5 Centimeters Per Second

I really enjoyed this manga! The art is beautiful. The story was really sweet in the beginning, then got a little complicated towards the middle, and the end kinda frustrated me since it was left a little open ended. I know this is based on a film, and I cannot wait to watch it. I just wish there was more to this story!

I read a lot of manga and I normally do not count it toward my yearly total, but this one I am going to because it's quite long and it felt like work to get through it. This is NOT my kind of story. It's basically the anatomy of a relationship two kids develop and then have trouble moving past. Okay, except a third girl gets drug into it. Actually, multiple people are drug into the debris left behind in this relationship but this third one, Kanae, gets her own chapters, so we watch her get drug into this mess and then have to overcome it too.
The art is amazing, my only gripe being that it's a little hard to tell some of the female characters apart (I thought Risa was Akari with glasses for quite a few pages- I mean let's be fair, 10 years or so had passed. How was I to know this wasn't the main character all grown up?)

Then there is the super confusing ending that I had to consult “the internet” on. Then, there is a bonus chapter that kind of but not really wraps things up for another character.

On the whole, I would describe the entire story as unsatisfying and that is not because I demand a happy ending. I just want wish it had all been outlined a bit clearer. I would blame it on the translation but it seems fans of the anime and the manga are having similar reactions. Maybe I'm not alone on this one.

It was really sweet, and sad, as always.
Will definitely be watching the movie.