5 Centimetres Per Second

Welcome!

Welcome to my fansite devoted to Makoto Shinkai's third feature length Japanese animation, 5 Centimetres per Second (Byousoku Go Sentome-toru in Japanese), a slice of life, romance movie where we see how various instances of distance affects the relationship between a young couple as they grow up and go on with their lives. It is also well-known for its beautifully rendered backgrounds and musical compositions amongst Japanese Anime fans.

Here you will find all sorts of information that I have gathered since discovering the movie including my translations of the official novel.

How 5cm Began...

For this third movie, Makoto Shinkai didn't want a sci-fi setting like in his previous two movies but a modern day setting. To start off, he drew up sketches and drafted up a number of short stories with different characters and themes. He then picked the ones that would be easy to make into a movie and began production with the storyboarding. What began as something that Shinkai thought would be a quick piece of work, ended up being longer than planned as it became a series of short stories. It was around June 2005 before he began to draw up the plans for the movie. Memories of producing his last work The Place Promised in Our Early Days were thinning so he felt it was time he tried to make something new.

However unsure of how to go about his work, he wanders outside one night to take a break and with an empty stomach, he walked into a convenience store. He can’t remember how many times he went there but, he heard Masayoshi Yamasaki’s song “One more chance, One more time” which encouraged him, giving him the confirmation he needed about what he wanted in his movie; a sense of something lost yet was never there in the first place.

When he heard the song Shinkai had thought, “Our lives are like the pop song; we grow stronger as our personal experiences build upon one another and we get caught up in this consumer’s society yet, we can certainly feel how beautiful life is. Hearing the song has helped me confirm that.”

Ultimately, three of the ten draft short stories Shinkai had written formed the final movie dividing it into three episodes - Cherry Blossom Extract, Cosmonaut and Five Centimetres per Second.

Distribution Releases

The three part, 120 minute movie premièred in Shibuya, on March 3rd 2007 and is currently available on DVD although the Blu-ray version appears to be Japan exclusive. There was an official AD Vision release but due to licensing issues and financial difficulties, the title was one of many that were dropped. Bandai Entertainment has since taken over the publishing the rights. Meanwhile, another official dub from Bang Zoom! Entertainment was also made for streaming purposes via Crunchyroll and is available for free viewing during the fan established, annual Global Shinkai Day.

The Taiwanese/Hong Kong DVD release of the movie contains English subtitles although I can't say how good the quality of the translation is.

A hard back novelised version of the movie was also released which is the first to be written by Makoto Shinkai himself. A comic version of the movie has also started being serialised in the Afternoon magazine since June 2010.

Unfortunately, the OST for the movie is only available with the Japanese limited edition release of the movie but you can obtain orchestral versions of the theme songs on the Promise Image Album performed by the Australian Eminence Symphony Orchestra.