5 Centimeters per Second

                                                      “Hey… They say it’s five centimeters per second.        The speed at which the sakura blossom petals fall…                                                 Five centimeters per second.”

 Akari Shinohara

The story takes place in Japan, beginning in the 1990s up until 2008. The central figure of it is Takaki Tōno who devoted his life, heart and soul to a beloved one. The film consists of three episodes: «Cherry Blossom», «Cosmonaut» and «5 Centimeters per Second». Each part shows the development of relations between Takaki and Akari, starting from friendship in elementary school and leading to a deeper love. In a twist of fate the characters are separated but they continue their communication by sending each other long letters filled with desperate desire to see each other again. 

The first episode shows us the long-awaited meeting and initial confessions of love. We follow the memory of Takaki to look closer at his feelings about Akari. The whole part is covered in snow, sadness and inevitability of separation. 

In the second episode the perspective is changing. Now the narrator is Kanae Sumida, a classmate of Takaki, who has been in love with him ever since meeting him in middle school but has never had the courage to confess her feelings. It is clear that Takaki is far from being with Kanae or someone else. The symbolic image of this part is a spaceship that is launched to discover the Solar System. Takaki stresses the loneliness of this metal piece in the desert universe: "It must really be a lonelier journey than anyone could imagine. Cutting through absolute darkness, encountering nothing but the occasional hydrogen atom. Flying blindly into the abyss, believing therein lie the answers to the mysteries of the universe."It is obvious that our main character, like a cosmonaut on a spaceship, is floating outside the boarders of the real world, alone with the recollections of his love. 

The last episode offers us a dose of reality. I advise you to watch it yourself and make your own conclusions about the ending. As for me, it left a sensation of a slight disappointment and incompleteness.

I would definitely recommend this cartoon to all sophisticated romantics and lovers of deep philosophical drama.

Rating: 8/10