Many people had asked Renya, now twenty-nine and fully immersed in adult life, why he still loved anime, manga, and games so much.
He usually just smiled without answering.
In his eyes, questions like that were as pointless as asking why people eat or sleep.
Explaining himself to someone who clearly wouldn't understand only made him feel like the idiot in the conversation.
He had dated a few unforgettable girls at different stages in life, but for one reason or another, none of those stories reached a happy ending. These days, he didn't think about marriage or family much. If anything, he was starting to enjoy the solitude. No expectations, no obligations.
So he spent more and more time in the two-dimensional world he loved.
He first heard about 5 Centimeters per Second from its trailer. Just over a minute long, and yet it had stopped him cold.
The visuals were beautiful and breathtaking, and the music immediately pulled him into that quiet, nostalgic mood of youthful love. It reminded him of high school and first love.
The full series lived up to the trailer. From childhood friends Takaki and Akari meeting in elementary school, to their separation, and Takaki's journey through the snow to see her again in middle school. That snowy night where they met and almost shared their letters—only for both messages to go unread, lost to circumstance and hesitation.
Their feelings were real. But distance, time, and missed chances slowly pushed them apart.
Renya saw his own past in their story. He thought of the girl who once sat behind him in class, the class rep who had a crush on him and ratted them out, and the storm of parental disapproval that forced the girl to transfer schools. His first love was over before it could begin.
Watching Akari and Takaki's story felt painfully familiar. It stirred emotions he hadn't felt in years—quiet heartache, and a longing that had dulled with time but never fully disappeared.
Maybe that's why people love stories like this. Life doesn't often give you closure. But in anime, it's possible. In animation, you can chase what's already lost and find peace in it.
In Episode 2, Takaki's detachment from others in high school made perfect sense to Renya. It wasn't that Kana wasn't good enough for him—it's just that his heart was still with someone else. He understood that.
So he had high hopes for the final episode. 5 Centimeters per Second had captured so much of his own experience—it only made sense that it would also offer what reality hadn't: a second chance.
Surely Akari and Takaki would meet again.
Surely they would break through the barriers that kept them apart and reclaim what they'd lost.
Surely... they'd get the happiness that he never did.
Some people online were saying the third episode would be gloomy, even heartbreaking.
Renya thought they were overthinking it.
Judging from how authentic the story felt so far, he was convinced the writer Mizushiro must've had similar experiences. The emotional accuracy was too sharp to be made up. He must be someone who'd also had a love he couldn't forget, someone who would want to give his characters a better ending than he got.
They were the same kind of person.
So with full confidence and no hesitation, Renya paid for the final episode and clicked play.
The visuals, once again, were flawless.
It was spring again. Cherry blossoms falling.
Takaki, now older, a man with a job, walked the streets of Tokyo. Past familiar ramps. Past train tracks.
Wait—wasn't this the same train crossing from the first episode? Where young Akari had once smiled at Takaki and said, "Let's come see the cherry blossoms together next year"?
But that was a long time ago. Takaki was clearly an adult now—coding at work, tired, distant.
Still, he walked past the same crossing Akari had always taken. So even now, years later... he hadn't let go. He still lived near her old route home.
Takaki's face held a quiet longing as he passed the slope.
Renya wondered what would happen next.
And then, he saw it.
Cherry blossoms in the air. The warning bells of an approaching train. Takaki walked from one end of the tracks. A woman passed from the other.
They crossed paths.
Takaki froze.
He recognized her.
Neither stopped. The safety gates dropped. The train roared between them.
"If I turn back now..."
"I feel like—she'll turn back too."
Takaki thought that. And then, after stepping across the track... he turned around.
Renya leaned forward, breath caught.
He saw the woman pause. Her face blurred behind the train. Her shoulders shifted—was she about to turn?
Then the screen shook with the roar of the train, separating them completely.
Yes. Yes!
Renya's heart raced. This was it.
The same spot, the same crossing. The same train. The same people. After all these years.
He remembered how their promise had dissolved into memory... how both had moved away. How nothing had gone as planned.
But now—now it was all coming back full circle.
The cherry blossoms were falling. Maybe this was the reunion that would finally fulfill their childhood wish.
Maybe this was fate.
A short separation for a longer reunion.
Renya's eyes misted. His thoughts drifted again—to his own past.
If only I could meet her again, like this. Just once.
Amazing.
Mizushiro was incredible. Within the first minute of this episode, he had already opened old scars and gently placed his hand on them. Renya couldn't remember the last time a piece of fiction had made him feel so seen.
And right now—he loved this animation. He loved Mizushiro.
Shout out to Obeco for joining my p-atreon! your support means everything to me.
(TL:- if you want even more content, check out p-atreon.com/Alioth23 for 60+ advanced chapters)