Reviews

May 9, 2018
Warning possible Spoilers

Makoto Shinkai is definitely one of those directors, who has gotten better with age. Each of his films get better and better over time, so finding out this is the fourth film I've watched that was made by him is pretty surprising.

Story (8/10)

The story is about two people called Takao Akizuki and Yukari Yukino, who meet in the same place whenever it is a rainy day and start to form a connection.
Considering this is only 45 minutes, I was wondering how a full story would be told and despite the short length it managed to pull through.
It nicely showed the perspective of two people, who weren't enjoying the life they were living and wanted to change that. This is what brought Takao and Yukari together as they both went to a spot they enjoyed going to on a rainy day, the conversations they have build a connection between them as their goals in life were very similar.
They eventually encounter some obstacles that threaten their relationship as Takao finds out who Yukari really is. The argument they have when their true feelings are revealed felt right since both characters have a bit of an age gap and this would cause problems if people knew they were together, but I really liked how they resolved it by saying how important they are to each other.
The ending felt satisfying mostly as both characters went their separate ways, although it felt kinda weird how the film just stopped.

Characters (8/10)

Considering there is only two characters worth mentioning, the conversations and chemistry built between them was done pretty damn well, it's surprising how you can make a strong connection between two people in such a short amount of time.

Takao is trying to be a shoemaker, which I will admit is something you don't see the main protagonist doing often. He seemed like a simple guy, but he had a inspired feeling as he wanted to make sure the shoes he made would be good enough for the person wearing them, which Yukari eventually became one of these people.
He's also willing to stand up to people whenever they bad mouth someone he cares about.
Yukari is much different, she is a teacher at Takao's school and is a shy, yet depressed person who has been through a failed relationship and is talked about bad things behind her back from certain students in her class. She was also pretty mysterious as she didn't much information about herself until we see the scenes that concentrate on her.
These two had a surprisingly interesting chemistry as their different backgrounds yet similar goal in life brought them together, seeing this relationship build over the short time of this film was very sweet, but sad at the same time since there would be a lot of problems if they actually got together.

Art (10/10)

Makoto's films always end up being beautifully made, even though I disliked "The place promised in our early days" and "5 centimetres per second" I still loved the artstyle behind them and despite Your Name also looking fantastic as well, I think The Garden of Words is my favourite looking Makoto film now.
The attention to detail is near pitch perfect and the shots of the landscape and how the rain is used to set a scene is done brilliantly. The Garden of Words is definitely in my top 10 most amazing looking anime films, because it absolutely deserves to be there.

Sound (8/10)

The soundtrack was also very nice to listen to, the soft notes for the scenes between Takao and Yukari felt very relaxing and sweet. The same could be said for the music used during their confrontation on the stairs, the outburst of music was bombastic and made the scene feel even more emotional.

Extras:

It was kinda surprising how quickly a romantic relationship developed between Takao and Yukari, but this was only 45 minutes long, so a lot of time skipping had to be implemented to make sure it worked. However I did believe the relationship that had developed between the two, because they both talked in a way where there was a mutual trust, which helped sell it for me.
The slice of life aspect was done really well as both of these characters just went about their usual lives, until certain things happened to them just like in real life. It just felt nice seeing normal people doing normal things for once instead of seeing characters going around defeating monsters with special powers.
Looking at the genres, it was a little surprising seeing psychological being part of it and after watching this, it isn't much of a surprise anymore. This aspect mainly concentrates on Yukari who has had a very unlucky life since she has experienced a failed marriage, is being bad mouthed from her students and can't even look after herself properly since you see her drinking alcohol and eating chocolate all the time. So it is obvious she is going through a deep depression and desperately wants something or someone to help her break free of it.

Enjoyment (8/10)

Despite the short length this was a nice enjoyable film about two people forming a bond just by meeting each other on rainy days.

Overall (8/10)

Overall this was a nice film and is definitely a great improvement compared to Makoto's earlier work, so if you're a fan of Your Name then you could check this one out too, which also has a nice story between two people.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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