Metrics
Genre:
Romance, Coming-of-age, Anime
Rating:
7.9/10
Audience:
Older teens, unmarried adults. People who like anime movies. People who like realistic love movies.
Rewatch Time:
It’s really serious, and more of a one-time experience. Only 1h also.
Winner:
Takaki (Kenji Mizuhashi)
Review
I’m pretty sure Makoto Shinkai is my favourite director. Everything he does just ends me. And even though this movie (if you want to call it that - it’s really three chapters) is formally listed as a “romance drama”, I really think it’s more realistic than most of the romance movies I’ve seen. I mean this straight up broke my heart, “500 days of summer” style. I’m relatively naive, so I haven’t completely given up on love (like Takaki), so pretty much everything he does hits REALLY hard. His relationship with Akari (Yoshimi Kondou) from the time they’re kids to adults is the focus of the movie, and that’s really all you need to know. It’s visually beautiful (as usual) and the visual storytelling is wonderful for both insightful and casual viewers. My only issue was that it’s plot didn’t have too many events, and maybe a longer runtime might have helped with that. But for what it is, it’ll definitely give you something to think about. Warning though, it might break your heart.
Spoiler Territory
That end scene. WHY DOES SHINKAI KEEP DOING THIS? Killed my heart to see that there was no one behind that train. But I guess that’s what the movie was about - relationships fade. Love fades, if you allow it to. Killed me. Takaki being emotionally unavailable around Kanae also hit home. And knowing that Akari got married without Takaki even knowing… my heart hurts even now. Love is hard, man. So yeah, Shinkai does it again. I don’t really know why they spent all that time focusing on Kanae’s family and sister and stuff, but there must be some reason. Also apparently the falling cherry blossom petals are a metaphor for relationships growing apart with time? Mad. I really liked the callback though, it was cute.