of the music video format, completely out of character compared to the previous two...

I understood that the girl in 2nd story is Akari. After I finished the movie, my friend said that she was another girl from Takaki's school, not Akari *LOL*. I supposed that "Sumida" was Akari's surname.

A lot of people are getting lost in 3rd part. I think they should try going back and watching it again. Everything makes sense if you're paying attention...

*sniff* It was one of the best animes I have seen so far, mainly because so many overwhelming feelings were transported in it. I would have loved a happy ending, but well...that's the way life goes. This is the first love story that made me cry... O_o

im feeling soo down after watching the end **sniff~sniff** I would have love it and gave it a 10/10 if it was a good ending.. (give us EPISODE 4 =p, please dun marry!). This movie's too real for me =(. Well episode 1 was really well executed. Episode 2 was also quite good but i was hoping for Akira to have some screening time. And then episode 3 just dropped the bomb at me.

I don't understand all the flak that part 3 gets. I watched the three parts together as a whole entity and not separately, and I feel that part 3 works very well as a conclusion. And if people paid any attention to the end scenes there wouldn't need to be any "explaining" at all which would probably ruin the scene.

In terms of visuals, this is probably Shinkai's best project yet. However, his direction and storytelling haven't improved much (if at all) since his first works. IMO, (Voices of a Distant Star) > (The Place Promised in Our Early Days) > (5cm/s). The story feels rather diluted with many scenes that could have been condensed or eliminated for greater impact (or maybe he was just trying to be realistic?).

Anyway, I'm rather disappointed. I kept sniffing as I watched the movie not because of the drama but because I had a cold.

I think this film is one of the greatest portrayal of something I say from time to time:

"Life's hard. Live with it."

lol tihs film did not portray anything about life being hard; rather, it portrayed a boring story with nothing ever happening ever; hell this plot was slower and duller than Love Hina, and that is definitely not a good thing (I am sure there is some slower plot, but that was the first good example to pop into my mind). I would give specific instances, but I have no idea how to do 'spoiler tags'.

Well, this anime don't have great ending where we can see kiss and tell classic "and they live long and happy". This anime have own deeper meaning of telling other people our feelings and this is thing that i love most in this series. This anime isnt strong enough to make me cry but its have big power and i feel very sad to main char. I am sure that i wont forget this anime for long long time, and i will flashback it time to time in my whole life : ]

Probably the only anime in existence to portray an example of a romantic relationship between teens realistically.

lolololol.
You gained four fail points. Is this epic?
Yes / No.

By the way, this isn't something that should make you think too hard.
If you're struggling to understand what happened in the third part, don't take it too seriously - it's just as it appears.

I actually got the DVD a week ago and I'm watching the dub in three parts after week-long intervals (because I couldn't wait a few months like the Japanese had to in the Y! Japan showings).

After several watchthroughs, it's still just as good as it was the first time.

Regarding the dub: it's perfectly fine if you get past the fact that 8-year old, 13-year old, and early twenties Takaki all sound the same. Probably one of the better dubs I've seen recently.

EDIT: Blu-ray disc will be amazing.
These are lossy jpg, but the png's are too big to upload. : (