I have never been a huge fan of the romance genre because it can easily turn silly and boring, but there are several masterpieces I have enjoyed a lot. The ones I have most enjoyed and would recommend watching to anyone are the Before trilogy with Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy, Lost in Translation, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
All of those movies have different writers with the exception of the Before trilogy for obvious reasons, but there is 1 writer who has produced several romantic stories and I have enjoyed each and every single one of them. He doesn't work in Hollywood but in Japan and his stories are anime films and not live-action. Makoto Shinkai isn't only one of the best romantic anime writers, he is one of the best romantic writers in existence, period.
His #1 masterpiece is Your Name without any doubt. That was his film from 2016 and it was even better than Weathering with You which came out in 2019 and was also good but not masterpiece level. His movies are the perfect example that anime can also tell deep, interesting, and intriguing stories just like any movie with real actors.
The film I watched last night was 5 Centimeters per Second, this is a shorter film only lasting around 1 hour and divided into 3 segments. This movie isn't new, it was released more than a decade ago in 2007 but since I knew its creator was someone very talented I decided to give it a watch.
The story is basically about 2 teens who have developed a deep friendship thanks to their similar interests, the friendship eventually spurs romantic feelings in each other but they remain silent about this. They will no longer be able to spend more time together because 1 of them is going to move to another city but they keep communicating with letters.
Throughout the film, one of them is usually narrating his/her thoughts and feelings. It has a lot of touching moments and even though the story has a stark different ending compared to Your Name, in some parts it felt similarly intense.
Unlike Your Name and Weathering with You, this story doesn't have any scifi or fantasy elements. This is normal life for 2 individuals who shared a deep bond when they were youngsters and as a result, they both have unsatisfied romantic feelings. This made the story a little bit less exciting but much more realistic and relatable for many people.
At some parts, it was noticeable the movie was from the same creators of Your Name, there is a particular scene which is almost the same as in Your Name but with a different outcome. The story is a bit sad but it is still a great work of cinema.
All in all, this is a great anime story that I highly recommend to watch, especially if you are familiar with previous movies from the same creator. This isn't his best work but is still a very well-written and enjoyable story.
The best
- Great plot and good quality animation.
- Anime with serious drama.
The worst
- The story was quite short.
More information: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0983213/ Review: AAA In numbers: 8/10