5cm per Second - Live Action Movie: A Proper Closure (Review)

 

As someone who loves the anime, I was sceptical. Live-action adaptations rarely do justice to stories built on silence, inner monologues, and moments that linger without explanation. Still, appreciating the anime, I chose to watch it at a XXI Premiere. When I walked in, I realised I was the only one there,  no chatter, no rustling popcorn, no phone screens lighting up the dark. It was just me and the screen. It felt oddly a priviledge, as if the film was being aired exclusively for me.

More Than a Retelling

I lowered my expectations and let the movie play, unconsciously trying to avoid being disappointed by the movie.  However, what followed was a warm experience. Quiet, restrained, and unexpectedly comforting.

For those who haven’t watched the anime, it’s worth saying this early: the live-action film works best if you already know the world of 5 Centimeters per Second. The decision to air the anime a week or two before the live-action release makes sense. This film isn’t a re-enactment. It doesn’t attempt to reproduce scenes frame by frame. Instead, it fills the gaps. It lingers where the anime shifted scenes quickly. It offers reflection, and in some places, closure.

At its core, the movie remains a beautiful, heartbreaking love story. However, unlike the anime, which leaves you suspended in uncertainty, this version is more willing to stay with its characters until they are ready to move forward.

One of the most interesting choices the film makes is its point of view. Rather than strictly following the anime’s structure, it spends more time letting us understand Takaki Tōno and Akari Shinohara as people, not just as fragments of each other’s memories. In the anime, Akari often exists as a figure from Takaki’s childhood. In the live-action film, she is given her own space. We learn about her work, her thoughts, and how she understands the relationship they once shared, allowing her to stand as a character in her own right.

Takaki's character, in particular, is developed quite deeply. He is introduced as an introvert, someone who lives to work, dislikes small talk, and seems emotionally distant. Yet the film doesn’t leave him isolated. What’s interesting is who he connects with. He isn’t close with his peers, but he seems to find comfort with seniors in both places he works. The film doesn’t provide explanations. It just leaves us imagining the reasons ourselves. He is also unexpectedly open when he reconnects in Tokyo with Kanae’s older sister, who had once been his teacher. Kanae was the girl from the past who tried to be close to him, but he remained aloof. With Kanae's sister who is also his former teacher,  Takaki speaks more freely, reflecting on his past in a way we rarely see him do elsewhere.

One conversation between Takaki and his senior at the planetarium, in particular, becomes a key moment that provides closure to the story. I won’t spill it here, because it’s better experienced without knowing what’s coming.

Symbols
Symbolism is where the film truly deepens its connection with the anime and I truly enjoy it.

The idea of things falling at the same rate returns again. Snow and sakura petals, different in form, yet sharing the same speed of five centimetres per second. Much like Takaki and Akari, moving through different paths and seasons of life, held to the same rhythm, yet never quite arriving at the same place at the same time.

The film also brings in the Voyager Golden Record, a message sent from Earth into deep space, still travelling, without any certainty that someone will ever listen to it. It mirrors Takaki’s habit of writing diary entries, only to delete them once he’s done. Words are written without an audience and messages are sent without knowing if they will ever arrive.

It also reflects how Takaki felt as a child, unsure of who he would become, unsure whether he would grow into someone proper, someone worthy, especially in Akari’s eyes. Like the record itself, he was moving forward without knowing what waited ahead, carrying his hopes into an unknown future.

There’s also the notion of an extremely small probability of meeting someone from your past again, 0.0003%. Whether the science behind that probability really matters isn’t the point. What matters is how it frames Takaki’s life. Despite how slim the chances are, there are moments where he comes painfully close to reconnecting with Akari and his past, through his senpai, through Kanae's sister, through his workplace at the planetarium. Each near-miss feels deliberate, as if the film is reminding us how fragile timing really is.

I also liked how Takaki’s constant movement is mirrored across time. As a child, he kept transferring schools. As an adult, he moves from job to job. He keeps moving, but not quite forward, still holding on to a promise made long ago. As he puts it himself, he was just “getting by”.

The film also presents an interesting contrast in Takaki’s character. Despite being reserved and emotionally closed off, he is capable of forming friendships. He confides. He opens up and those moments, become the backbone of the film’s emotional resolution.

Photography and Cinematography

Visually, the movie is a feast, especially for anyone who enjoys photography and cinematography. If you’ve been longing for Japan, this film delivers plenty of familiar sights. You’re given glimpses of Tokyo as it is lived in, trains cutting through the city at night, crowds moving in rhythm, clusters of skyscrapers framed against the sky. At the same time, the film shifts away from the city, showing rural beaches, quiet train lines, and snowy landscapes that feel almost suspended in time.

The typical bird’s-eye views often associated with Makoto Shinkai’s works aren’t as dominant here, but they’re not entirely absent either. Instead, the film offers a different take on aerial shots, subtle glimpses of Tokyo and rural Japan seen from above, used sparingly.

The framing is thoughtful. The b-rolls linger just long enough. The colour grading feels cool and calming, yet warm at the same time. When the film shifts into the past, the visuals soften. Backgrounds dissolve into gentle bokeh, with a slightly vintage texture that makes those memories feel tender rather than distant. 

A Different Emphasis

Interestingly, the anime’s most iconic moment, Takaki’s long train journey from Tokyo to Iwafune late until midnight due to train delays, no longer sits at the emotional centre here. The live-action film chooses to focus elsewhere, on scenes and conversations that were never shown in the anime. One of my favourite additions is the moment when Takaki and Akari finally understand the meaning behind Akari’s name, and how each of them had interpreted it differently all this time.

Ending
The familiar crossing is still there. Takaki and Akari walking past each other. Two trains passing in opposite directions. But this time, I didn’t feel the same weight I carried after watching the anime years ago. There was still sadness, but it didn’t pierce like before. I felt at ease with it.

As the credits rolled in an empty cinema, I stayed seated for a while. I didn’t feel rushed to leave. I was reading the credits, but my mind kept drifting back to moments from the movie, trying to make sense of the plot, the symbols, and how the story unfolded. It wasn’t really the same anime I was familiar with.

I understand now what the movie is trying to do. It doesn’t dwell on a typical love story that insists love always finds its way back, nor does it claims that everything happens for a reason. What it does instead is stay with the characters long enough for them to understand their own past. 

I understand in the end that this wasn’t about turning an anime into live action. It was about revisiting a story from a different distance, with time in between, and realising that some questions can still left unanswered. However, understanding is enough, a proper closure.

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Plot twist. I was so eager to get home and write all these thoughts that I left my reading glasses behind. Credit to XXI Cinema, I contacted their customer service and not long after they let me know the glasses were safe. It looks like I’ll be making a second trip to the cinema today. Maybe that’s a sign to watch the movie again?