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Live-Action 5 Centimeters Per Second Film Reveals Female Lead, Comment by Makoto Shinkai
posted on by Anita Tai
The official website for the live-action film of Makoto Shinkai's 5 Centimeters per Second anime film posted its fourth teaser visual, as well as a new cast member and a comment from Shinkai himself, on Wednesday.
Mitsuki Takahata (live-action Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku, 1122: For a Happy Marriage) plays the heroine Akari Shinohara as an adult.
Shinkai watched an early preview screening of the film, and said that while he was apprehensive at first, he was drawn into the visuals and found himself unexpectedly crying. He added that he was unsure what made him cry: the elements of the original work making it into the film, the work of the director and the crew, or the feeling of the lost age of the 2000s, but he was still genuinely moved.
Previously announced cast members include:
- Haruto Ueda as child Takaki Toono
- Noa Shiroyama as child Akari Shinohara
- Yuzu Aoki as high school-aged Takaki Toono
- Nana Mori as Kanae Sumida
- Mai Kiryū as Risa Mizuno
SixTONES member Hokuto Matsumura (Suzume's Sōta Munakata) stars in the live-action film.
Spoon is producing the film, and TOHO will distribute. Yoshiyuki Okuyama is directing, and Ayako Suzuki wrote the script. Ayatake Ezaki is composing the music.
The anime focuses on Takaki Tono, telling the story through three stages of his life and describing his weakening connection and relationship to a girl he once loved. In the first part, set in his middle school years, he tries to make his way to one final meeting with Akari Shinohara, a girl who he befriended in elementary school. With Akari moving away, he realizes this will be his final meeting with her, and he braves the snow and the circumstances to see her. The second part is set during Tono's high school life, when Tono is still thinking about Akari, ignorant to the feelings of a girl named Kanae who has fallen in love with him. The third part is set during Tono's adulthood, where he struggles to hold down a job and a relationship as he continues to find things that remind him about Akari.
The 5 Centimeters per Second anime opened in Japan in 2007. The film is split into three individual segments. Crunchyroll previously released the anime on DVD in 2011 with the help of Bandai Entertainment. Discotek later released a reissue of that version with new cover art. GKIDS later acquired the license in 2022 and released the film on Blu-ray Disc with Shout! Factory.
Shinkai directed, wrote, and storyboarded the anime film, and was also the sound director, producer, and art director. Tenmon composed the music.
Sources: 5 Centimeters per Second film's website, Comic Natalie
