Garden of Words (言の葉の庭) is a short slice of life romance movie by Shinkai Makoto. The film was originally released in Japan in 2013.
Two lonely souls find companionship while shirking their responsibilities on rainy days. Akizuki has a habit of skipping the beginning of school on rainy days. Instead he finds solace in Shinjuku's National Garden park were he can work on his dreams of being a shoe maker. At the beginning of the rainy season he finds another person seeking their own peace, a young office lady named Yukino.
Each rainy morning they find each other at the park and slowly develop a connection. Much like Akizuki, Yukino is shirking responsibility in order to find herself and enjoy the peaceful rainy tranquility in the midst of Tokyo. The pair, while dissimilar, latch onto each others loneliness and form a unique bond on their rainy mornings swapping idle chat and food. Unfortunately their difference in age and position prohibits their kindred spirits from doing more then meeting.
Like all of Shinkai's works this one deals with the weight of loneliness and the struggle to connecting with other humans. Akizuki finds himself alone following his older brother moving out and his mother living with her boyfriend. His entire focus is on his ideal career as a cobbler but struggles at school as he spends more and more time in the park with Yukino. Yukino is struggling with her own issues at her job, which she is frequently absent from. She finds comfort in the conversations with the boy almost half her age but fears for her future. The writing and dialog between the main characters is superb and heart felt. My only real complaint on that end is the effect added to the character monologues which make them sound like they are trapped in a tunnel.
As with almost every other thing he has done, the artwork is an amazing and a highly detailed love letter to the urban world. Shinkai is proof positive that full computer generated animation can be as good as cell shade, if not better. The character designs are simplistic though, which is a stark contrast with the vivid scenery and motion. To me it seems to be a slight flaw in the movie but one that doesn't detract too much from the over all aesthetics of the film. Even if it didn't have its breath takings artwork, the story and direction alone makes it worth watching.
The film is available subtitled and dubbed in North America by Sentai Filmworks/Section23 Film.
Two lonely souls find companionship while shirking their responsibilities on rainy days. Akizuki has a habit of skipping the beginning of school on rainy days. Instead he finds solace in Shinjuku's National Garden park were he can work on his dreams of being a shoe maker. At the beginning of the rainy season he finds another person seeking their own peace, a young office lady named Yukino.
Each rainy morning they find each other at the park and slowly develop a connection. Much like Akizuki, Yukino is shirking responsibility in order to find herself and enjoy the peaceful rainy tranquility in the midst of Tokyo. The pair, while dissimilar, latch onto each others loneliness and form a unique bond on their rainy mornings swapping idle chat and food. Unfortunately their difference in age and position prohibits their kindred spirits from doing more then meeting.
Like all of Shinkai's works this one deals with the weight of loneliness and the struggle to connecting with other humans. Akizuki finds himself alone following his older brother moving out and his mother living with her boyfriend. His entire focus is on his ideal career as a cobbler but struggles at school as he spends more and more time in the park with Yukino. Yukino is struggling with her own issues at her job, which she is frequently absent from. She finds comfort in the conversations with the boy almost half her age but fears for her future. The writing and dialog between the main characters is superb and heart felt. My only real complaint on that end is the effect added to the character monologues which make them sound like they are trapped in a tunnel.
As with almost every other thing he has done, the artwork is an amazing and a highly detailed love letter to the urban world. Shinkai is proof positive that full computer generated animation can be as good as cell shade, if not better. The character designs are simplistic though, which is a stark contrast with the vivid scenery and motion. To me it seems to be a slight flaw in the movie but one that doesn't detract too much from the over all aesthetics of the film. Even if it didn't have its breath takings artwork, the story and direction alone makes it worth watching.
The film is available subtitled and dubbed in North America by Sentai Filmworks/Section23 Film.
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