Visually and emotionally striking, but can often give you tonal whiplash.
The Story The story revolves around the character named Takao Akizuki. He is a typical high school student that has aspirations and dreams of becoming a shoemaker. This passion of his drove him to drop out of school so he could focus solely on honing his craft because he has no desire of going to school. One day, while visiting a garden-themed park, it begins to rain so heavily that he takes cover under a small shelter like an area where he could sit and relax. There he meets a woman who is a little older, named Yukari Yukino. As the two of them begin to talk, Takao’s feelings for her begin to grow. They continue to meet in the same spot, but only on rainy days.
The movie director Makoto Shinkai who was also the director of the highest-grossing anime film ever "Your name"; his style of storytelling depicts the story as:
" Those rainy days will not last forever and once they end, the fate of these two shall be met. "
It’s this blossoming friendship between the two with the exchange of few words on rainy days, teetering on the edge of possibly, maybe, being something more, perhaps – on which Garden of Words draws you in. Made almost ethereal by its gentle piano score and framed at all times by possibly some of the finest animations you’ll ever see.
ANIMATIONS
The creator of this short 45 minutes film, Comix Wave productions who is also responsible for - 5 centimeters per second, Your name, Weathering with you; so unreal animations is a given take. There are times when Garden of Words doesn’t just look real, it looks better than real. As though it’s improving and refining reality.
I guess Garden of Words signature moments are those revolving around water. Water glistening on paving, settling on concrete, the pitter-patter of rain filling containers, being windswept across ponds – not only is it all remarkably well-observed, it’s been somehow romanticized to the point where its beauty is not only laid bare but skillfully and subtly exaggerated so you can almost feel, taste and hear it.
But it’s not just the water – it’s also the other observations in his work that make the animation so sublime. I particularly like his use of depth of field – particularly on details like a pencil drawing on sketchpads, or his focus on more domestic, incidental details like a cup resting on a table or the chopping of vegetables.
Individual blades of grass are animated, leaves are animated, individual raindrops are animated, but the best work, in my opinion, was watching Takao draw out his shoe patterns. The flawless curves, the fact that you can sense texture on the paper when the pencil rolls across its surface are just simply mesmerizing. Makoto Shinkai and CoMix do not disappoint at all in its animation and artwork.
STORY
It lends Garden of Words a very homely feeling. You can imagine yourself there. It pulls you down to the character’s level, brings you into their world, and makes it all that much more involving and believable. For 45 minutes you get an intimate snapshot into the lives of two people and, remarkably, feel as though you know them far better than you should give the film brevity.
To summarise by giving my own thoughts - Garden of Words truly is so saddening at the end. Both the teacher and the main character Takao had the happiest time of their life when they were together. They had put that moment above their past and future days by acknowledging that. However, in the end, the teacher moves away and Takao goes on living his days in his least favorite place, at school. Although this is true, it gives you hope and warms your heart when she glances out the window hoping for another chance to see him and him hoping the path he is following will lead to her again. One of the deepest movies I've ever watched, and it was only 45 minutes.
Overall Rating: 4.0/5
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