Cross Road

First let me disappoint most of you who only saw the trailer without any prior knowledge. The trailer is the whole series, this was just a commercial campaign by "Z-Kai". Granted with huge names like a Makoto Shinkai and Masayoshi Tanaka it is a bit disappointing that we only get 119 seconds of amazement and joy.

I put the story 6/10 only because it's essentially a commercial and not a story at all, if this project were to be adapted to a full blown storyline I think it could have a lot of potential, but alas this is all we have.

Per Shinkai's other work (Garden of ... Words,Children with lost voices, etc...) the art work is simply amazing. It's almost worth the two minutes of your life just to be blown away by how amazing the art work is.

I won't comment on the sound too much because of how short this work is and because the art work demands most of your attention most probably won't notice the sound unless watched again.

The characters seem to have a lot of potential, of course we only get to see a glimpse into their lives, but they're so intriguing that I am legitimately sad that "Cross Road" isn't an actual full scale series. My enjoyment was 9.5/10 (only because it's so short *cries*) but I highly recommend everyone watch this. If only we had commercials like this is the States!

"This isn't a movie. It is a commercial. God damn it!" - anyone who saw it and hoped for a series AND then came to know about what it really is. I know that feel, bud. Trust me, I do.

Makoto Shinkai strikes again with another one of his visually stunning works - this time with a 2 minute commercial instead of a feature length film, however. And because it is *his* work, I'll actually skip commenting on the artwork in general. Because it is stunning, to say the least. And I don't know how else to describe it. I shall talk about character designs, though. ... They deserve a mention.

I sure wish he worked on this as a series or a movie, though. Why?

-Story-
Because this is a departure from his previous works in the sense that this is a very light hearted short story. No depressing shit here. Instead of going with the themes Shinkai regularly plays with, ie, 'distance', he went for a different direction. Which is refreshing to see considering the fact that almost every work of his deals with the same theme in a different manner. It is time he explores new grounds. Because as good as 5cms/s was, I don't think I would enjoy watching the same theme explored for like the tenth time and have the creator be known as a one-trick pony. I think he's better than that.

But I digress.

Oh, and yes, I called it a "story". And that's because even in two minutes of run-time it managed to drag me into its world and make me relate to the characters in a way "The Place Promised in Our Early Days" (one of his previous works) never could. The cast comprises of our main leads, a guy and a girl, preparing for a test that'd get them into a university of their dreams. This, being a commercial, uses the story of these two characters to showcase how the long-distance correspondence courses from "Z-Kai" help these two to get where they want. Ends on a happy-ish note, I guess?

This had a lot of potential - it could easily be adapted into a 13 episode Slice of Life series, in your humble reviewer's opinion. Whether or not that actually happens remains to be seen. But that's wishful thinking, bleh.

-Character Designs-
The character designs are neat. Both the guy and the girl look attractive. This is a step up from the previous Shinkai works I've seen, to be honest. The characters didn't look especially attractive in "The Place Promised...". This is a huge improvement when it comes to character designs when compared to it and a definite but subtle improvement from the character designs in his more recent works like "5cms/s" and "Garden of Words".

-Voice Acting-
Their voice actors did a good job and they efficiently managed to portray the emotions that were required from them by the characters they were playing. The girl's nervous "I'll be going now!" while leaving her home to go check out the results of her test sounded very, very natural. So yes, it'll suffice to say that they did well.

-Soundtrack-
The soundtrack used here is sung by Miss Nagi Yanagi and beautifully compliments the visuals. It makes up a large part of what made the whole experience so damn good apart from the stunning visuals.

All in all, I doubt you'd regret watching this short commercial. It is a wonderful sight to the eyes and very pleasant to the ears. Definitely worth 2 minutes of your life.

"Woaah, what an amazing preview! When will it air?"
"Dude, it won't... that was a 2min one-shot."

Probably the most common reaction after watching these commercial cuts, and certainly the utter sadness for Shinkai fans.
Those who are already familiar with his projects, might have notice that from times to times companies from all kind of services come and asks him for short movies that will be used as commercials. All these movies have a optimistic and uplift forward-thinking look to them, caring some kind of moral or sense of ethics.

In this case, this could easily fit as a preview for a cute boy-meets-girl slice of life ... anime, character driven, one of those series that develop into a deeper drama/romance. Even though this is just speculation, it's awesome to see how a short commercial was able to incite all these thoughts, when it's main focus is to sell things not make you ...feel.
Well, that's Japan for you.
Not just thoughts though. As a classic Shinkai production, some might feel also emotional affected by these short movies. Mainly because it shows situations many of us can relate and sure have gone through something similar in the past.

Besides from Shinkai, for this one-shot we also have Masayoshi Tanaka (AnoHana, Kannagi, Mushishi, Toradora!) and Yuu Yamashita (Azumanga, Bleach, InuYasha, Usagi Drop) for the Key animation and character design, and Ayane Sakura (Love Lab, BokuwaTomodachi, Endymion -Index, Joshiraku) for Miho's voice.

While we wait for another cinematic production from Shinkai-san, watching these short stories is a great way to unwind and refresh your artistic masterpieces battery.

-As for the standard MAL rankings, there's no use in further digressing about them.
Story: 6/10 - Art: 8/10 - Sound: 8/10 - Character: 6/10 - Enjoyment: 9/10
Character and story gets an 6 due to the lack of development, obviously.
Artwork and sound 8 for the astonishment they always are.
And enjoyment sure is a 9, even though it only lasted 119 seconds.