5 Centimeters per Second/YMMV

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Alternative Character Interpretation: One essay suggests that, contrary to the common view of Akari and Takaki wanting to have a relationship but drifting away over time, Akari had already made her peace with the untenability of the relationship and was not actually bothering to fight for it the way Takaki did.
  • Epileptic Trees: Due to the nature of the ending, this movie invites Epileptic Trees with regards to the future of its characters. At this point it becomes notable that, contrary to his reputation, Makoto Shinkai has never actually made a movie with a genuine Downer Ending. Voices of a Distant Star and The Place Promised in Our Early Days both worked out in the end -- but then, neither of those movies were set in the 'real' world.
  • Hilarious in Hindsight:
    • The preface to the novel states that Shinkai drafted several short stories while planning this film. One of those was The Sky Outside The Window, which focuses on rain. The idea didn't make it into this film, but he came back to it twice later for The Garden of Words and Weathering with You.
    • One more side's take on the second act has Takaki contemplating the idea of trains passing while moving in opposite directions, connected only for an instant. This came out years before Your Name had the same thing happen prominently twice.
    • The manga's ninth chapter shows the intersection near Shinjuku Police Station with their traffic lights and circular structure years before Your Name made them famous.
  • Needs More Love: A larger fandom might cathartise some of the feelings that this movie invokes in people.

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