Story: 8.0/10
The story is simple and straightforward. We have a male and a female become a couple at an early age of 13. However, life circumstances drive them apart. What happens to their relationship? I genuinely enjoyed the story for its purity and lack of confusion, but in retrospect, 5 Centimeters per Second does have a sense of a lack of originality. This is not entirely a bad quality though. A commonly seen plot can always be well done and it will deserve a strong rating. This anime does encompass that, but a 9 or 10 in this category is reserved for the ones that go beyond and have solid originality.
Art: 9.9/10
Art is by far the substantial element of 5 Centimeters per Second. I have never felt such a powerful feeling of awe and wonder, as I gazed through the stunning backgrounds. This absolutely carried the anime in my opinion. Through my slight boredom and drowsiness, a new backdrop could revitalize my interest and fill me to the brink with a ecstatic emotion. Other than the backgrounds, the character designs are solid and well-animated. At the beginning, the faces caught me lightly off guard because of the eyes. I cannot explain why this occurred. This could simply be my bias and the fact that I am a relatively new anime fan. This would mean I am used to the style of current 2015ish anime and not exposed enough to older styles. Anyhow, the facial structures had an improvement through the progression of the anime.
Sound: 7.8/10
There was some good piano songs, which I genuinely enjoyed. The ED was pretty solid as well. I really felt like the OST synergized adequately. It was peacefully pleasant and did a great job at stimulating the auditory senses, while I was drooling at the backgrounds.
Characters: 7.2/10
There was very little dialogue in this anime, which means characters were developed through actions, plot direction, and maybe inner monologues? There were approximately 2 main characters and 2 supporting characters. This would mean that these four would get a solid amount of development, right? Sadly, this did not happen in 5 Centimeters. However, I understood that characterization was simply not a focus and it was more on the message being portrayed. What the viewer did have the chance to observe is the thoughts of the male and female main characters which painted a solid picture of their relationship. We got to understand the genuineness of their personalities and how they lived apart from one another.
Enjoyment 7.4/10
This anime was pretty enjoyable because of its incredible art and authentically simple story. I had to pause the show during certain periods, where the backgrounds completely marveled me. However, the characterization could have been better, as I did not understand the characters to a solid extent and the story needed an extra push in originality.
Overall: 8.0/10
