Iwa ni Hana

Saudade and Nostalgia in 'Byousoku 5 centimeter' and 'Innocence'

To define saudade and nostalgia upfront (courtesy of Wikipedia):

• Nostalgia: the yearning for things lost in the past that will never return
• Saudade: the yearning for things lost in the past that might return, even if that return is unlikely or so distant in the future as to be almost of no consequence to the present

Wikipedia further elaborates: 'One might make a strong analogy with nostalgia as a feeling one has for a loved one who has died and saudade as a feeling one has for a loved one who has disappeared or is simply currently absent. Nostalgia is located in the past and is somewhat conformist while saudade is very present, anguishing, anxious and extends into the future.'

When I was watching Shinkai Makoto's Byousoku 5 centimeter, I thought to myself: 'Well, that's saudade alright.' In addition, I think the scene where in adulthood Toono passes by Akari is significant for two reasons:

i) Saudade becomes nostalgia in one split second.

ii) The most important decision one ever makes in one's life is made in one split second.

The yearning does not cease - but the realization that something or someone long lost may return or will never return makes all the difference. And the fact that this all happens within one split second (perhaps that is what the title of the film "Byousoku 5 centimeter" really refers to?) makes it all the more poignant.

Similarly, when I was watching Oshii Mamoru's Innocence (I mean the part about Batou's love for Motoko), I also thought to myself: 'Well, that's saudade alright.'

When the Motoko says to Batou at the end, 'Do not forget - I shall be with by your side whenever you are online', it sounded to me like a life sentence of saudade to be borne by Batou.

Utimately, I think it is a matter of choosing one's poison: With nostalgia, one is resigned that what is lost is lost forever - with that in mind, one may be able to move on with life. With saudade, one lives the perpetual hope that what is lost may yet return - and one tiptoes around the void of absence; life goes on but one leaves that void unfilled in expectation of the return of the long lost. Nostalgia has a cut-off line at some point in the timeframe. Saudade goes on. 

If there is ever such a thing as opium in the aesthetic sense, then I have to say that saudade and nostalgia are without doubt my opium - my heart muscles twitch with pleasure and pain at anything with a component of saudade or nostalgia - provided that they are presented in splendid style and good taste, of course. (My 'gateway drug' in this regard was the films of Wong Kar-wai but that's too long a story to be mentioned here.)

'Byousoku 5 Centimeter: a chain of short stories about their distance (秒速５センチメートル)' by Shinkai Makoto (新海誠)

Rating: 4/5
Gallery of screen captures

[Spoilers ahead]

The first thought that crossed my mind when I finished watching Director Shinkai Makoto's Byousoku 5 Centimeter was a passage from Romain Gary's novel Europa:

Goethe said that's what love is - when you can be with someone and still go on imagining him. When you see the person as he is, you may go on loving him, of course, but only because he reminds you of the other, the real one, the one you go on inventing.

I think this pretty much sums why it is so difficult for Toono to let go of Akari all these years, because he keeps her alive in his imagination and he keeps feeding 'life' into the imagined Akari, even though the real Akari and he are miles apart.

Look at those scenes where Akari and he are together in his imagination/dreams:

My knee-jerk reaction was that this is what 'eternity' would look like if I were to give a graphical representation of 'eternity'. It seems that they are on the other side of time, staring back into the mundane real world.

Which brings me to the next point I wish to raise, why bother to animate a story when you could have shot it with real people in real settings?

Just look at the precision of details:

Why bother to draw all of that when you would have easily captured the same images with a digital camera?

After all, Byousoku 5 Centimeter is a story about ordinary people and does not involve the likes of mecha or magic powers - there is little technical barrier to shooting it with real actors in real street settings or film studios.

I think this question goes into the heart of what makes anime attractive - or, to put it another way, what anime fans share in common that make them attracted to anime in the first place.

I have an untested theory that anime fans tend to be... by disposition not attached to the physical world. They get by with the education mill and then join the workforce - some of them may do extraordinarily well, some less so. Their level of participation in society at large tends to stop at earning their bread - they are just not the type who get anxious in not participating in the mating rituals, climbing the greasy pole etc. I think it is mostly because their mental life is too occupied with something else better than the real world has to offer. It is not that they are maladjusted - they tend to do this by choice.

In other words, anime fans are like Toono. In some corner of their minds, they have already carved out a more beautiful place for themselves, from which they stare back into the mundane world.

I know this by itself still does not answer why the story has to be animated. I just know by instinct that it would be wrong to have it shot on film. Perhaps one cannot explain art after all.

What are your thoughts? I would like to hear some feedback and hopefully I may be able to bridge the gap in explanation.