incredible voice acting of Kana Hanazawa (Yukari Yukino) and Miyu Irino (Takao Akizuki).
'Garden of Words' is a 46min length film yet undeniably uses this short amount of time extremely well leaving you saying 'it was perfect as it was'. Although some Shinkai fans may be feeling it may not be fulfilled compared to his other films at such a time frame, resulting in not enough character development.
I assure you, you will not be disappointed by this film.
(I was lucky enough to watch this at the world premiere several weeks ago at the Gold Coast Film Festival in Australia. I also had the pleasure of meeting Makato Shinkai and hearing things he had to say and what he wanted to point out to the viewers.)
Story:
"Takao, who is training to become a shoemaker, skipped school and sketches shoes in a Japanese-style garden. He meets Yukino a mysterious 27 year old woman who is insecure and unsure of what she is doing with her life. Then, without arranging the times, the two start to see each other again and again, but only on rainy days. They deepen their relationship and open up to each other. But the end of the rainy season soon approaches..."
I think this is very nice concept and original idea and I enjoyed it very much, especially the age difference, it gave a whole different feel to the movie. Shinkai's previous works always include romance but not just romance, romance being torn apart by distance, however in 'Garden of Words' this is reversed, as it shows their relationship progressing.
9/10
Art:
The art is incredible and beautiful much like Shinkai's other films. He mentioned that he used a different colouring approach by making the shade colour green, which he said was to represent the green of the garden reflecting off of the character's. Not only is the colour impressive but the art style is also amazing, unique and extremely smooth.
10/10
Sound:
The soundtrack is extremely appealing and very beautiful. Each piece fits perfectly with the scenes they are featured in and the movie overall. The theme song "Rain", which has been covered many times over the years, is now performed by Motohiro Hata for this film and I love it.
10/10
Character:
Both main characters were extremely well planned and seemed very real and human. They both had detailed backgrounds and personalities which makes them both very relatable. Both characters are unsure of their future and what they want to do with their life and find comfort in each other as they continue to meet. I think their relationship is very well developed. This is a highly debated argument due to the short amount of time of the film. Despite this, I think he achieved and portrayed their relationship perfectly. I can't stress enough how wonderfully he has developed these characters in a 46minute time frame, it is extraordinary. I felt extreme empathy for the two toward to the end of the film with the help of their amazing voice actors bringing me to tears in the cinema!
10/10
Enjoyment:
I thoroughly enjoyed this film. It is my favourite Makoto Shinkai film because I believe it is very simple yet extremely touching and less heart breaking than his previous films!
10/10
Overall:
I give this film a 10/10 for it's amazing use of time and development, it's amazing art and OST, and the brilliant characters and story it holds. I feel like there were no plot holes and was a perfect length film. I will definitely be adding this to my collection when it is released. I strongly recommend this amazing film to anyone and everyone (especially Shinkai fans or romance enthusiasts.
