What's the speed?
Nota 10
Takaki and Akari have been friends since elementary school. There has always been a love between the two of them and when Akari’s family has to move into a different district, the two are separated. Even so, their feelings seem to still grow. Chapter by chapter the two grow closer and decide to meet in one winter day. And chapter by chapter their little contact starts to dwindle until it stops. The tag line for ‘5 centimeters per second’ was that this is the speed at which cherry blossoms fall. The cherry blossoms are a symbol of first love for the Japanese and the specific speed of 5 centimeters per second takes a different tone – it is also the speed at which people grow apart from each other. The whole book has a strong sense of longing, especially since it’s mostly from Takaki’s point of view. As with “Your Name” the manga version adds scenes to this version of ‘5 centimeters per second’, showing more of the other characters, and yet the sense of longing never disappears. This is a story of the ‘one that got away’ in the most painful way – because of distance and time, two things you cannot control.