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When it comes to a slice-of-life story, there’s an entire vibe that few other stories are able to reproduce. In order to do that, you need to be a talented filmmaker like Japanese director Makoto Shinkai. In 2007, Shinkai released 5 Centimeters Per Second, an anime movie that was his feature film solo directing debut. Eighteen years later, the movie is getting a live-action adaptation, and Japanese distributor TOHO revealed a first look this week.
The adaptation was first announced back in 2024, but only now fans are getting to see how it will look in a real-world setting. The image reveals SixTONES idol Hokuto Matsumura front and center as leading character Tono Takaki, and he’s standing in front of the movie’s iconic cherry blossom tree — which is a significant part of the story. In the animated movie, 5 Centimeters Per Second is the rhythm that cherry blossom petals take to fall from the trees, and it symbolizes the fleeting nature of most of human relationships.
Even though 5 Centimeters Per Second is widely considered one of Shinkai’s best movies, it is often forgotten because it’s part of the director’s early work. As he became more popular, some of his bigger works like Your Name and Suzume ended up overshadowing other titles in the filmmaker’s filmography. But fans of the movie are fierce defenders of it: on Rotten Tomatoes, it has an excellent 87% score — and the lack of a critics’ rating only underscores how the movie went mostly unnoticed by western audiences.
What is ‘5 Centimeters Per Second’ About?
5 Centimeters Per Second uses an anthology-like structure to tell the story of Tono Takaki and Shinohara Akari. The first segment centers around both characters as kids living in Tokyo and developing a strong friendship bond that ends up evolving into a romantic relationship. Then, one of them moves and we meet them older and spending their days farther and farther apart in Japan. In the last segment, Takaki and Akari are already adults and are contemplating the possibilities of trying to meet each other for at least one more time.
The bad thing for fans on this side of the world is that
This article covers a developing story. Continue to check back with us as we will be adding more information as it becomes available.
