passing train cuts off their view. Takaki waits for the train to pass and finds that Akari is gone. After a moment, he smiles to himself and continues walking as the cherry blossoms stir in the train's wake. Characters Takaki is the main character of the film. Because of his parents' jobs, he is forced to move a lot. He and Akari become close friends, but when Akari moves away, they end up attending different junior high schools. In the second arc, he is shown to be an apt kyūdō practitioner and a member of his school's kyūdō club. Takaki's best friend and love interest in elementary school. Like Takaki, she and her family move a lot. After elementary school, she moves to Iwafune. She suggests living with her aunt in Tokyo in order to stay with Takaki, but her parents forbid this. For a while, she and Takaki keep in touch via post. A classmate of Takaki in junior high school and high school. She has been in love with Takaki since he began attending her junior high school, but cannot express her feelings to him. Kanae loves to surf and rides a moped to school. She doesn't know what she wants to do with her future. Her older sister is a teacher at her high school. In the manga, she is seen working as a nurse after the events depicted in the film. Production Makoto Shinkai had expressed that, unlike his past works, there would be no fantasy or science fiction elements in this film. Instead, the feature film would attempt to present the real world from a different perspective. Shinkai's film gives a realistic view of the struggles many people have to face: time, space, people, and love. The title 5 Centimeters per Second comes from the speed at which cherry blossoms petals fall, petals being a metaphorical representation of humans, reminiscent of the slowness of life and how people often start together but slowly drift into their separate ways. The movie marks the first time Shinkai has worked closely with a full staff of animators and artists. Staff Director, Writer and Original Creator: Makoto Shinkai Character Design and Chief Animation Director: Takayo Nishimura Background Art: Takumi Tanji, Ryoko Majima Music: Tenmon Production and Distribution: CoMix Wave, Inc. Music As in Shinkai's previous works, Tenmon composed this film's soundtrack. The film's ending theme was "One More Time,