Garden of Words [DVD]

I must say, while I expected something great out of Makoto Shinkai, I did not expect what was given to me in the form of The Garden of Words. Guilty Count #1: VISUALS To this date, I have never, NEVER, seen an animated film with such flawlessness in the visuals. Reflections in windows or off the water were spectacular. There are some very beautiful scenes that definitely contribute positively to the story. I dare anyone to count the number of definable, individual leaves present on a single video still of the garden. Guilty Count #2: STORY/PACING Shinkai has found his niche in storytelling. He does a wonderful job with his focus on human emotions and relationship interactions. In my opinion, this is the FIRST time he has gotten the perfect pacing on a story. He has made many worthy attempts in the past, but this one takes the cake. Also, after the credits, he leaves you with enough to keep you from hanging endlessly off a cliff. I was very worried that would be the case, but I was pleasantly surprised with the end. Guilty Count #3: VOICE ACTING I cannot believe the quality of the English voice acting in The Garden of Words. It is outstanding beyond my wildest imaginations. The raw emotion can be felt in some scenes; it is shocking, dramatic, and immediately gets your attention. Never have I ever seen such great quality in voice acting before. OVERALL I like all of Shinkais' works, so I may be biased. When it comes down to it though, this would have to be my absolute favorite by him. I cannot wait to see another feature length from him. The only downside is that The Garden of Words is 45 minutes. I think it is perfect for the pacing, but I cannot blame others for wanting more out of the story. For $9, I would definitely recommend purchasing it before it goes up. It is a worthy buy for Shinkai lovers. If you have never seen a Shinkai film before, I would recommend starting with The Place Promised In Our Early Days. If you start with The Garden of Words, I feel that it would set the bar far too high.

It's been quite awhile since I've seen a visual masterpiece such as this! Even as the opening credits were on the screen I was blown away by the visuals. I don't care if it was hand-drawn or computer generated ( I couldn't quite tell) but the visuals were mouth-dropping. Simply gorgeous. Yes, you could say that this is a love story of sorts, and I understand some reviewers hated the ending. I put it this way...if you're used to watching TV anime with high episode counts (Naruto, DB, Bleach, etc.), this might not be for you. My question is, was the story told well enough in the time provided? My answer: HELL YES. In my honest opinion, if you've experienced real/true love and heartbreak or rejection in your life you will probably understand exactly why this story ended the way it did. But make sure you keep watching past the end credits-there's a bit more story. I also enjoyed hearing English voice talent I haven't heard before and I think the main characters actors knocked it OUT THE BOX, especially Maggie Flecknoe. When the film was at it's climax, I'm not ashamed to say that a tear or two did roll down my cheek and I got a rush of goosebumps. And THAT'S what great movies do. They move you. So, in conclusion, if this is your thing, you can't go wrong with this title. The cinematography is breathtaking, English dub was very well-done, stunning visuals and the musical score was spellbinding. I wanted to give this a 9 or 9.5 but I simply can't find a single flaw to warrant it. It's simply a masterpiece.

An absolutely beautiful movie. The art style is amazing and wonderful. The story though short really comes to life and told excellently you feel for the characters and understand them. The music is lovely and flows beautifully when it is there, but when it's silent and you only hear those footsteps it's perfect too. All around all the right choices were made for this movie and it makes it so enjoyable. The loneliness you feel from certain characters, the weight and dreams of another the pain from both it was truly felt at the right times and made you really hope for them in the end. A truly splendid movie that I'm glad is now part of my collection. I love the rain so when I saw the artwork of the rain in pictures of this movie I had to check it out. I was not disappointed at the attention to detail in the rain...as well as the attention to detail in practically everything else for the movie. It makes me want to go see where it was designed after.

I really like this anime/film. The cinematography is amazing! it definitely one of the best I've ever seen, ever. The story is very well put together, even though the film is a bit short, 46 minutes to be exact. I really don't think this film is about a romantic love, but just about love. It's about having someone there for you that you could connect with, in a emotion and real level, but not in a romantic way. I love how the rain represents their feelings and it also represents love, because love will always be there, even when you push it away. The english dub is very well done, it does have a couple of parts where the lipsync was a little off, but nothing bad, nothing that would distract you from the film. The music is amazing, and it fit's the mood of the film perfectly. So, like I said before, I don't think this film is about love in a romantic way, but love in the sense of companionship. Overall, I really think it's a great anime/film and I really recommend it.

I bought this movie on the basis of comments I have seen about it on various anime forums, which all seemed favourable. Well, it is safe to say I was not disappointed! The first thing you notice is the stunning detail in the animation; it is super-lifelike, and looks gorgeous. At times it is hard to distinguish it from real 'live' footage, and things like the rain, and daily life scenes like the trains and the station, are breathtakingly realistic. In fact, only the characters themselves look like 'cartoons', and even they are beautifully drawn, with realistic shading, colouring and lighting effects; awesome - a visual feast! Coming to the story itself, the only down-side is that it is short, at about 45 minutes; I wish it had been full-length, say 90 minutes or more. It was touching, heartfelt, emotional, and made you feel for the characters. I loved every minute of it! The English dub is excellent, with many of the 'usual suspects', including Patrick Poole as male lead Takao, Maggie Flecknoe as Yukari Yukino, the female lead, plus Shelley Calene-Black, Brittney Karbowski, Hilary Haag, David Matranga, and Blake Shepard all putting in appearances. I won't summarise the story here, as the product description covers that; but it was totally excellent, and very moving. I strongly recommend this movie - it is a definite keeper!

Shinkai nos lega una obra de arte. Pocos minutos para transmitir una historia que te puede dejar indiferente. Las imágenes, el detalle de los gráficos no dejan indiferente a nadie. Majestuosamente bella, no esperes un clásico de Ghibli. Los detalles que se le presuponen existen, pero añade fondos extraordinarios. Brillantes escenas, cuidadosos desenfoques, una nueva era del anime empieza. La música aporta continuación a la historia aumentando la relevancia de la lluvia en la trama. En algunos momentos hasta parece que la protagonista sea la lluvia, es quien guía la historia relegando a los personajes a un plano secundario. La resolución de la historia con la canción de Motohari Hata sorprende como un arco iris, aparece con la lluvia e intuyes que es el final, pero...

Nein, keine schwache Story! Sie ist schlicht, beschränkt sich auf das Wesentliche - aber sie ist voller Kraft, gleichermaßen feinfühlig und tiefblickend zugleich. Zusammen mit den phantastischen Bildern ein durch und durch poetisches Gesamtkunstwerk. Qualität vor Quantität. Erwachsen! „Garden of Words“ lässt keinen weiteren Handlungsstrang zu – der wäre fehl am Platz. (Anm.: Mehr Menge an Film fürs Geld ist garnicht wirklich notwendig!) Wir nehmen etwa eine dreiviertel Stunde teil an den Gedanken und einer entstehenden Sehnsucht der beiden ungleichen Protagonisten. Was sie bewegt, und wie der jeweils Eine immer mehr Teil im Leben des Anderen wird. Während die Motivation vom Oberschüler Takao gleich von Anfang an bekannt wird, erschließt sich das ergangene Schicksal von Fräulein Yukari sowohl Takao als auch uns erst im Laufe der Geschichte. In gleichem Atemzug beobachten wir dabei im Wasser hängende Äste, Lichtspiele in den Blättern, oder aus den Regenrinnen verblasenden Starkregen. Glitzerndes Sonnenlicht, frühabendliche lange Schatten und Regen wechseln sich ab. Das hektisches Stadt- und Bahnsteigleben wirkt so realistisch und plastisch, der Einsatz und die Perspektiven allerdings lassen es surrealistisch wirken. Die wunderschöne Darstellung des traumhaften „Shinjuku Gyoen“-Park in Tokio erinnert trotz anderem Zeichenstil an die Lichteffekte der Impressionisten. In selbigen Garten möchte man als Zuseher auch unentwegt entfliehen. Die dezente Filmmusik setzt in den richtigen Momenten aus, um den Naturgeräuschen ihre Stimmung zu lassen. Von den im Film vorkommenden Real-Plätzen finden man im Internet viele Photo vs. Szenenbild-Vergleiche, die einen mit offenem Mund stehen lassen, denn man muss schon genauer hinschauen, um Photo vom gemalten Szenenbild zu unterscheiden. An der Übersetzung und den ansonsten glaubwürdigen Synchronstimmen mag es vielleicht liegen, dass mir persönlich die Schlussszene nicht so gut gefällt, wie der Rest des Gesamtkunstwerks, tut dem Ganzen aber keinen Abbruch. Yukaris japanische Synchronstimme, Kana Hanazawa, wird wohl auch nicht ohne weiteres zu kopieren sein. Wunderschöner, kraftvoller Film.

Un film touchant et unique, « The Garden of Words » déborde d’inspiration avec son histoire douce et son animation très réussis. C’est une histoire d’amour, mais dans un sens très japonais (dans le sens de ‘koi,’ ou sentiment de peine et solitude, et non de ‘ai,’ ou sentiment d’amour générique). J’ai eu l’impression d’une allure similaire mais plus mature que celle de « 5 cm par seconde. » Comme ce dernier, le film me laisse avec un sentiment de vide, comme si quelque chose me manque ou plutôt que j’aspire à quelque chose ou à quelqu’un toujours inconnue. Bref c’est cette évocation d’émotions qui me mène à adorer ce film, et je le recommande fortement aux fans d’anime japonaise et surtout à ceux et celles qui apprécient les petites nuances de la vie sur lesquelles peut s’établir un amour puissant. L’édition collector comporte le blu-ray, le dvd et un petit livret détaillant les personnages ainsi que quelques membres du staff tout emballé dans un beau coffret d’artwork. Il y a toutefois une petite bêtise dans le livret : les photos de Hata Motohiro (chanteur de l’ending theme) et d’Irino Miyu (voix japonaise de Takao) sont inversées. Mais ce n’est pas grave quand la qualité en général est si haute!

The animation quality of this movie alone is worth your money. It's a pretty short movie only lasting around 46 minutes, but every second is a pleasure for your eyes. Just the attention to detail in each and every scene is out-standing, plot-wise the anime is very realistic and doesn't feel like one of those "only in anime" scenarios. Without trying to spoil anything, I really like seeing believable stories like this where it ends how it would if the situation took place in real life and not a "defy all odds and a miracle happens" kind of thing. It's unapologetic in the sense that that's how life goes, sometimes you're just going to have to accept it and shed your tears.