Art: 10
Sound: 9
Character: 7
Enjoyment: 9
Overall: 8
TL DR review: Solid all around romance movie. Not Shinkai's best but comes a close second. A Must watch.
Section wise review:
Story:
Its a Shinkai film, meaning there will be a love story with a twist. 5cm/second had themes of love and effect distance can have over it. Garden of words had love between a student and his teacher while in Place promised, childhood friends took different paths as time progressed but were drawn back by a promise made during their early years.
Here we have a love story which starts off with body swapping but eventually becomes across different time periods. Its told in a sort of a non-linear way. The closest film I can think of with a similar plot is the Sandra Bullock starring Premonition.
Art:
It's a Shinkai film. That really should be certificate enough. The scenes are dripping with detail. Shinkai has a knack of taking everyday, normal stuff and making them seem magical. A simple train ride can be made to appear to be out of a fantasy setting and here it is no different. There is a section in the story called "Kuchikamizake Trip" which is hauntingly beautiful. Like "making of cyborg"/parade scene in GITS/Innocence or the classroom destruction scene from Aku no hana, the scene stays with you long after you have seen the film.
Sound:
The music was an eye-opener. Music in other Shinkai's works hadnt really impressed me and I always thought of it as a weak link. No more, the songs here are truly breathtaking. Some of these songs, I will add to my playlist. My fav songs are Kuchikamizake Trip and Kataware Doki.
Character:
Here is where I feel the movie could have slightly been improved. Bear in mind that these are mostly nitpicks on my side. I feel Mitsuha got a better character arc than Taki. Taki was just some guy in Tokyo who had a crush on his sempai from work. His family status, his friends and other details about him were generally left open for interpretation. Mitsuha got a good character arc but towards the ending the entire confrontation with her father curiosly occurred off-screen. We were just told that Mitsuha's father finally believed her and got the villagers to safety. Kind of a cop-out IMO. It wasnt organic.
Enjoyment:
Nothing to complain here. Strangely I even liked the usually jarring j-pop songs Shinkai uses in his films.
Overall:
It doesnt approach the greatness of subtle storytelling that 5cm/second employed but in terms of Shinkai's works, it is a very, very close second.
