Prelim Review: Er...okay straight up I love Shinkai's movies. I love all of them--they are some of the most thought-provoking, gorgeous and wonderfully scripted anime movies I've seen (next to the Ghibli/Miyazaki stuff). 5 Centimeters Per Second is not my favorite (that's reserved for 'The Place Promised in our Early days'), but I've still seen it enough to repeat some of the lines. In Japanese.

That said, this is a very faithful and thoughtful adaptation of that movie. It manages to bridge some lightly touched upon subjects in the movie itself (expanded upon some of the characters and their feelings), while still remaining fresh.

The art is...okay. Shinkai doesn't go for the overly dramatic art for his characters or their surroundings--details emerge gradually, but are never WAM in your face. Soft color palettes and lines are more his style and that's represented quite well here. But what works in animation--where there's other factors that you focus on and can enhance your viewing enjoyment--doesn't work as well here. Everything was too muted feeling, too soft.

Full review to be posted at Poisoned Rationality ( )

Beautifully drawn, gentle, sad, thoughtful, slow manga novel of first love and loss. For some of the characters, love and loss is the thing that ends up defining and paralyzing them. There are conversations that never take place, letters that are never sent, people right in front of you that you don’t really see. It’s heartbreaking.

(I loved the moment when Kanae finally caught that wave!)

I did feel that the ending was very abrupt and I wished for a more definite resolution. ( )

So beautiful. I had seen the anime for this a long time ago and always thought back on how stunningly beautiful its art was, so much so that it has stayed with me all the years since. So happy I read the manga! The story itself is beautiful as well, it captures the fleeting essence of our lives well and the feelings and struggle that comes with trying to deal with that fleeting aspect and the beauty of coming to terms with it. I am definitely going to have to go back and watch the film now! As a final word on this work (as both story and animation) it is simply haunting. ( )

I don't think it was a bad story overall, but not quite my cup of tea. ( )

A lovely adaptation of the film of the same name. Excellent at capturing the torrid emotions that come and go with young love, and how these emotions can stick with us through our lives, sometimes affecting our relationships with others. Although not apropos to the theme of uncertainty,which the manga executes beautifully, I do wish there was more closure. ( )