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[[caption-width:290:Don't you hope to see this all the time]]

''Five Centimeters per Second'' is the third film by MakotoShinkai, released in 2007. The main thing to note about it is that it is quite possibly the single most wretched, depressing, heart-shattering, ''beautiful'' anime romance movie ever made. MakotoShinkai seems determined to steal IsaoTakahata's [[GraveOfTheFireflies title]] of "King Of TearJerker Anime," and he's a contender.

It's a movie about two people named Takaki and Akari. The first part, ''Oukashou'', follows them as children; the second, ''Cosmonaut'', leaves Akari to show Takaki as a teenager; the final part, also called ''Five Centimeters per Second'', shows them as young adults, in a montage set to the famous Japanese pop song "One More Time, One More Chance". Sounds safe, doesn't it?

Oh yeah, and another thing... The title must have bugged you for some time, right?... ''Five Centimeters per Second'' refers to the speed at which CherryBlossom petals fall.

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The movie contains examples of:
* AbsenceMakesTheHeartGoYonder (...averted? ...subverted? ...played straight? This movie has an ambiguous ending...)
**Averted with a subversion of the aversion, in this troper's opinion. Takaki goes yonder, his heart stays put. Thus as Kanae observes he is always looking toward some distant point, so that he fails to notice people around him. For most of the movie he cannot have the person who caused him to have the feeling in the first place, because he is too spaced-out and, in his words, rigid, to move toward anyone--until the end, at which point he becomes capable of actually taking control of his own life and taking it in the direction that he wants it to go. His heart still doesn't go yonder, but it becomes a little more malleable.
* AirplaneOfLove: A space launch of love, even.
* AlienSky (in Takaki's recurring dream)
* AnthropomorphicPersonification: Symbolic, and only in the minds of the characters. You can see it at the title, the rocket, the train, anything that you like.
* BittersweetEnding: Takaki [[spoiler:finally takes control of his life and starts to deal with the lonely and bitter feelings that he's been nursing for fifteen years, and he has a chance of finding Akari again]]. But he has no job, no girlfriend, and [[spoiler:the Akari prospect is uncertain and]] would require breaking up another relationship.
* CherryBlossoms: The title refers to the speed at which they fall under normal circumstances.
* CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming: The very end, where Takaki ''may'' have finally [[spoiler:found Akari again]].
** The movie is basically an hour-long BeyondTheImpossible parade of CMOH and TearJerker moments.
* DisContinuity: There's a companion book that "clarifies" that [[spoiler:Takaki "outgrew" his need for Akari, when the movie itself can really go any which way and was all the better for that.]] [[DoctorWho EXTERMINATE.]]
** May also be CanonDiscontinuity by now, considering Shinkai's ideas about DeathOfTheAuthor.
* DreamingOfThingsToCome: Takaki has a recurring dream of himself and Akari climbing a hill in a surrealistic sunrise (which ThisTroper has as the background on his laptop). Aside of being a MythologyGag for ''Place Promised'', this could be [[DistantFinale the future]], [[MundaneAfterlife their afterlife]], or an AlternateUniverse.
* EpilepticTrees (Due to the nature of the ending, this movie invites EpilepticTrees with regards to the future of its characters. At this point it becomes notable that, contra his reputation, Makoto Shinkai has never actually made a movie with a genuine DownerEnding. ''VoicesOfADistantStar'' and ''ThePlacePromisedInOurEarlyDays'' both worked out in the end--but then, neither of ''those'' movies were set in the 'real' world.)
* EsotericHappyEnding (among other things)
* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin ''Five Centimeters Per Second'' is REALLY about ''falling''.... slowly
* {{Expy}} (Takaki incorporates elements of Shinkai's previous male leads as well as [[TheGreatGatsby Jay Gatsby]])
* GainaxEnding: Not a ''particularly'' bad example, but it's definitely present.
* GoldenMeanFallacy: This movie is neither as heart-crushing or short as ''VoicesOfADistantStar'' nor as uplifting (EVENTUALLY) or long as ''ThePlacePromisedInOurEarlyDays''. This isn't technically use of a logical fallacy (and it works [[SoCoolItsAwesome REALLY WELL]] in any case), but there's no other trope for something that's simply "betwixt and between".
* IWillWaitForYou (whether or not they ''did'' is left unclear.)
** [[ParentalObliviousness Akari's parents]] sure as Hell didn't.
* LoveItOrHateIt (some people find this movie very stupid, but they're in a small minority.)
* LoveMartyr (Takaki)
* 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]].)
* {{Nakama}}: This movie buys fully into the [[KurtVonnegut Vonnegutian]] idea that a nakama is not always necessarily ''happy'' (or even self-aware), but that doesn't make it any less of a nakama. See also the WMG page.
* NeedsMoreLove: A larger fandom might cathartise some of the feelings that this movie invokes in people. Never before has anything actually, some-fucking-how, needed ''more'' FixFic. I mean, [[BeyondTheImpossible how's that even possible?]]
* OfficialCouple: Takaki and Akari. [[TheWoobie Poor Kanae]]. Mind you, since it's Makoto Shinkai, being an OfficialCouple is ''no'' refuge from Woobiehood ''itself''.
* OrIsIt: There is absolutely ''nothing'' in the movie to indicate whether or not [[spoiler:Takaki and Akari found each other again at the railroad crossing]], except for a highly Symbolist (in the nineteenth-century French sense) TearJerker scene after the end credits.
* ParentalObliviousness: Akari's parents fail to understand that she's depressed, not nervous, about her [[spoiler:arranged marriage]].
* RedOniBlueOni: Akari is blue, Kanae is red.
* SceneryPorn: The scenery in this movie has actually been known to ''induce orgasms'' in some of this troper's friends.
* SnowMeansLove
* StarCrossedLovers (They have more hope for a happy ending than some others, but they definitely still count.)
* TearJerker (Oh dear lord, even ''GraveOfTheFireflies'' has tough competition now.)
* TearJerker
* TearJerker
* TearJerker (Yes, this is [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment redundant]]. WE. DO. NOT. CARE.)
* TearJerker (This Troper is not afraid to admit that despite having the frosting of adolescence on his heart, he still cried when he saw this movie, IT. IS. THAT. SAD.)
* TearJerker (This troper went into a depression for A WEEK AFTER SEEING THIS MOVIE!)
* [[OverlyLongGag Tear Jerker]]
* TomboyAndGirlyGirl (Akari and Kanae never meet in the movie, but Akari is noticeably more intelligent whereas Kanae is noticeably more physically active and assertive.)
* TrainStationGoodbye When the two lovers finally part.... sigh....
* TrueLovesKiss rather early in. ItGotWorse from there until about twenty seconds before the end of the movie.
*UnluckyChildhoodFriend: All three characters, to an extent. Kanae fits the trope best as she's not a main focus character.
* VehicleVanish : (Probably the most heart wrenching example you'll ever see.)


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<<|NoteworthyAnime|>>

* TearJerker.