I happened upon this anime in several anime fan sites as it was considered one of the higher rated animes even until today. Reading how some people said it rivaled works that of Miyazaki, I had high expectations for it. But unfortunately it was a total letdown.
The only thing I really enjoyed about the movie was the animation quality and detail that was put into the movie. The animation was just simply beautiful from the vividness of the background to the fluid motion of characters but then, sadly, the praise ends here.
The story and the characters were very anti-climactic as no real progress is met by the characters with one another. This is however how the creator of the story wished for it to be i think as the title is named "5 centimeters per second". It was a collection of short stories about human distance. I'll say though that the concept and execution were nice but the story itself was lacks proper closure as it presents the audience with the concept but then leaves it at the presentation with no real conclusion. The story began as a cultured glass of wine then slowly transforming into wine in a box. The depth slowly filled in as the stories progressed. They were written just so that a concept could be brought to stage and left there to be a static attraction for the audience.
So if you're looking for a totally artistic and visually pleasing feature with no real concern for a happy ending with much depth in the end then give this one a looksy.