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| Soft Cover Edition |
A contemporary classic, 5
Centimeters per Second won animator Makoto Shinkai international renown
as a rare talent. Indeed, he just might be one of the most powerful
bards of romantic longing and thwarted love working today in any medium.
This official novelization narrates from the other side—for instance,
from the point-of-view of the girl rather than the boy in the legendary
first segment, “Cherry Blossoms”—to tell a story that is both deeply
engaging for first-timers and astonishingly fresh for fans of the film.
The
author of fantasy novels based on the Shining videogame series, Arata
Kanoh is best known for his imaginative prose adaptations of the
masterpieces of Japan’s hottest animator. Most recently, his take on
Your Name was the #1 Kindle bestseller at Amazon Japan.
***
5 Centimeters per Second : One More Time
Author: Makoto Shinkai
Published year:2019
Origin Language: Japanese
Genre : Fiction, Romantic
I was finishing my TBR list and this book is almost at the bottom of the stack. I haven't watched the movie, but I like Makoto Shinkai. Who doesn't know about Makoto Shinkai after the record-breaking movie, Your Name.
Thus, I have no expectation from this book since the blurbs don't explain at all, except a promise of delivering a powerful and romantic love story.
The story opener is the elementary student of Akari. She was the only child in the family that always in the move due to her father's job.
Consequently, Akari moves from one school to another and leaves her anxious every time. Akari hates changing school, not because she loves her previous school, but the adaptation was too overwhelming for her. The first day in the class, always the hardest part, and other children will laugh at her.
Until one day, she and her family moved to Tokyo. Her mother promised her, that would be their last time. On the first day, anxious and scared, someone whisper to her, that she will be okay. Amazingly, it becomes a spell, Akari straightens her posture and feels confident to introduce herself. Later, she realized that it was Kohno Takaki, who encouraged her.
Takaki is also the only child. Same as Akari, his family moved a lot, yet Takaki knew how to blend in, without being too flashy or modest. Not only that, for the first time, Akari finally finds someone who understands her and listens to her. They become best friends, spend the days together until the others tease him as a couple.
Against all odd, Takaki asked Akari to join him to get in the private school when they are into junior high school. Akari did so. She studied a lot for the preparation and both of them ace the tests.
But, Akari's father needs to move to Togichi, a small city north of Tokyo. Heartbroken, Akari told Takaki and since then, their relationship is frozen, over the broken promise and the horror to be separated.
Starting in a new city, Akari felt nausea come again. She still speaks with Takaki, only in her mind. Akari encouraged herself to write a letter to Takaki, and not long they corresponded again, telling their daily life through letters. Until one day, Takaki should move to another city, far away from Tokyo or Togichi. Scared, Takaki decide to visit Akari, 11 months after Akari left.
In this segment, Cherry Blossom told from the perspective of the introverted Akari, is beautifully depth and captured the storyteller's melancholia perfectly.
The author explores what is inside Akari's mind and feeling, deeply. How scared she is for the world, and how dependent she is on Takaki, the only light in her dark tunnel of mind.
In the Second segment, Cosmonaut is told from the perspective of Takaki. His new life is on an island, Tanegashima, the easternmost island in Japan. How he starts to build routines, explores the island, and is drawn to the hardworking girl, Kanae.
The transition between Akari and Takaki's point of view is drawn boldly. In Takaki's point of view, more masculine and bold. Even there are days that Takaki wandered the island looking for something, but the melancholic feeling is nonexistent. The sentences are more straightforward and exact.Takaki is aloof, yet distant.
I love both points of view, even the difference between them. While the Cherry blossom segment, Akari finds courage and reason to be happy, the second segment is the search for himself. The search for what Akari wants in life. He seemed to want to escape from everything, but what did he look for? And what I love the most is how Takaki seems to search for the meaning of his random dream, like a sixth sense for him.
"Every time I wrote them (the dream) down, I got frustrated and upset with myself for failing to reproduce even a glimpse of what I had seen"_p145.
The third segment, 5 centimeters per second. This is told from the third point of view. This segment is how Akari and Takaki grew into adulthood. Their dilemma in the twenties and life goes on despite the hardships.
To be honest, I give a perfect score for this book, since I never thought it will be this good great. This book is the type of book that I dreamed of writing someday. How the author cultivates both protagonists' feelings whilst transforming them into adulthood. He shows not tell the transformation.
And like any Makoto Shinkai's movies, the detailed description of how the sky, the mountain, the sea, and the movement of Cherry blossom petals, 5 cm per second, are captured beautifully, that I can feel to watch the movie whilst reading it.
It is the best book I ever read this year. Wonder what took me so long to read it.
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