Byousoku 5 Centimeter - Completed on 19/04/2015
“As we talked underneath the blanket leaning against each other, every now and then Akari’s tender hair would brush over my cheeks and neck. Every time that happened, the smell of her sweet aroma would excite me while the warm touch of my body kept my senses satisfied.”
This movie has somewhat of a cult following in the community, and while it is remarkably well done, many new comers such as myself won’t as interested after they watch it, why because the story is not linearly adapted from the novel, and this causes some serious holes in the story. But before you stop reading this, I just want to tell you that when I read the light novel, which is about 64 pages, everything made sense, and now I am as big a supporter of this anime as anyone else.
Byousoku is a harsh story, about the reality of love, friendship, and growing up. Indeed there not be any other anime out there that challenges our views this much. In the end however it is a beautifully executed story, with amazing animation, and a sound track that is very suited to the theme. Loyalty in particular, is something that the story really takes a critical view on, I can’t help but recall a number of mainstream Western movies, mostly love stories where the characters drift apart, and one is still madly in love with the other, Byousoku shows the reality of this approach, and its detrimental effect it can have on one’s life. We are introduced to a boy named Tohno, he and his friend are talking in the street, she asks him, “Do you know the speed at which a Cherry Blossom petal falls to the ground?”, he replies “No, I don’t”, “Its 5 centimeters per second”, “You know a lot about these things, Akari”. Clearly they are view fond of each other, and this reference to the speed at which Sakura petals fall, shows the depth of human knowledge, but at the same time not realizing what the truly important truths are.
3 stories comprise the novel, and this is the approach the movie took, however the movie didn’t do justice to the depth that each story had. While reading the novel one can easily understand how transitions take place, but while I was watching the movie I felt a bit short changed. I usually like to know the characters, the way I watch anime is to put myself into the lead’s role, be they a girl or a boy, and consider how each situation would make me feel. One of the biggest downsides to this story is that, I’d don’t fall in love with Akari, and it wasn’t until I read the novel, that subtle parts of her personality made sense to me. I guess I need to savor the moment. An example of this was the kiss under the big Sakura tree, the movie doe this scene justice, but I couldn’t feel the depth of what was being said, I didn’t have time to actually soak in the situation, how after this point their lives would be changed forever, how he could never “protect her”, and they could never be together. What I really enjoyed was how accurate this inner dialogue inside Tohno was, truth be told that concept of protecting the one you love is something, all guys can relate to, maybe it’s an evolutionary development.
The imagery is also something that definitely deserves a shout out, as they kiss, Tohno thinks about what will happen to them, but at the same time the “feeling of her soft lips” made him forget what was actually going to happen. Something I thought was not obvious from the movie was that this train trip was in fact their first date, and most of you will be like duh, I would have liked some announcement. With this basically we conclude the first story, of the three that constitute the movie. Finally we are at the train station again, and she is standing there on the other side of the train’s door, and she tells me “I know you’ll be alright”, I couldn’t handle it, this scene was so beautiful, and heart-breaking, I felt as if I were looking at my lover across the door, waiting for it to close any second, and the train to movie on. I really don’t know why, maybe it’s because of the situations that I’ve heard, “You’ll be alright” in, but Akari saying that really broke me down, I could feel the kind of regret that Tohno must have felt at that time. Then followed by the pathetic response I would have probably uttered “I’ll write, I’ll call”, not knowing how to formulate something more consolidating to the girl I would never see again.
While the movie still has 2 more stories to go, and each of them is done very well, I felt more attached to this first story, than the others, even though I really liked the second story, and I could relate to a lot of those things in it. Well, I might as well talk about it, the second story is kinda weird since there is not mention of what happened to Akari, of course Tohno when to the island, and on his first day there, a girl falls in love with him, over the next 2 – 3 years, she musters up the courage to go and ask him out, but she is faced with the realization that Tohno is looking to something far beyond, and she is not the person for him. Her realization of this point, causes her to cry all night, knowing that even though she knows that Tohno can’t ever love her, she’ll still be in love with him. I really like the Island Girl, Kaname, she was goofy, focused on taking things day by day, and was in love with where she lived. For me that is something I would really like to do, know that there is a place where I can stay forever, regardless of how run down or distant it might be, Kaname know where she is going to end up, and I love that about her. The second story also tackles the issues of unrequited love, and loneliness, Tohno has gotten into the habit of typing these messages to someone, but he doesn’t know who.
I should probably wrap this up about now, Byousoku is a tale that I will keep very close to my heart, granted I don’t think I can ever watch this in front of other people, they might need umbrellas, but the story has helped me come to grips with a lot of questions I think about, about what it really means to be in love, how does distance affect it, and at what stage does a friendship transform into something you can’t live without. The harshness of life is that we’ll have to go through this story, each ourselves until find one we’re meant to be with, but at that stage how much of us will really be left to love? How many scars will we have bandaged, and suffered through? What I really can’t understand about this story is why they can’t be a long distance relationship, and then I realized I was alive during that time, when you only had telephone, and mail, even though email was around not many people had a computer so it was quite useless. What more is there to say, this movie is something that needs to be watched when you’re in your 20’s and not earlier, there are a lot of things that will make you ball your eyes out crying, I mean Akari gets married in the end, while Tohno is still stuck in his old ways. I would probably not watch this as a date movie, because it will make both of you depressed. The hardest lesson I have to learn from this story, is to enjoy what I have now, something that I really can’t do. Tohno enjoyed and suffered just as much as Akari, but she grew up, and realized that there are many different routes to happiness, you can’t ignore one for the other, and each has its good side, and bad. I felt a void while after watching this series, but then after reading the novel, there was a sense of calm that overtook me, what a great story I thought, one that I could take lessons from, and think deeply about. It is a must watch, and the light novel which it was based on is also a must. Tohno as most guys will realize is a lot like them, now the question I’m faced with is whether or not I’ll become Tohno! Something that really bothered me was that I was constantly thinking why didn’t Tohno, and Akari run away, but if they had then this realistic story would have been reduced to a pile to fantasy, sometime in life you have to play with the hand your dealt with, you just need to use them properly.
