This anime is a masterpiece because it is more about the questions than the answers associated with them.
And because it is so short, there really isn't a reason not to watch this. Its simply a work of art that will force you to question your own life, and the meaning you build each and everyday you live it.
Did the man really appreciate things as they were happening? Or is he appreciating them now, now that they are memories? Its not to say that all should be cherished, as some of us have nothing worthwhile to look back on. But essentially, the message of this story is appreciation. This man had a family, that is all he ever had. And now that he is old and feeble, and they have left him, he himself is a memory of a time past.
Its a sob story, but could this man really consider his own life sad?
Looking back, he has no lines, no voice to his concerns, so we can never really know the answers quite when we needed them.
Is that what life is, then? Something that can be communicated in a mere twelve minutes?
