Mega Megane Moé
Hell and Heaven Moéltdown
Twelve Moments in Anime 2008 – #04: Five Centimeters Per Second
(Part of a 12-day series fondly remembering some of the best moments in anime this year. Participants include: lolikitsune, lelangir, FuyuMaiden, Zeroblade, Nazarielle, ghostlightning, TheBigN, ETERNAL, Mike, A Day Without Me, digitalboy, Josh, otou-san, Culchann and Pontifus, IcyStorm, Cokematic,
koneko-chan, and miz, and you’re welcome to join too!)
I, uh, ugh … tissue, please? Sorry, something in my eye, just a speck of dust…
It’s just … like … augh, and why? And then … I can’t. I can’t write about this movie again. It’ll snap my heart in two if I do.
OK, but in all seriousness, I’m looking up at the clock and I’ve got to admit that even I fall behind on these moments sometime. I’ve now got 45 minutes to fix up and get ready this post, and as such I will just take today off as a breather, and work towards banging out three piles of kickassery for the next three days instead.
Luckily, I’ve got a previous post on Five Centimeters Per Second which can be referenced for some of the reasons why this movie moves me so much. I’ll try to rant a little here as well, as a second viewing may have changed how 5cm affects me slightly, but I think, for now, the old post will be the more coherent source.
(500 words later I find this is all lies. I managed to get out something decent after all, so I’m pleased. In any case, consider the old post at least a supplement.)
12 Moments of Anime 2008
#04: Five Centimeters Per Second
Strangely enough, I remember both times I watched Five Centimeters Per Second, which may be the first clue to how much of an impression it left on me.
Amusingly, both times were in positions that would prime me to be perfectly blasted by the emotional effect of Byousoku 5cm. Not as if I hadn’t been feverishly anticipating it both times; the first type because of all the hype generated by various bloggers, and the second from all the hype generated from … well, the first watching.
It’s a very rewatchable substance, naturally, one because it’s relatively short and lends itself to such, and two because you expect something much different out of it the second time around; after all, the ending that is eventually reached, is not the ending that one would imagine the first time through. At least if you’re me (who couldn’t predict the ending to AIR).
It’s almost ironic, that in one situation – if you’ll allow me to pull back the curtain – I was in the position of the typical, horrifically lovestruck teenager, watching the movie with a few close friends, one of which I had a particular infatuation for, in a situation not unlike that of the second story. Although I don’t think she, like Takaki, had eyes for another, but who am I to know. Enough similar to churn my stomach ten times over.
And the second time, was at college, when I was equally fortunate to enjoy the tension of a long-distance relationship, one that had me questioning whether, over the dozens of phone calls, our hearts were getting closer or drifting apart. This lies closer to the third story in 5cm, naturally.
So maybe it’s all my fault that Five Centimeters Per Second is too damn awesome.
It’s my fault because I’m a foolish teenager who likes mushy anime and wants said anime to make him feel deep emotion, a mental state that is quite easily exploited by down-to-earth, beautiful (yet brutal) stories like this one.
And if that’s a sin, I’ll accept it with open arms.
But of course, one could also say this is the exceptional strength of Five Centimeters Per Second, in that is IS down-to-earth and that it doesn’t sugarcoat things. Sometimes people will wait forever. Sometimes they will move on. But, always, things move forward – as my friend very nicely analyzed from the title, “although five centimeters per second seems slow, before you know it, the cherry blossoms have all fallen, and you can never get them to go back up.”
It’s the same with life. Time goes on. Slowly, but surely. It’s up to you to make the most of it.
I think an anime that can make me feel this much, that can tell me this much, is certainly worth something, is it not? I can only hope it is the same for you.
-CCY
(Although it probably doesn’t hurt that the animation in 5cm is worship-worthy.)
December 22, 2008 - 12:38 am
Yes yes. 5 centimeters per second. The movie which everyone watched. Except me.
December 22, 2008 - 2:58 am
Wonderful, wonderful movie. It takes a Makoto Shinkai to make a snowbound train journey look good.
I think the ‘one more time, one more chance’ sequence of the third part is one of the finest sequences ever created in anime.
December 22, 2008 - 5:30 am
Yeah, Byousoku was good. At least, I felt it was much better than Kumo/Yakusoku no Basho.
December 22, 2008 - 6:49 am
I like how his soul is irrevocably crushed, but then he smiles at the end of the movie and you’re like “so there’s hope?”
… but really, there isn’t, and you’re just being fucked with.
December 22, 2008 - 9:18 am
This is, aesthetically, a very fine piece of work and it’s still one of my favorites. Though I agree with lolikitsune with the ending. If anything, it’s a cautionary tale about what passivity and living with regret does to you.
One of the interesting things I’ve noticed is what happens when I show this to people who didn’t grow up as shy introverted geeks–they don’t get it, they find it kind of pathetic how the main character acts. It works best on people who have been through similar experienecs and feelings…like me. :-p
December 22, 2008 - 11:58 am
“I like how his soul is irrevocably crushed”
Except it isn’t. Just because he finally comes to terms with how things are doesn’t mean that he’s at his lowest point. That was before he realized that life goes on, and so he shall as well. And I’m sure he feels a lot better than he did moping around.
Unless you were talking about that moment before the realization. :P
I haven’t been a relationship, or have longed to be in one, so I can’t specifically relate to the situations that the characters in the film experience. But Shinkai manages to present in a way such that though I don’t feel exactly what everyone else is feeling, those feelings (like how it seems that all of the world is against you) are general enough that most can understand. He really wasn’t able to do that for Beyond the Clouds or Hoshi no Koe, which is consequently why I rank this much higher than those two. :)
December 25, 2008 - 5:46 am
I totally forgot that I’d posted a comment here. Shit, I’m prolific. /me applauds self
Anyway…
@Mike: well, it’s pathetic even from our standpoint, right? Just because someone can relate doesn’t make it less lame. Takaki really fucks up bad by not taking a step back and looking at the big picture. He had male friends, why did he not confide in them and invite a “CLENCH THOSE TEETH?” Because he’s a pussy.
@TheBigN: no, I didn’t mean that his soul was crushed the moment he smiled. His soul was crushed over long years of working and living in solitude (as he pretty much tells us in the third part right before the One More Time, One More Chance AMV). I refuse to believe that his smile at the end is an indication that he’s “over it,” if anything, what he has realized is how pathetic he is. I’d contend that he’s laughing at himself.
Maybe that realization can help him heal in the future, but it’s gonna take a lot of ARIA watching to cure this man’s wounds :P
December 29, 2008 - 9:02 am
Your life story is making me sad…why can’t RL be like Wind instead of 5cm/s? ;_;