#5 Centimeters per Second

[eb0shi]

[kakuusei]

5 CENTIMETERS PER SECOND 秒速5センチメートル (2007, Makoto Shinkai)

[reinerist]

Shinkai + Scenery

[bl-astoise]

5 Centimeters Per Second  (秒速5センチメートル), 2007

[summermemory]

                              ✍  Simple Pleasures of life: Writing ✍

          Writing is the best way to talk without being interrupted.

                                            -Jules Renard

[doyouknowthisanime]

Do You Know This Anime?

[fishingforwords]

the universe stands between us.

5 centimeters per second || haruki murakami, south of the border, west of the sun || weathering with you || t.s. eliot, the love song of j. alfred prufrock || radwimps, 愛にできることはまだあるかい

[hexedvampire]

[sufiblackmamba]

I'm just trying to live my life, but it seems as if sadness always piles itself up inside me. It's in my bed, the toothbrush in my bathroom, and the memory of my cellphone.

[dayeongi]

Something like a bunch of visual stuff that has influenced my writing:

[eb0shi]

[astrology-bf]

Current coping mechanism is a rewatch of some masterpieces and personal favorites in animation, so I'd like to turn that into some positive energy with a few recommendations for any followers and moots wanting something to watch. ^^ Here's a little spoiler-free list.

5 Centimeters per Second (dir. Makoto Shinkai, 2005, ~63min) A romance and drama centered around two people in love drifting apart over time, fairly sad but in a cathartic way. This helped inform and inspire my own writings on relationships that simply don't work out.

The Iron Giant (dir. Brad Bird, 1999, ~87 min) The final fully animated film produced by Warner Brothers, which tells the story of a giant robot from space befriending a young boy in the USA during the Cold War. In addition to being one of the greatest works of western animation, the theme of having to make the active choice to be good remains a central one in my own writing and was in no small part influenced by seeing this film as a kid.

Angel's Egg (dir. Mamoru Oshii, 1985, ~71 min) An arthouse collaboration between the same powerhouse who would direct Ghost in the Shell and the artwork of Yoshitaka Amano. It's a beautiful piece that's rich in religious symbolism and has very little dialogue, making it a very visual experience, and as an art film it is much more focused on imagery and themes than having a real plot or explaining much of the worldbuilding beyond implication.

Sword of the Stranger (dir. Masahiro Ando, 2007, ~102min) A period drama and action film set during the Sengoku Period. Very much a homage to classic Kurosawa films which stands out for its stunning animation and visual choreography, and a stellar soundtrack. If you like swordplay, I'd definitely give this a watch. [CW: Graphic Depictions of Violence and Death]

Ghost in the Shell (dir. Mamoru Oshii, 1995, ~83min) An absolute classic and one of the pillars of the cyberpunk genre. I'd highly encourage even those who aren't anime fans to watch it simply because it's a stunning piece of cinema both visually and in terms of themes. [CW: Graphic Depictions of Violence, Nudity]

Titan A.E. (dir. Don Bluth and Gary Goldman, 2000, ~94min) A sci-fi action/adventure film telling the story of a young man inheriting his father's legacy against the backdrop of Earth having been destroyed by aliens. I wouldn't necessarily say this is a masterpiece as there are a lot of flaws , but what makes Titan A.E. stand out is its risk-taking by incorporating 2D and CGI elements and attempting to tell a more adult story than was the norm in western animated films at the time.

Atlantis: The Lost Empire (dir. Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise, 2001, ~96min) A science fantasy action/adventure film centered around a quest to find the lost city of Atlantis. Another film with flaws (mainly its short runtime for the story it tries to tell) but a visual masterpiece with some incredibly nuanced voice work by the likes of Cree Summer and Leonard Nimoy. The other thing which I love is how it actively avoids painting Atlantis as just a copy-paste of Classical Greek culture, but instead is much more inspired by architecture you'd see in Cambodia and elsewhere in Southeast Asia.

Русалочка [Rusalochka] (dir. Ivan Aksenchuk, 1968, ~29 min) A short animated adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid and honestly an excellent example of the very underappreciated genre that is Soviet animation. It's a rare version in which the tragic ending of the original is actually made more so, as it omits the deux ex machina in favor of telling a bittersweet but ultimately cautionary love story.

Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid (dir. Tomoharu Katsumata, 1975, ~68min) Another adaptation which maintains the original ending, this one is very interesting because it incorporated several animated conventions which would most certainly inspire Disney's own crack at the story more than a decade later. It's not necessarily a stand out piece for anything other than some gorgeous animation, but it is an interesting comparison to the film that would set off the Disney Renaissance in 1989. [CW: Mild nonsexual nudity (boobs)]

Kirikou et la Sorcière (dir. Michel Ocelot, 1998, ~71min) This is an interesting and controversial film because while it is a French film and was directed by a French man, the focus is entirely on West African folklore and culture - even the voice cast is almost entirely Senegalese - and the large amounts of nudity is nonsexualized. Visually stunning, but keep in mind that it remains a foreign film about West Africa, not a West African story. [CW: Nonsexual nudity]

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (dir. Mamoru Hosoda, 2006, ~98min) A sci-fi romance which tells the story of a girl gaining the ability to rewind time, and her dealing with the consequences of her choices. This is based on a famous series of novels from the 1960s and was very formative for me in terms of writing about the way in which choices can and cannot affect divergent outcomes. Plus the main couple is very cute.

Tokyo Godfathers (dir. Satoshi Kon, 2003, ~92min) Oh, what can I say about this film? There's comedy, there's tragedy, and it's just a wonderfully animated look into the lives of those living at the margins of Japanese society. The story is fundamentally optimistic and sentimental, but it takes a lot of turns along the way.

The Secret of Kells (dir. Tom Moore and Nora Twomey, 2009, ~75min) A fantasy film centered around the Book of Kells in 9th century Ireland, and the first of a trilogy of animated films delving heavily into Irish mythology and folklore. The visual style is extremely evocative of the same Insular Art used in the Book of Kells itself, and the voice acting adds another layer of richness to a very heartwarming story.

Kubo and the Two Strings (dir. Travis Knight, 2016, ~102min) Stop motion animation counts because I want to talk about this movie. The story is a fairly formulaic fantasy adventure drama and leans heavily into the tropes in a perfect way, combining stunning feats of stop motion animation with outstanding performances by the voice actors, and a score that takes the film to peaks of cinematic excellence. Go watch it, lol.

Treasure Planet (dir. John Musker and Ron Clements, 2002, ~95min) Finishing off with another formative piece from the last days of big-budget 2D animated films in the West. I love it because it's very obviously a passion project and because it's shameless in how it glosses over the mechanics of atmosphere in space simply to facilitate the visual coolness of having an Age of Sail drama IN SPACE. But more than that, the coming of age narrative and the relationship between the protagonist and villain just makes this a real classic. Only main problem with it is that f*cking annoying robot towards the end.

Do give one or some a watch, and feel free to ask if you'd like more thoughts or recs. 💕

[reinerist]

Shinkai + Scenery

[bl-astoise]

5 Centimeters Per Second (秒速5センチメートル), 2007         ⤷ scenery ✧･ﾟ

[valkaryah]

5 Centimeters per Second (2007) dir. Makoto Shinkai

[cinematicjourney]

5 Centimeters per Second (2007) | dir. Makoto Shinkai