You probably still remember my recent post about the animated film Beyond The Clouds–well, this is a brand new movie from the same director and animation studio! Byousoku 5cm, literally meaning 5 Centimeters Per Second, just came out in Japan this September. The art is absolutely fantastic (as you can probably assume by the fact I posted 65 screenshots of it. *_*), there is some definite improvement in the quality of the art since their previous project, Beyond The Clouds. The art is extremely colorful and extraordinarily detailed at times. You’d almost swear you were looking at the real thing in some scenes!

Aside from the noticeable improvement graphically, I found the story in 5 Centimeters Per Second was much more dramatic and engaging than Beyond The Clouds. The story is split into three chapters, each centered around a boy named Takaki Tono. Because of circumstances beyond his control he has been forced to spend his youth constantly moving from city to city. Takaki’s relationship with his close friend Akari Shinohara is very central to the plot.

Episode 1: Okasho

Upon graduating from elementary school, Takaki Tono and his close friend Akari Shinohara drifted apart. Akari moved to Tochigi Prefecture due to her parents’ jobs, while Takaki attended a junior high in Tokyo. The two kept in contact by writing letters, but despite the feelings that existed between them, the only thing that persisted was time. When Takaki became aware that his family would move to Kagoshima, he decided to go see Akari since they would be too far apart to visit each other after he moved. However, when the day came, a severe snowstorm delayed Takaki’s trip, and it would be hours before he reached Iwafune, where they promised to meet.

Episode 2: Cosmonaut

Takaki is now in the third year of senior high in Tanegashima, where the Tanegashima Space Center is located. Kanae Sumita, a classmate of Takaki, has feelings for Takaki, but she does not have the courage to express her love to him. She later observes that Takaki is always staring off into the distance, as if searching for something far far away. Even though she loves Takaki she understands that he is searching for things far greater than what she can offer.

Episode 3: Byōsoku 5 Centimeter

It is now 2008, and all three characters have gone their separate ways. Takaki is now a computer programmer in Tokyo, and Akari is preparing to get married. One day, Takaki goes out and sees the face of a familiar-looking woman at a railroad-crossing. He tries to look back, but a passing train obstructs his view.

The movie is very subtle in it’s presentation, but it is very rich in emotion and depth. I could very much feel an actual love between the characters in the story. That isn’t something that can often be said of an animated film. It was easy to relate the characters’ actions and emotions–Takaki, in the second chapter had a girl that loved him right by his side the whole time, but he couldn’t acknowledge her because he just couldn’t let go of the past. The movie quite much had a theme to it that dwelling on the past will only be damaging in the future.

From the art to the story right down to the characters this is a truly breathtaking film that anyone, regardless of interest in anime, could walk away with a part of themselves forever changed. This movie is pretty much required viewing for anyone with any interest at all in Japan and it’s unique culture.

---

Popularity: 21% [?]

Beyond The Clouds was an extraordinary anime, but not so much in the story as the artistry. I call it “a moving masterpiece” because the art in the movie is like a moving painting. People have said that of just about all forms of anime, but this one very much is a piece of moving art. Pictures alone don’t really do justice to the quality of the art, as much of it is in the movement and small changing details like the flashing of lightning or the distorted view created by heat vapors. Parts of this movie actually managed to feel warm despite the video medium being technically incapable of projecting physical things such as temperature.

This is a movie for people that enjoy the art behind an anime as much as the anime itself. The story, though interesting and unique is actually quite slow. Despite that, I kept wanting to watch it because the characters were just so interesting and human feeling. The personalities were far more believable than most animated films I have seen in the past.

The movie takes place in an alternate timeline version of Japan several decades after an event refered to as The Separation has occured. The Seperation split Japan into two halves leaving the southern part occupied by the United States and the northern part occupied by something called the Union. Around the same time as The Seperation a scientist named Ekusun Tsukinoe began the construction of a strange tower for the Union in Ezo, a city we would know as Hokkaido. The tower was so massive that, on a clear day, it could be seen all the way from Tokyo

An underground group called the Uilta Liberation Front was formed in the South with the goal of reunifying Japan. Secretly supported by some Alliance government officials, it engages in terrorist activities on Union territory. At the time of the movie this organization is attempting to bomb the tower. This all sounds like an interesting plot–however; the main characters are more spectators in the whole event than anything really.

The story begins in Aomori on the northern end of southern Japan and follows the story of three friends. The characters are two boys; Hiroki Fujisawa and Takuya Shirakawa who both have exceptional abilities in physics and engineering, and the one girl; Sayuri Sawatari, a classmate who becomes friends with the boys.

Hiroki and Takuya have been working together to build an airplane out of a crashed drone plane they had found. They keep it hidden in a warehouse where they work on it regularly with parts they have scrounged from where they work at the Emishi Manufacturing factory. Sayuri mysteriously disappears during the summer while Hiroki and Takuya’s work on the plane fades.

The story then jumps 3 years ahead where Hiroki has become a physics engineer working for the Union, but secretly a member of the Uilta Liberation Front, while Takuya has basically sat around in Tokyo moping about Sayuri’s disappearance. Takuya eventually gets involved when he discovers that Sayuri has basically been asleep at a hospital because of alternate realities being fed into her mind in the form of dreams. If she were to awaken the world could basically come to an end.

I highly recommend this movie, despite the somewhat slow pace, if only for the extraordinary art. It really is something to see, it’s so beautifully done.

Popularity: 8% [?]

Casshern at last comes to North America on October 16th! That’s tomorrow! If you watch one movie this year-heck, this decade-make it this. From the cinematography to the drama to the action this movie is leaps and bounds beyond anything in it’s realm. Some of the more hardcore anime fans out there may think the name sounds familiar; this is actually a remake of the hit 1973 anime Shinzo Ningen Casshân! Plus the theme song is done by Utada Hikaru…honestly, how could you possibly go wrong with her writing the theme song? Think of it as The Matrix if it was a billion times more awesome. That’s one heck of a lot of awesome.

Casshern takes place in an alternate world after a massive war has ended, leaving the world in a broken and distressed state. Geneticist, Dr. Azuma, vies for support from the government for his neo-cell treatment that he claims can rejuvenate the body and regenerate humankind. But the government leaders, guarding their own deeply entrenched powers, turn down the professor. Driven to complete his work, Dr. Azuma accepts a secret offer from a sinister faction of the powerful military. After an incident occurs in Dr. Azuma’s lab, a race of mutant humans known as the Shinzo Ningen are unleashed upon the world and his son, Tetsuya Azuma, who had died in the war is revived as the invincible warrior Casshern. Now only he, reincarnated with an invincible body, stands between the Shinzo Ningen and a world on the brink of annihilation.

The CGI is jaw-dropping, especially considering the movie actually came out in Japan 2 years ago now. It’s extremely stylized and actually reminds me of Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow in a way. It heavily uses anime techniques including camera angles, action backgrounds, acting styles, and plot elements. This movie is so immensely epic, it has been called “better than both matrix sequels combined”. That’s a rather lofty claim, but boy does it ever back it up.

This movie has everything anyone would ever want in a movie like this; incredible action and choreography, extraordinary special effects and CGI, great writing, very passionate and engaging characters, and a wicked story. Usually when someone tells me a movie will “keep me on the edge of my seat” it ends up being more like “keep me from channel out of sheer boredom”, but this movie is one astonishing exception to that general rule. Perfect isn’t good enough to lick Casshern’s boots.

I very much give two thumbs way up for this, I’d even give more if I could but I only have two hands. If you want a sensational action/drama movie to watch, go get this movie right now. You will not regret it.

The Japanese version is available at Play-Asia, if/when the English version becomes available there I will be sure to update this post!

Popularity: 27% [?]

Famed Studio Ghibli director Hayao Miyazaki has raised 73 million yen (US$620,000) to preserve a small forest local residents call Totoro’s Forest. 25 million yen (US$210,000) of the 73 million yen total came from donations from the general public! This enormous sum has been presented to the city of Higashimurayama in hopes that the historical patch of trees can remain for future generations to enjoy. (more…)

Popularity: 8% [?]

Grave Of The Fireflies is a movie written and directed by Isao Takahata, with the help of Studio Ghibli’s animators. But don’t let the Ghibli association fool you; this ain’t no cheery Ghibli flick. This is World War II in Japan–this is hell on earth. This is the bitter tale of the relationship between two orphaned children, Seita and his younger sister Setsuko. The children lose their mother in the firebombing of Kobe, and their father in service to the Imperial Japanese Navy, and as a result they are forced to try to survive amidst widespread famine and the callous indifference of their countrymen. Even their relatives shrug them off, leaving them to fend for themselves. (more…)

Popularity: 6% [?]