My Favorite Quotes from ‘5 Centimeters per Second’

DAILY BLOG #12

Back in middle school, as I surfed the Internet for new anime shows to watch, I stumbled upon a movie that would forever change the way I look at animation.

The movie was 5 Centimeters per Second, a Japanese animated film directed and written by Makoto Shinkai. This was the first movie I’ve watched by him, and I would go on to watching Garden of Words and Kimi no Na Wa (Your Name).

Recently, after seven years from watching the film, I saw the same title stick out from a Barnes & Noble bookshelf. Luckily it did, because it made me fall in love with it even more (Not to mention all the other stories not included in the film).

I could ramble on forever — about Shinkai’s breakthrough into anime, about how in depth he goes into his creations, about everything 5 Centimeters per Second has to offer (I’m most likely going to do a video essay on it). But I just want to go ahead and share my 25 favorite quotes from the manga.

Here goes:

1. “…they say it’s five centimeters per second. The speed of a falling cherry petal. Five centimeters per second.” -Akari Shinohara
2. “Clouds are a bunch of tiny droplets that get bigger bit by bit as they slowly descend, before turning into rain or snow and falling to Earth.” -Akari Shinohara
3. “And bit by bit, you’ll keep changing.” -Takaki Tohno
4. “I don’t quite understand yet what it really means to grow up. But what I want is to be a person who won’t disappoint you if we happen to meet somewhere, someday a long time from now. I want to promise you that.” -Takaki Tohno
5. “But just looking at him made my heart pound and hearing his voice made it soar” -Kanae Sumida
6. “The happy moments come often, but so do the painful ones.” -Kanae Sumida
7. “Having people tiptoe around me is just kind of painful.” -Kanae Sumida
8. “Because the letters had already lost their meaning. Unable to grasp each other’s present, shying away from the truth that threatened our bond, from our utter estrangement. They had become nothing more than insipid rows of empty words…” -Takaki Tohno
9. “What are you thinking off in a place I’ve never been? Are we just a memory now?” -Akari Shinohara
10. “A rocket desperately hurtling through the blackness of empty space, farther and father, to dizzying distances, to the unknown. Desperately chasing after it — a much slower rocket.” -Kanae Sumida
11. “He’s always looking past me, at something far off in the distance. And he’ll never look at me. Not ever.” -Kanae Sumida
12. “I just started to envy the ones who had real ambitions.” -Risa Mizuno
13. “The feelings you’ve been hiding from me…the things you’d never want me to see. Show them to me.” -Kanae Sumida
14. “My heart has been…how do I put this…it’s like I’ve lost my resilience. That sense of fulfillment, of being move when I look at something beautiful, my enthusiasm — was being whittled away.” -Takaki Tohno
15. “To hold on to that feeling even if we’d be far apart. And that became my compass in life.” -Takaki Tohno
16. “The chains of your past made you who you are now.” -Risa Mizuno
17. “At least as I am…I can only wish you but not grant you happiness.” -Risa Mizuno
18. “But I hope we meet again, in some new way, as new people, and that something new starts.” -Risa Mizuno
19. “Reality is brimming over with beautiful things, scintillating feelings. How many of them have I been missing? -Takaki Tohno
20. “Maybe that sounds shallow but don’t people need shallow at times? If being on the island brings you down, leave it. If a guy is stuck in your heart, don’t force yourself to forget it. There’s nothing besides yourself that’s holding you back.” -Ryo
21. “You’re not that young anymore, but you’re still pretty free. Have some adventures while you can and then start to figure things out.” -Ms.Sumida
22. “For you, Tohno and Tokyo are shining at a distance, far from you and the island. They’re symbols of a wish beyond reach.” -Ms.Sumida
23. “To get my clock ticking, I fly at a thousand kilometers per hour across a sky and sea I don’t know.” -Kanae Sumida
24. “I think I do like the sky in Tanegashima better. On the island, time barely flows, but the clouds zoom by at such an amazing speed. So tough and full of life, like rowdy kids. And sometimes, a rocket comes to visit.” -Kanae Sumida
25. “I’ve learned that no matter how far away, if I really go after it, I can find a way to connect.” -Kanae Sumida

And that’s pretty much it.

It’s such a beautiful and nostalgic story. Everyone’s been in love with someone or something, and there’s always a feeling of unrequited love here and there.

But as time passes, we learn not to dwell in the past, because we’ll never be able to look towards the future.

Your friend,

Michael Lichauco

If you’re at the end and reading this…Let’s stay productive together 🤙