The title alludes to the speed at which cherry blossoms fall, and by the end of the movie you are likely to have shed tears that will surpass this velocity in their descent. Unlike Shinkai's two previous full-length features (Voices of a Distant Star and The Place Promised in Our Early Days), 5 Centimeters per Second lacks a science fiction backdrop, but such a theme would likely be just a distraction from the poignant tales of love that are presented. Told in three gorgeously-animated chapters, of which, the first two could easily stand on their own, the audience follows Takaki Tono through three glimpses of his early life.

A person's first love is seldom forgotten, and Shinkai crafts an indelible foundation in the first part of his story, weaving together the bond between Tono and Akari Shinohara. Simple happiness isn't to be for these two, though, as Shinohara is forced to move away, and they are left alone to decide what each means to the other. Even when the distance coming between them proves to be only literal, and the two decide to meet despite a long journey, nature itself imparts its own challenge to test their resolve. At the end of the first act, the viewer is left to reminisce about the elation of that first connection, and how it once seemed such feeling would last forever.

Not all affection is reciprocated, and the tale of the second chapter stands in stark contrast to its predecessor, even though Tono resumes a central role. It's now several years later, and decisions about college and the future loom. However, for Kanae Sumida only one thing is certain, her love for Tono. While Sumida struggles to accept a heart that is beyond her reach, Tono remains frozen by his past and blinded to the possibilities right in front of him. The audience is reminded of the uncertainty in life, while it is captivated by the courage to let love go, and then wonder if such a noble decision is truly an act of cowardice.

While the final act lacks the eloquent storytelling and emotional resonance of the first two as it revisits Tono and Shinohara in their early adulthood, it underpins the reality that not everything works out the way a person imagines, and sometimes fantasies obscure chances at real happiness. The feelings of boundless hope once so plentiful in childhood are so ephemeral in our adult lives, and Tono is made all too aware of this as the nostalgia of his past continues to haunt his future.

Whether the audience walks away from the film grateful for what they have or commiserating things that might have been, it is easy to recognize the simple truth that in life, and most certainly love, things rarely work out the way they do in one's dreams.