The Garden of Words

I've seen most of Makoto Shinkai's anime. When I first saw 5cm per second, I was amazed at how well the emotions of the characters dwell in the environment around them.

Garden of words is no exception. The refined use of environment and ambient effects (sound, music, weather etc) contribute greatly to the film's story. There isn't much to say about how Makoto does it and if you're going to like the style but give it a watch and you'll know.

Overall, Garden of words is a really good piece of art. It's definitely filled with Makoto's signature style and a definite recommendation to watch.

With it's short length of only 45 minutes, it's hard to call this a full movie - although don't let that deter you, as it's still better than most that I have seen, anime or otherwise.

When you hear about this movie one of the things that get repeated mention is it's visuals, and I concur. It's probably the most well made anime from a visuals standpoint.

The story isn't bad either, for only 45 minutes it sets up and tell a surprisingly deep and moving story. It is simplistic storytelling, but still very powerful. It is somewhat reminiscent of one of the director's previous films, 5 Centimetres Per Second, in that it uses a similarly "simple" story but one that relates strongly to emotions and situations felt by normal human beings. I also think this is a great movie to show people who normally don't like anime, as anime very often have different storytelling than I think many are used to. This one is more grounded without many of the "fantasy" elements that most anime's have.

The plot summary on IMDb do just fine setting up the story so I wont bother explaining it, it would just be redundant.

This movie is technically brilliant.

It's colour pallet suits it's mood. It is animated immaculately. It is a marvel to watch. It has this natural element to its shorts and it has inserts of random elements of nature that just looks insanely good. It is so impressive.

It also has a very pretty score that works well with its subdued mood.

The story is where I start to find issue with the movie. It is such a short film and I think there is so much packed into it that it gets lost somewhat.

I don't love the romance of the story I honestly think it would have been better being about friendship and two lonely people finding a friend in each other. I think that would have been much more poignant. The romance added this uncomfortableness to it which sort of flattened the story.

The other issue is that the story is very unclear in areas. I think if the film was stretched out a little and had its run time at an hour rather than 45mins, it would have benefited tremendously. It would have had a little more time to flesh out the storylines. They all seemed crammed in and I got a bit lost.

I think this is an incredible movie and with tiny changes it would have been amazing.

Within the first few seconds, you know you're in for a treat for your eyes. The animation in this movie so well done and pleasing to watch. It's one of the better animations I've seen, at least when it comes to the environment (the people are animated pretty much just like most other anime movies). There are so many details and work put into this.

We meet the boy Takao quickly through his narration. It's both beautiful to listen to and at the same time kind of funny, since he is only 15 and he makes it sound like an angsty diary entry. He like the rain, and shoes. He skips school to go to the park when it rains, where he meets a woman. They seem to have the same idea of going to the park on rainy days. He finds out eventually that he wants to design shoes for her.

The movie is unintentionally funny in its fixation in shoes and feet. In one way, it almost framed in a fetishized way, on the other hand, its very sweet and beautiful to watch.

The movie is very short, so there is not much time for character development or to let the story unravel in a slow pace. I don't know myself why Shinkai didn't make it longer (time or money or both probably), but if he could've made it longer, he should have. It has lots of promise, and would be way more interesting if it could tackle their relationship more, especially based on the massive taboo on age difference in Japan. It misses out on some really good opportunities for telling a deeper story.

There's a climax where there is a lot of feelings and crying going on and it is, unfortunately, bombarded with really loud emotional music. The dialogue is intense and almost violent, and at the same time kind of silly in a strange way. The music almost drowns out the dialogue and there is anger and sadness and love and it all happens so fast and in an intense way it's hard to know what to feel.

I really wanted to like this movie more than I did. It has a lot of potential, the animation, again, is gorgeous, the story is cute, but with not much substance (of course it has some, it tackles some issues of the woman, Yukari, for example, but not deeply enough. Everything is told so fast you'll almost miss it). I do want to see more of Shinkai (this is the first one I see), because I have no doubt he has made things better than this, and I look forward to see it.

"A faint clap of thunder. Even if the rain comes not, I will stay here, together with you". Walking the path of life is no easy feat. The appropriate metaphysical footwear must be utilised for every type of emotional terrain we encounter. Sandals for joy. Wellies for sadness. Sneakers for rage. Yearning to overcome our rational, or irrational, fears so that we can "walk" again. Teenage student Takao, an aspiring shoemaker, attempted to perform such a generous offer for Yukari. A mysterious woman he socialises with in the dense thickened foliage of a Japanese garden experiencing torrential downpour. Two souls of differing youth encompassing an identical level of maturity. Yukari avoiding her career to snack of delicious chocolate and consume canned beer, whilst Takao solidly working throughout his summer break.

The two share a common trait. Seclusion. The melancholy of isolation is one that evokes a rainfall of sympathy, and director/writer Shinkai embodies all of nature's complexities to portray these wandering individuals. The ferocity of rain portraying both the characters' sadness whilst shielding them from the rest of society. The pale green shading of the summery foliage producing a reassuring aura of tranquility within the garden. Yet it's Shinkai's usage of Man'yoshu poetry that truly captivates, adding a traditional authenticity to the Japanese central romantic narrative. With "love" being traditionally written as "lonely sadness", Shinkai honed in on the deprivation of companionship. When both characters see each other as salvational assets as opposed to romantic interests, it provides a subtle layer of maturity that is commonly found in Shinkai's writing. Love is never simple, yet nature finds a way to pull people together. The Garden of Words itself is that motif.

As expected, the animation was gorgeous. Faultless. Combining hand-drawn animation with rotoscoping to create meticulously constructed scenery, assisting in the world building of their blossoming friendship. Less detail is given to facial expressions, with much of the attentive focus towards the environmental backdrop, which occasionally leaves a vacuous emotional complexion. Almost expressionless on occasion. Not enough to deter from the character building, but worth noting.

Shinkai's unfortunate issue here is with the runtime. It's short. Absurdly short. At only forty six minutes in length, the character development between Takao and Yukari is often rushed with no emotional simmering. This became drastically noticeable during the climax when Takao discovers the reasoning behind Yukari's work avoidance. The exquisitely mature metaphors and symbolic imagery were somewhat diminished for a typical "anime ending". What I mean by that, is the sole purpose in attempting to make the viewers shed a tear. The erratic framing, the J-pop music and the explosion of emotion is typical work from Shinkai, yet it never suited the preceding scenario. Whilst it nearly, oh so nearly, worked for me (I held back that tear!), it fell short due to the complacent storytelling. Motohiro Hata's vocal talent behind the theme song "Rain" was exceptional though, almost replicating Takao's personality. So I'll give some leniency...

The Garden of Words is poetry. Visually and literarily. With gorgeously vibrant animation and themes of maturity, Shinkai has crafted a wonderfully organic story that depicts loneliness with a hint of empathy. If only he was able to stretch it out for another half an hour, we could've witnessed a masterpiece in the making.