The story is set in Japan, beginning in the early 1990s up until the present day (2008),[a] with each act centered on a boy named Takaki Tōno.

Takaki and Akari begin to refer to each other using their given names without honorifics, which is an indicator of close friendship and intimacy in Japanese culture.

Right after graduating from elementary school in 1994, Akari moves to the nearby prefecture of Tochigi due to her parents' jobs.

Kanae Sumida, a classmate of Takaki, has loved him ever since first meeting him in middle school but has never had the courage to confess her feelings to him.

Takaki finds himself in a convenience store reading a magazine about the decade long journey of the rocket launched in the 2nd act.

Later, while walking down the same road they knew when they were children, Takaki and Akari appear to pass and recognize each other at the train crossing.

It is the same place they had promised to watch the cherry blossoms together thirteen years ago, just before Akari moved to Tochigi.

Makoto Shinkai has expressed that, unlike his past works, there would be no fantasy or science fiction elements in this film.

[5] The movie marks the first time Shinkai has worked closely with a full staff of animators and artists.

Entertainment has re-dubbed the entire film at the request of its original Japanese distributor, and the new dub was first streamed via Crunchyroll as part of their Day of Makoto Shinkai on 28 February 2009.

[26] On 13 August 2010, Crunchyroll CEO Kun Gao announced plans to release titles on DVD, starting with 5 Centimeters per Second.

[28] In 2015, Discotek Media announced that it had licensed 5 Centimeters per Second for a DVD release on 2 June that year,[29] and then 28 February 2017 on Blu-ray.

On 10 March 2022, GKIDS announced that they have licensed 5 Centimeters per Second, along with three other works by Makoto Shinkai, and will re-release it on home video in 2022;[30] it was released on Blu-ray on 7 June, with Voices of a Distant Star included as a bonus feature.

[33] In the United Kingdom and Ireland, Manga Entertainment distributed the film on DVD within the region on 14 March 2011, and on Blu-ray on 29 October 2018.

[41] Shinkai has been hailed as the next Miyazaki, and his dreamy mindscapes often equal or surpass the anime maestro in breadth of detail and depth of emotion.

[42] The Japan Times's Mark Schilling commends Shinkai saying that he is better than Miyazaki "at piercing the veil of the everyday to reveal a poignant, evanescent beauty most of us notice only in rare moments.

It never follows a strict storyline, but between the interactions on the screen and well-timed shots of lonely landscapes, everything is as clear as night and day".

[44] Mania.com's Chris Beveridge criticises the anime for its aliasing as well as it "seems to get a fairly low bitrate during a lot of it which leads to some noisy and overly grainy feeling areas.

"[45] Theron Martin reviewing for Anime News Network commends "The production [which] also excels in its use of sound effects, especially in the bow-shooting scenes in Part 2".

[4] Taken individually, the parts offer nice little vignettes, but taken as a whole they paint a broader picture about the progression of life and love.

The ending, which is where this work differs most from Shinkai's previous efforts, will doubtless be controversial and may leave some fans unsatisfied, as it opens itself to multiple interpretations.

The author is Shinta Kanou, who also wrote the novels for Voices of a Distant Star and The Place Promised in Our Early Days, two of Shinkai's other films.