5 Centimeters Per Second

A lot can be lost when adapting from one form to another. Makoto Shinkai’s 5 Centimetres Per Second was a critically acclaimed film that took advantage of the animated medium to bring this love story to life. In turn, its comic adaptation shines in how little is lost in translation. While music is absent, the colours gone and movement restricted to our imaginations, the heart of the story and realism of the characters will bring no fewer tears to your eyes. From the very first page you’re drawn into the natural narrative of a boy falling in love with a girl who defines the way he responds to his life’s relationships. The chapters follow him through to adulthood while focusing on different women who enter his life, carefully crafting everyone’s lives, aspirations, careers and emotional maturity. It’s a bittersweet tale, a love story told in an era just before the internet becomes common; a time when even a town’s distance away could mean being cut-off forever and connections were built all the deeper through their loss.