This review has been a long time coming! This is going to be a throwback to my very first review on this blog... The Garden of Words by Shinkai Makoto! This film has finally reached Netflix, really it's been on there for a while but I haven't gotten the motivation to watch it as of late. I finally motivated myself to watching it though, so here we go!
The Garden of Words is a coming-of-age, slice of life film that revolves around Akizuki Takao, a fifteen-year-old first year who dreams of becoming a shoemaker in this day and age. He always skips first period on rainy days, going to a nearby park. One of these days he meets a woman at the park in the gazebo, drinking beer and eating chocolate.
(SPOILER WARNING! START)
We first see Takao playing hooky in the first scene. The rainy season has begun and he goes to the park where he meets the mysterious woman for the first time. There, he works on his shoe designs and such, admiring the woman from afar in the gazebo they both share. Takao asks if he knows her and she responses with a no. As she leaves, she recites a tanka to him:
"A faint sound of thunder. Cloudy skies. Perhaps it will rain. Shall you not stay?"
Then we are thrown into viewing each of their home lives, what's happening behind the scenes when they are away from each other. A montage begins with very beautiful music, showing the lives of these two people, connected by the rain.
Takao confesses to the mysterious woman that he wants to be a shoemaker, despite it being outdated. Once the rainy season is over, summer begins and they don't meet for the entirety of the break. Takao works a part-time job throughout summer break because he is planning on going to a trade school to better his shoe making skills.
Once the break is over and school is back in session, Takao sees the mysterious woman at his school! It turns out that she used to be the literature teacher, Yukino-sensei, and was bullied by students through false rumours and the like, causing her to quit. Takao picks a fight with the third years that bullied Yukino-sensei and gets injured, soon going to the park to find her. He responds:
"A faint sound of thunder. Even if rain comes not, I will stay here, if you, too, stay."
It is the response to the tanka that she said to him when they first met. Rain starts pouting and they head to her apartment where he confesses that he has feelings for her and she softly rejects him by telling him she's moving back home in the next week. He leaves and she rushes after him after some thought of how helpful he was to her, helping her out of her depressive state. They have some words on the staircase and soon are embraced in a hug while they cry.
The film ends with Takao having made shoes for her and leaving them in the gazebo they often frequented while Yukino-sensei is teaching literature back home, occasionally her thoughts reach out, wondering how Takao is nowadays.
(SPOILER WARNING! END)
The film was very good. I enjoyed it immensely despite the differences between it and the manga. The end was kind of a cliffhanger and actually slightly upset me. I didn't find it all that satisfying.
Goes to show though that I most definitely recommend this film. I, personally, love every Shinkai Makoto film I have seen thus far and this one did not disappoint... too much at least. Now while 5 Centimeters per Second was the one that caught people's attention the first time around, Weathering With You is another film he has created that has made a monumental impact. That one was more recent, coming out within the last three years, and no, I haven't seen it yet. I will though, when I can get a hold of it, but as of right now, I don't have any plans to watch it.
Now, that is all I really have to say about this film, it does follow closely with the story line of the manga with some slight differences. It also doesn't go much into depth with the characters, but the montage with the beautiful instrumentals was, I felt, very sentimental and emotional.
Thank you all for reading this week's review! Next week, I will be talking about the light novel that recently came out in August for this title. Yes, you read right. Light novel. It has been released for years in Japan, but has only recently hit the shelves in North America. I am actually quite excited to read this and see how it differs from the manga. It will be my first time reading a light novel as well as reviewing one, so we will see how things turn out. Hope you guys will come back next week and venture forth!
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