History Anime / FiveCentimetersPerSecond

* DreamingOfThingsToCome: Takaki has a recurring dream of himself and Akari climbing a hill in a surrealistic sunrise. Aside of being a MythologyGag for ''The Place Promised In Our Early Days'', the significance of the scene is very much symbolic, tying into Act 2's theme of "astronomical distance".

* DiegeticSwitch: The famous J-ballad "One More Time, One More Chance" is first heard playing in low fidelity from a convenience store's speakers, but transitions into the soundtrack itself, in the final act.
* DreamingOfThingsToCome: Takaki has a recurring dream of himself and Akari climbing a hill in a surrealistic sunrise. Aside of being a MythologyGag for ''The Place Promised In Our Early Days'', this could be [[DistantFinale the future]], [[MundaneAfterlife their afterlife]], an AlternateUniverse, or merely a dream.

* OfficialCouple: Takaki and Akari.

** A tall tower is present in Takaki's recurring dreams, reminiscent of the Union's tower in Shinkai's previous work, Anime/ThePlacePromisedInOurEarlyDays

** For Kanae, her [[spoiler:tearful confession is cut off by a rocket launch]], and she ultimately decides against letting Takaki know of her feelings on the basis that he appeared to be longing for something beyond what she could offer.

* UmbrellaOfTogetherness: some of their classmates have drawn the umbrella symbol on the blackboard with Takaki and Akari's names under it, presumably to tease Akari; when Takaki enters, he sweeps the board and runs of with Akari.

* VehicleVanish: This is perhaps one of the most moving instances, as Akari and Takaki become separated after their last meeting together.

* AirplaneOfLove: To emphasize how distant Takaki is to Kanae, the launch of a rocket replaces the airplane.

* KissingDiscretionShot: Akari stands on her tip-toes to kiss Takaki under the sakura tree before they spend the night togeteher.

* SnowMeansLove: Takaki and Akari kiss under the sakura tree for the first time. While it signifies love, it also signifies the coldness Takaki feels when faced with the prospect of being separated from her.

* AdaptationExpansion: The [[RevisedEnding manga adaptation]] breathes insight into Kanae's life following the events of the movie and parallels Takaki's experiences during his adulthood; with her life passing through the same cycle of entering and leaving relationships, she ultimately decides to confront her feelings head-on by trying to meet up with Tohno. Contrasting Takaki's implied meeting with Akari, Kanae [[spoiler:decides to pursue him when she appears to have found him again]].

* AnthropomorphicPersonification: Symbolic only in the minds of the characters. These aspects are present within the title and other subtle details such as the cherry blossoms, the rocket launch and the train.

* DiegeticSwitch: The famous J-ballad "One More Time, One More Chance" can be heard playing first muffled through tinny speakers in a convenience store and then at full clarity volume through the ending montage.
* DreamingOfThingsToCome: Takaki has a recurring dream of himself and Akari climbing a hill in a surrealistic sunrise. Aside of being a MythologyGag for ''Place Promised'', this could be [[DistantFinale the future]], [[MundaneAfterlife their afterlife]], or an AlternateUniverse, or simply a symbolic dream.

* JustFriends: Takaki becomes this to Akari (possibly) when she doesn't turn back, and Kanae to Takaki when she doesn't reveal her feelings for him.
* KissingDiscretionShot: Near the end of the first arc when the camera shifts to Akari standing on her tiptoes.
* LongDistanceRelationship: Between Takaki and Akari. It doesn't pan out for them.
* LovingAShadow: In Act 3, Takaki is no longer in love with Akari herself, but rather with the idea of Akari. All the things he is longing for are not physical but abstract things that he cannot grasp, which is why he finds it so difficult to find any way to resolve his longing. He's made efforts to move on, as evidenced by his relationship with his new girlfriend Risa, but he's as distant with her as he is with everyone else.

* SadTimesMontage: A large part of Act 3's Montage shows Takaki's slow descent towards depression as he could not move on from his relationship with Akari.

** The cover of the railway book that Takaki bought in Act 1 is an environment shot from ''Anime/ThePlacePromisedInOurEarlyDays''.
* SnowMeansLove: Tohno and Akari kiss under the sakura tree for the first time. While it signifies love, it also signifies the coldness Tohno feels when faced with the prospect of being separated from her.
* SoundtrackDissonance: The jarringly up-beat and low-fi, diegetic pop music in the Act 2 is an affront to the SceneryPorn and the lovely soundtrack. One song piped in to the convenience store crows "daijobu da yo (It's all right)" while Kaene suffers her unrequited love in silence. In another case Kanae on her bike is passed by her sister blasting similarly upbeat and indelicate tunes. This seems to be a mordant joke about the interference of the modern world with even the potential solace of SceneryPorn in the midst of disappointment. The sonic environment is being destroyed.

** Tohno and Akari have more hope for a happy ending than typical cases, but they qualify nonetheless. Their lives were forcibly separated by forces outside their control, as their schools were moved further and further apart until their relationship is cut completely.
** This is more apparent in Kanae's situation: her [[spoiler:tearful confession is cut off by a rocket launch]]. She could not be with Tohno because of Tohno's longing of his relationship with Akari.

* TimeSkip: There are two time skips, one at each act break.
* TitleDrop: The movie opens with the explanation about 5 cm/s being the speed at which cherry blossoms petals fall.

* TrueLovesKiss: Despite Tohno and Akari sharing a kiss early on, life for Takaki remains somewhat of a challenge from there until the ending of the final act.
* UmbrellaOfTogetherness: some of their classmates have drawn the umbrella symbol on the blackboard with Tohno and Akari's names under it, presumably to tease Akari; when Takaki enters, he sweeps the board and runs of with Akari.

** In one of Takaki's flashbacks during "Cherry Blossoms", Akari stops to pet a cat named Chobi, and remarks that it must be lonely for him without Mimi around; in Shinkai's short "She and Her Cat," Chobi is the name of the titular cat, and he has a lady-friend (also a cat) named Mimi.
** A tall tower is present in Takaki's recurring dreams, reminiscent of the Union's tower in Shinkai's previous work, ''Anime/ThePlacePromisedInOurEarlyDays''.

* StarCrossedLovers: Tohno and Akari have more hope for a happy ending than typical cases, but they qualify nonetheless. This is more apparent in Kanae's situation: her [[spoiler:tearful confession is cut off by a rocket launch]].

The movie's focus is about two people named Takaki and Akari, following them as they mature. It is divided into three episodes that together, comprise the movie. The first part, "Cherry Blossoms", follows Takaki's reflections on his relationship with Akari while they were children. The second act, "Cosmonaut", leaves Akari to depict Takaki as a teenager and is told from Kanae Sumida's perspective. The final part, which is also called "5 Centimeters Per Second", shows them as young adults, in a montage set to the famous Japanese pop song "One More Time, One More Chance".

** ''[=McDonalge=]'', a fast food chain in Takaki's recollections

* DreamingOfThingsToCome: Takaki has a recurring dream of himself and Akari climbing a hill in a surrealistic sunrise. Aside of being a MythologyGag for ''Place Promised'', this could be [[DistantFinale the future]], [[MundaneAfterlife their afterlife]], or an AlternateUniverse.

* UmbrellaOfTogetherness: some of their classmates have drawn the umbrella symbol on the blackboard with Tohno and Akari's names under it, presumably to tease Akari; when Takaki enters, he sweeps the board and runs of with Akari

* AnthropomorphicPersonification: Symbolic only in the minds of the characters. These aspects are present within the title and other subtle details such as the cherry blossoms, the rocket launch and the train.

* DiegeticSwitch: The famous J-ballad "One More Time, One More Chance" can be heard playing first muffled through tinny speakers in a convenience store and then at full clarity volume through the ending montage.

* KissingDiscretionShot: Near the end of the first arc when the camera shifts to Akari standing on her tiptoes.
* LongDistanceRelationship: Between Takaki and Akari. It doesn't pan out for them.
* LovingAShadow: In third chapter, Takaki is no longer in love with Akari herself, but rather with the idea of Akari. All the things he is longing for are not physical but abstract things that he cannot grasp, which is why he finds it so difficult to find any way to resolve his longing. He's made efforts to move on, as evidenced by his relationship with his new girlfriend Risa, but he's as distant with her as he is with everyone else.

%%* SadTimesMontage:

* SoundtrackDissonance: The jarringly up-beat and low-fi, diegetic pop music in the second chapter is an affront to the SceneryPorn and the lovely soundtrack. One song piped in to the convenience store crows "daijobu da yo (It's all right)" while Kaene suffers her unrequited love in silence. In another case Kanae on her bike is passed by her sister blasting similarly upbeat and indelicate tunes. This seems to be a mordant joke about the interference of the modern world with even the potential solace of SceneryPorn in the midst of disappointment. The sonic environment is being destroyed.

* TimeSkip: There are two time skips, one at each chapter break.
* TitleDrop: The movie opens with the explanation about 5 cm/s being the speed at which cherry blossoms petals fall.

* AnthropomorphicPersonification: Symbolic only in the minds of the characters. These aspects are present within the title and other subtle details such as the rocket launch and the train.

* BookEnds: The film begins and ends with [[spoiler: Takaki and Akari at the train station with CherryBlossoms falling around them]].

* TechnologyMarchesOn: The first act occurs in the early 1990s, and as such, cell phones and email are still relatively rare. As the story moves through the second and third act, these mobile devices become more commonplace.

* {{Expy}}: Takaki incorporates elements derived from the male leads in Shinkai's previous works, and shares some similarities to [[TheGreatGatsby Jay Gatsby]]
* FridgeLogic: In the last third, [[spoiler: Takaki and Akari cross the railway crossing just moments before two trains whiz past.]] Doesn't this world have the most basic of safety precautions?

* TechnologyMarchesOn: The first act occurs in the early 1990s, and as such, cell phones and email are still relatively rare. As the story moves through the second and third act, these technologies become more commonplace.

** A tall tower is present in Takaki's recurring dreams, reminiscent of the Union's tower in Shinkai's previous work, ThePlacePromisedInOurEarlyDays.

''5 Centimeters Per Second'' is Creator/MakotoShinkai's third film, and was released in 2007. However, unlike his other works, the events here reflect the relentless nature of reality. The end result is a highly polished, but also very depressing, heart-breaking and beautiful romance movie.

** In the second third, a vehicle transporting a stage of a rocket has ''NASDA'' written on it.

''5 Centimeters Per Second'' is MakotoShinkai's third film, and was released in 2007. However, unlike his other works, the events here reflect the relentless nature of reality. The end result is a highly polished, but also very depressing, heart-breaking and beautiful romance movie.

* {{Bishonen}}: Takaki
* BittersweetEnding: While Takaki quit his job and broke up with his girlfriend, he ultimately takes control of his life and starts to deal with the lonely and bitter feelings that he's been nursing for fifteen years. In the novelisation of the film (which is also written by Makoto Shinkai), [[spoiler:Takaki has found a job as a freelance coder]].

* DontYouDarePityMe: [[spoiler: When Kanae starts to tear up at her inability to tell Takaki her feelings, she has an internal version of this.]]

* NewTransferStudent: the trope mainly applies to Takaki in part 2; but Akari and Takaki are both transfer students in part 1 and this is what gets the plot started

* ParasolOfPrettiness: Akari invokes this with her umbrella at the beginning of Cherry Blossoms

* ShoutOut: Several instances exist.

* TrueLovesKiss: Despite Tohno and Akari sharing a kiss early on, life for Tohno remains somewhat of a challenge from there until the ending of the final act.
* UmbrellaOfTogetherness: some of their classmates have drawn the umbrella symbol on the blackboard with Tohno and Akari's names under it, presumably to tease Akari; when Tohno enters, he sweeps the board and runs of with Akari

* VehicleVanish: This is perhaps one of the most moving instances, as Akari and Tohno become separated after their last meeting together.

* MrFanservice: Older Takaki.

* InMediasRes: The last third begins on March 2008, with Takaki working at home before going for a walk. [[spoiler: He then sees Akari again at the train stop, whereby the rest of the segment flashes back to him at his old job and old (or at least messy) apartment. It is still implied he had finished his three year relationship by this point, due to the date on the text from his ex-girlfriend showing February 2008.]] Of course once the MultipleEndings sequence begins, the vast majority is in the form of flash backs since it goes back to their childhood, before returning to the present day.

* JustFriends: Takaki becomes this to Akari [[MultipleEndings (possibly)]] when she doesn't turn back, and Kanae to Takaki when she doesn't reveal her feelings for him.

* DontYouDarePityMe: [[spoiler: When Kanae starts to tear up at her inability to tell Takaki her feelings, she has an internal version of this.]]
* MrFanservice: Older Takaki.

* InMediasRes: The last third begins on March 2008, with Takaki working at home before going for a walk. [[spoiler: He then sees Akari again at the train stop, whereby the rest of the segment flashes back to him at his old job and old (or at least messy) apartment. It is still implied he had finished his three year relationship by this point, due to the date on the text from his ex-girlfriend showing February 2008.]] Of course once the MultipleEndings sequence begins, the vast majority is in the form of flash backs since it goes back to their childhood, before returning to the present day.

!''5 Centimeters Per Second'' provides examples of:

* MultipleEndings: The last few minutes of the movie present a number of images that can represent several different aspects of an ending. The 'true' (i.e. final) one appears to be a TearJerker EsotericHappyEnding, but it also presents a DownerEnding, a HappilyEverAfter, and a few [[SceneryPorn shots of]] [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic symbolic birds]].
** [[spoiler:It's pretty much seemingly evident and confirmed that it has only one ending. That is the TearJerker,BittersweetEnding. It's clear that Akari's been engaged to another man, and she doesn't turn back at the train station to look at Takaki, even though he knew she would, if she still loved him.But, he's starting to find new hope and learning to move on.]]

** [[spoiler:It's pretty much seemingly evident and confirmed that it has only one ending. That is the TearJerker,BittersweetEnding. It's clear that Akari's been engaged to another man, and she doesn't turn back at the train station to look at Takaki, even though he knew she would, if she still loved him.But, he's starting to find new hope and learning to move on.]]

[[spoiler:It's pretty much seemingly evident and confirmed that it has only one ending. That is the TearJerker,BittersweetEnding. It's clear that Akari's been engaged to another man, and she doesn't turn back at the train station to look at Takaki, even though he knew she would, if she still loved him.But, he's starting to find new hope and learning to move on.]]

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