top of page
Gareth Crook

The Garden of Words (2013)

Continuing my deep dive into anime with my eldest. There are some great animated films on Netflix at the moment and this one’s a delight. At a lean 45 minutes, maybe it doesn’t class as a feature, but it loses nothing in cinematic artistry. It looks beautiful. Exceptionally so. Most of it taking place in the rain which is rendered so well, it’s hard not yo watch without your jaw on the floor. The detail is astounding and it’s cut exactly as it would be if it were filmed. Simply put, it’s gorgeous. Akizuki is 15, not too taken with school, interested in design and shoe making. Yukino is older, nearly twice his age and likes to skip work and drink beer on the park. This is where she meets Akizuki as he has a fondness for skipping school on rainy days, sitting in the same park and sketching ideas. They become friends, both outsiders of a sort for different reasons. For all its intricate detail, the story itself is disarmingly simple, there’s no particular arc to it and it plays out with very little drama. Even when the rain stops and their relationship pauses, it all seams quite incidental. It really does look stunning though and is well worth watching for that alone.


6/10



Comments


bottom of page