Makoto Shinkai is famous for his romantic anime films, often presenting his characters' relationships with stunning realism through the backdrop of a fantastical world. While these days his older works have fallen by the wayside in terms of popularity, one film that stands the test of time is the 2007 film 5 cm per Second.
Despite how long the film has been out, there are still elements that are unknown to those who have watched it and new versions of the story are still being released even thirteen years later.
10 First Released Via Yahoo! Japan Streaming
Upon completion of the film in January 2007, the first episode, Cherry Blossom, was released to the public on Yahoo! Japan's streaming service and was available to watch ahead of its theatrical release to premium members from February 16 to 19 before begin taken down ahead of its full release. The full-length film was released two weeks later on March 3rd, premiering at Cinema Rise in Shibuya, Tokyo.
9 One Of The Few Films By Makoto Shinkai With No Fantasy Elements
Makoto Shinkai is, right now, mostly associated with his fantasy romance films, Your Name and Weathering With You, both heavily featuring fantasy elements as a central focus that drives the plot forward. While his works are split between realism and fantasy fairly evenly, a large portion of his more realistic works are short films rather than full-length features.
Despite the realism of 5 cm Per Second, or perhaps even because of it, it is one of Shinkai's most gut-wrenching films to date, particularly with its ending.
8 The Films Distribution Was Discontinued Only Four Months After Its US Release
The English dub release in the US only lasted a few months under its original license with ADV Films, before they abruptly announced they were discontinuing distribution of the title. A few months after this, the rights were acquired by another company and they quickly began preparations to redistribute the film once again, but not until they had made a major change to the voice work.
7 A Second English Dub Was Made After It Was Acquired By Bang Zoom!
Once Bang Zoom! acquired the distribution rights to 5 cm Per Second, they started casting calls for an entirely new English dub of the film, which is now the most common version available to western audiences. The film's re-release was first streamed on Crunchyroll, on their Day of Makoto Shinkai, before a DVD release was announced to come out the subsequent year.
David Matranga, the original voice for Tataki, went on to play parts in many subsequent films by Shinkai, including The Garden of Words and Children Who Chase Lost Voices.
6 Another Animation Company Admitted To Plagiarizing Parts Of The Film
In 2009, a Chinese animation company, Liuzhou Lan Hai technologies Ltd., came forward and admitted to plagiarizing backgrounds from the film for their own animation film, Window of the Heart. According to their report, a subcontractor had taken many frames from 5 cm Per Second to be used in their animation, and the company claims they didn't become aware of the act until after their film had already been released. Considering just how much of Window of the Heart had taken entire scenes from Shinkai's film, that seems hard to believe.
5 Is Makoto Shinkai's Second Shortest Film
Shinkai is no stranger to creating short films, with most of his early work having run times that barely hit double digits. It wasn't until his 2004 film, The Place Promised in Our Early Days, that he took the leap into full-length feature films. That being said, some of his features are actually quite short, and 5 cm Per Second is one of those shorter films. Although not taking the crown for the shortest run time, 5 cm Per Second is the runner up at only 65 minutes. The Garden of Words takes the gold medal of the shortest, at 46 minutes long.
4 A Novelization And Manga Of The Story Were Also Released
As with many successful anime films these days, a novelization of the story was released in November 2007, eight months after its initial Japanese release. In 2010, a manga adaptation of the film was released, and has since received an English language release in single-volume form. The manga expands on the characters, and give the women in Tataki's life much more screen time than the film did.
3 The Original Novel Is The Only Version Of The Story Without An English Language Release
In a strange decision for such a popular story, the novelization, written by Shinkai himself, is the only version of 5 cm Per Second that has yet to get an English language release. Despite every other version of the story being localized for western audiences, the 2007 novel has yet to be translated into English.
However, a second version of the novel, titled One More Side, has also been written by Shinta Kanou, the same author who wrote the novelization of Shinkai's other films, Voices of a Distant Star and The Place Promised in Our Early Days. This version was released in Japan in 2011, and finally saw a western release in February 2019.
2 Shinkai Drafted Ten Short Stories For The Film
5 cm Per Second is a collection of three short stories, centered around Tataki as he tries to deal with the loss of his best friend and love of his life while the world seems to be against them. Originally, this tale would be told through an additional seven short stories, but was cut down to only three for the final version of the film. A fourth story was added to the original novel and was a part of a special Japanese DVD release, which features a character not seen in the original film.
1 It Was Only Shinkai's Second Time Working With A Full Team
While it may not seem like it judging from the quality of Shinkai's work, 5 cm Per Second was only the second time he had worked with a full production team, as most of his previous work he had done alone. One of his early independent short films, She and Her Cat, attracted the attention of CoMix Wave Films, who subsequently hired him and re-released his previous work under their company after he won the 2000 DoGA CG Animation Contest, and kept him on to release all of his subsequent films.