Many shows fail to express the characters and the concept in a hundred episodes, while this masterpiece does so in mere minutes. If I had to describe the experience, this show is like a series of haikus, together painting a vignette that itself could be summed up in a single 5-second section at the end.
This is an anime about communication and the human connection between individuals over both time and distance. To consider it sci-fi or romance (or pretty much any other rubber stamp) is to do it a great disservice. The feelings of the characters are palpable in every scene, supported by beautiful and vivid artwork and sound work that invokes Monet in the use of light and color in expressing not simply a scene, but also the feelings embedded in that scene.
I can go on, but I would be wasting your time, that you should be spending watching the show. Beyond the Clouds, a feature-length work by Shinkai, is a good follow-on, and explores the same ideas in a different way.
