[Categories: Anime Reviews]
2007 in 12 day 1: 5cm per second
Day 1: One More Time, One More Chance
As part of the ABC’s joint 2007 retrospective, we’re all taking on one post per day for the twelve days leading up to December 25th itself, each one centred around a special moment in the last twelve months…just as Epic Win did, except they started early, being the keen rebels they are. Don’t worry folks, this effort isn’t synchronised so your feedreader shouldn’t collapse under the weight of cross-linking and simultaneous posting. I’ll also be running through them in alphabetical order of title because I’m boring that way. First up is what is possibly my pick of the bunch, 5cm per second.
“Breathe in your own light/dream of your own life/I miss me/I miss everything I’ll never be…” *
As the festive season nears, I inevitably end up nostalgic about the past twelve months, dwelling on what’s passed, gained and lost. It’s been precisely one year since…never mind. Suffice to say, 5cm Per Second resonated with me one hell of a lot. It should go without saying really that a new Shinkai movie was always going to be one of the best things anime-related that happened to me all year but his latest effort surpassed my expectations in terms of maturity of narrative as well as his eye-wateringly-beautiful visual style. Place Promised… may be my personal favourite but I didn’t so much as watch 5cm as feel it…and ultimately it seems, live it too. The ability to make such good movies is something that’s a real rarity of course but I couldn’t help but feel that this was a very personal thing being shared, which makes it feel like even more of a precious gift from an artist to his fans.
With the doom-mongering in the industry telling horror stories of talent drying up, I’ll never completely lose hope as long as there are genuinely moving and artistically impressive pieces like this one. Taking a more blogosphere-centric view, there were some great posts from other bloggers regarding Shinkai’s choice of subject matter, structure of arthouse films in comparison with mainstream ones and the sympathy/empathy debate. As an average joe whose enthusiasm for analysis exceeds the level of intelligence study required, I found them to be englightening and endlessly interesting to read.
All that’s missing is the mistletoe
This was one occasion in particular where I genuinely felt at home in the blogosphere - the posts I read either solidified my own stance (great for massaging the ego) or sent me down a train of thought I wouldn’t have even considered otherwise. There isn’t much that can be said here without repeating my lengthy post on all three episodes so this is probably all I’m able to say now. I just hope his next film is about something different, okay?
Memorable moment
On first viewing, the agonising train journey Takaki makes to meet Akari, followed by a heartwarming meeting in the snow, has ‘classic movie moment’ written all over it. The montage to the accompaniment of Masayoshi Yamazaki’s classic pop ballad that ends the movie really takes a repeat viewing to appreciate fully but it sure as hell hits home.
*The song’s called Rocket. Geddit? ^_^
Other ABC bloggers’ posts for the Twelve Days of Christmas
Drop your url into the comments section below if I’ve inadvertantly left you out. ^_^
Posted on December 14th, 2007 @ 7:54 pm
“I just hope his next film is about something different, okay?”
lolllll, I agree.
5cm Per Second really was quite something, though. I keep meaning to post about it, but never managed to work up enough oomph to really formalize the things I want to say. >_>
Quite a fun watch, though, and visual amazing. Really reminds me of Japan, all the small details.
Posted on December 14th, 2007 @ 10:15 pm
Yes, he really needs to give up on the “distance” thing. I saw it three times within the span of two months, with a different audience each time, and the distance thing was kinda grating at the end. But that’s excess for you.
I was expecting your post to emphasise more on the moment and less general reflection, but I guess that’s what happens when the instructions about what exactly goes in the 12 Moments, lol. Not like that’s a bad thing, since my Byousoku moment happens to be the same as yours.
Posted on December 15th, 2007 @ 5:58 am
On the contrary, I think he should make one more. 5cm is his best in this category but there’s still a lot of room for improvement. That said it is running kind of dry and I’d worry about being pigeonholed into only certain kinds of production if I made so many romance anime movies. If Shinkai spends the next 10 year as a successful anime auteur then maybe he can revisit it.
But I don’t know. There are countless love stories involving distances out there and it seems never to run dry. I have faith Shinkai knows what’s good and will pursuit it.
It’s always good to have people blog his stuff IMO…
Posted on December 15th, 2007 @ 3:06 pm
[...] The End of the World [...]
Posted on December 15th, 2007 @ 7:57 pm
@Omo: It’s the pigeonholing I’m concerned about - even though he does this theme so well, he’ll end up in a situation similar to an actor being typecast into the same sort of roles. I agree that there’s a lot to say about the distance themes but I reckon Shinkai does need to leave it behind at least for a while and try something different.
Posted on December 17th, 2007 @ 7:07 pm
[...] Roxas | CCYoshi | 0rion | Owen | Demian | Nekoron | Martin | Michael Huang | Moogy | DS | Nigorimasen | Usagijen [...]
Posted on December 22nd, 2007 @ 3:51 pm
猫の集会
neko no shuukai
one minute long, different
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfAkLMj-BvY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBmabf2SU9s