Today’s moment is brought to you by the Anime Blogging Collective and Makoto Shinkai’s wonderful film anthology, Byousoku 5 Cm, which is perhaps the apotheosis of Shinkai’s work and themes and–hopefully–a turning point in his career. Each of the three films are filled with wonderful moments to highlight, often for sheer visual beauty as well as a perfection of atmosphere and emotional resonance, but the one that stood out to me for this series was this particular moment, at the end of the second film “Cosmonaut.” It is a hallmark of how far he has come as an artist and storyteller since his astounding self-produced debut as well as an emotionally redeeming moment.

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First, thanks to everyone who commented and said kind things about my hiatus posts. I was pleasantly surprised to find that people still appreciated my often years-old thoughts. Y’all rock. :) Anyways, on to my first proper post since my two week virtual absence.

Long ago, when this site was still called Scattered Cels, I reviewed the raw of the first part of this film. Without understanding any of the details of the dialogue, I could still follow the story, be amazed at the lush backgrounds and lighting, and still question whether Makoto Shinkai has only one story in him to tell. Having now seen the remaining two parts, and watching the first part with translated dialogue for the first time, I have to say that my judgment hasn’t changed overall. This film is ravishing, melancholy, and at times captures like no other the texture, the color, and the perfect modulation of loneliness. I just still wonder whether that is all there is.

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This shot pretty much captures Makoto Shinkai’s essence in a nutshell: light, shadows, gleam, and two kids holding hands.

It’s a strange experience, watching anime raw without knowing Japanese. But that’s how badly I wanted to see this. I saw the teaser for this film, Makoto Shinkai’s latest work, several months ago, and the combination of gorgeous backdrops, music, and fluid animations compelled me to see this the moment it was available. Even if I couldn’t understand a word of it. So this will not be the usual kind of review, where things like character and dialogue make a difference…
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