The Garden of Words

The Garden of Words (言の葉の庭, Kotonoha no Niwa) is a 2013 drama anime short film by Makoto Shinkai, his fifth major production. Its soundtrack is composed by Daisuke Kashiwa. It is animated by CoMix Wave Films and distributed by Toho.

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Fifteen-year-old Takao Akizuki (Miyu Irino, Patrick Poole) is an aspiring shoemaker and resident of Tokyo, Japan who skips school on rainy mornings to spend time in the Shinjuku Gyoen park. On one of these occasions, he encounters 27 year-old Yukari Yukino (Kana Hanazawa, Maggie Flecknoe), an initially mysterious woman who quotes a tanka at him. As their interactions continue, they slowly open up to each other and grow closer, but each hide secrets of their own, and the good times might not last forever.

A manga adaptation written by Shinkai and illustrated by Midori Motohashi was released in 2013, with a Yen Press English translation in October 2014. A novelisation also by Shinkai was initially released serially in Da Vinci magazine from September 2013 to April 2014 with unified release in April 2014 and English translation in August 2020. There was supposed to have been a stage play adaptation by Whole Hog Theatre in London and Tokyo in 2020, but those plans were scuppered by COVID-19, with no news as to a new schedule available yet.

Tropes used in The Garden of Words include:

Adults Are Useless: Takao gets no help from his mother, who is more interested in chasing romance than the household finances, or his older brother who moves out halfway through the film. Yukari finds herself ill-suited for the grown-up world too, with her colleagues not really caring about her situation.
Airplane of Love: Near the end, as Takao thinks of Yukari, the camera lingers on an airplane flying high over the school rooftop he's on.
Bittersweet Ending: Despite their time together helping them come to terms with their emotions and situations, Takao and Yukari are separated come film's end, with Yukari moving back to her hometown in Shikoku to teach. Whether or not their relationship will ultimately be is left unknown.
Blatant Lies: When one of Yukari's ex-colleagues asks what she's up to, she says she's meeting an old woman in the park.
Camera Abuse: Some scenes have raindrops appear to get on the "camera".
Cue the Sun: After raining for much of the film, the sun comes out prominently at the film's emotional climax.
Maybe Ever After: The film leaves the question of whether Takao and Yukari genuinely have mutual romantic feelings and will ultimately get together unanswered.
Race For Your Love: After Takao leaves her apartment, Yukari has second thoughts and runs down the stairs in an attempt to catch him on his way out.
Real Place Background: Many scenes are set in accurately-recreated actual locales in Tokyo, Japan, including the Shinjuku Gyoen.
The Reveal: Yukari is a literature teacher at Takao's school who is on leave pending resignation following false rumours spread against her.
Scenery Porn: The film continues Shinkai's tradition of beautifully depicting Japan, with verdant visuals that some say remain unrivaled even two more films later.
Snow Means Love: Downplayed, in that while Takao and Yukari are not shown being intimate in snow, the fact that he leaves items for her in The Stinger imply he is still trying to nurse the relationship.
The Stinger: A post-credits scene shows Takao leaving a letter and pair of shoes at the park meeting place in winter.
They Call Me Mister Tibbs: When Takao lets slip his feelings for Yukari, she corrects him with "Miss Yukino" (Yukino-sensei in the original Japanese) to reaffirm their professional distance.