Contemporary Anime Auteurs

5 Centimeters per Second + The Garden of Words

Byôsoku 5 Senchimêtoru + Kotonoha no Niwa

These shorter works by Makoto Shinkai play with narrative form, telling stories of love and loneliness in exquisite settings.

  • Director

    Makoto Shinkai

  • With the voices of

    Kenji Mizuhashi, Yoshimi Kondo, Satomi Hanamura

  • Japan 2007. 63min

  • Digital

  • Certificate

    U

  • English subtitles

Deriving its title from the speed of a cherry blossom petal falling from a tree, Shinkai’s second feature is a trio of short stories concerned with the adversities of time, love, people and space, starting in the mid-1990s and ending in the present day. We see snapshots of what is and what might have been in the lives of Takaki and Ahora, who start off as friends but look as if they may be blighted by convention and distance.

+ The Garden of Words

  • Director

    Makoto Shinkai

  • With the voices of

    Miyu Irino, Kana Hanazawa, Fumi Hirano

  • Japan 2013. 46min

  • Digital

  • Certificate

    12A

  • English subtitles

Makoto Shinkai’s short film is a cinematic delight: a chance encounter, a forbidden relationship and a beautiful setting. Young Akizuki skips school to sit in a public garden and sketch. Over time, he befriends an enigmatic, older woman who also seeks the park’s sanctuary, and an unusual relationship begins. Shinkai here plays with the traditional Japanese definition of love, a ‘lonely sadness’.