Byousoku 5 Centimeter – 01

22Feb07

Episode one of Byousoku 5 Centimeter opens up with a girl named Shinohara Akari telling her friend Toono Takaki that sakura petals fall at the speed of five centimeters per second. She comments that it looks like snow. He simply agrees with her as they watch the sakura blossoms fall. She hopes that they can watch them together again next year.

The scenes shift to the future, and we are shown Takaki doing various school activities, while we hear Akari’s dialog as she talks about how things are on her side. The two have been exchanging letters since they have been separated, a year ago after their elementary school graduation. We find out that Takaki is moving to an even further place, so they have agreed to meet once more on March 4, before he has to leave.

We are shown a few flashbacks to their childhood. In one scene, they find a cat that Takaki mentions is always there. Akari mentions that it looks lonely today, and that it must be sad to be alone. We also see Takaki defending Akari from other kids who had been making fun of them for being a couple. He mentions that as long as they were together, they weren’t bothered by any of this. He talks about their similarities, like how they would both rather spend time in the library than outside, and how they were alike spiritually somehow. For some reason, they thought they would both transfer to the same junior-high, and stay happy forever.

In the next couple of scenes, we watch Takaki as he travels across the trainstation. We get another flashback, where Takaki finds out that Akari is transferring over the phone. He was of course frustrated, but at the same time he could feel her pain, and regretted that he couldn’t do anything to help her. The trains are constantly being delayed because of the heavy snow, and Takaki mentions that every minute he waited felt like an eternity. He remembers when he got Akari’s first letter, how happy he was, and how long it took him to write a reply. Whenever he pictured Akari from the letters, she was always alone.

Takaki finally reaches his destination, but he has become extremely late because of the delays. He doesn’t think that Akari would be waiting any more, but he is surprised when he sees her sitting alone next to a heater. When she sees him, she grabs onto his coat and starts to cry. Akari has prepared lunch for Takaki and herself to eat. Takaki says that it is the best food he has ever had, but Akari says that it is because he is so hungry. The station employee tells them that no more trains are running and that the station is closing. He tells them to be careful because of the snow.

As they both walk outside, Akari points out a large tree. The cherry tree that she had mentioned in one of her letters. A flashback goes back to when Akari had mentioned that the cherry blossoms looked like snow. Standing there, it is like it was back then. At that moment, they embrace each other, and share a kiss.

That night, they spend the night in an old shed under one blanket, talking for hours before falling asleep. In the morning, Takaki is boarding a train while Akari bids him farewell. They both thank each other, and tell each other to take care. Takaki says that he will be writing and calling, as the train doors shut. As the train leaves, Takaki remembers that he forgot to tell Akari about the letter he meant to give her. He had lost it to the wind while traveling through the stations. Because he felt like that kiss had changed the world altogether, all he wanted was the strength to protect her. At that moment, we see Akari take out a letter from her bag that she couldn’t give him as well.

The ED theme is Yamazaki Masayoshi’s One more time, One more chance. We get a preview of the next short story, told in the view of a girl who has feelings for Takaki while he is in Kagoshima.

Impression

This episode definitely lived up to my expectations. The animation was beautiful and the story was extremely heartfelt and emotional. The soundtrack was as good as it was in the trailers, but it was more subtle than I thought it would be. I loved the parallels from the past to the present, and how the dialog was told. The animation, especially during the long train scenes and flashbacks, definitely strengthened the emotions of the characters. I could almost feel the two characters’ feelings reach me, which was to be expected from this type of film. I cannot wait to see the next two short stories. I suspect that they will be even stronger than this one, since this is more or less an intro. The next arc looks very interesting.

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