Makoto Shinkai’s 5 Centimeters per Second to Get Live-Action Film Adaptation in Fall 2025

Makoto Shinkai’s well-known romantic drama anime film 5 Centimeters per Second has just dropped a bombshell-a surprise live-action movie is in the works, set to release 18 years after its initial premiere in 2007. As the third original anime film work by Shinkai following Voices of a Distant Star (2002) and The Place Promised in Our Early Days (2004), 5 Centimeters per Second was released in Japan on March 3, 2007.

A live-action film adaptation of Makoto Shinkai’s 2007 anime film 5 Centimeters per Second is set to release in Japan in the fall of 2025. The film’s official website opened and revealed the news, sparking excitement among fans. This is the first time that a live-action film adaptation of Shinkai’s anime work has ever been released, adding to the anticipation.

Yoshiyuki Okuyama, known for his music video works for Kenshi Yonezu (“Kanden,” “KICK BACK”), serves as a director on a screenplay by Ayako Suzuki. Makoto Shinkai commented on the announcement:

“A live-action film adaptation of ‘5 Centimeters per Second’ has been announced. I am truly grateful to director Okuyama, Hokuto-kun, and the rest of the young team for giving new life to this old and poor (but favorite in my own way) work. I am also so motivated that I must make an anime film that can live up to their enthusiasm and talent. I am very much looking forward to seeing the new ‘5 Centimeters per Second’ in a theater!”

Director Okuyama also commented, sharing his unique approach to the adaptation:

“I feel a special connection to be directing the story that Makoto Shinkai wrote when he was 33, now that I am 33 myself. Although it is just a number, it feels like a fateful encounter. Every day, as I face 5 Centimeters per Second, I realize that there are things that can only be made now and perspectives that we will eventually forget. I want to carefully and sincerely craft each scene and every second, together with the team I trust wholeheartedly, as if placing a warm hand on Takaki’s back, who carries a sense of loss and anxiety. I’m leaving all the ‘sentimental’ feelings that remain within me in this work, so please look forward to it.”

Meanwhile, Hokuto Matsumura, a 29-year-old member of STARTO ENTERTAINMENT’s male idol group SixTONES, is cast in the role of the male protagonist, Takaki Tono. He previously voiced Souta Munakata, one of the main characters in Shinkai’s 2022 anime film Suzume.

Shinkai praised the live-action director Yoshiyuki Okuyama as well as the “young and enthusiastic team,” including scriptwriter Suzuki Fumiko and producer Masahiro Tamai. His first comment was:

“The animated film 5 Centimeters per Second, which I directed nearly 20 years ago, was a very immature and unfinished work. However, it is precisely because of its incompleteness that it has been loved for so long, even today. I would never be able to make or recreate that kind of film, which was just a reflection of my initial impulse and my longing for the unknown.”

The original anime film’s running time is 63 minutes. The story follows Takaki Tono through different periods of his life and his relationships with the girls around him. It depicts his time as an elementary and junior high school student, high school student, and company employee in a series of three short stories.

The live-action adaptation will be a two-hour feature film based on a screenplay created through discussions with the original creator, Shinkai. Shinkai’s works are among the most well-regarded in all of anime, with three of his films – Your Name, Suzume, and Weathering with You being Japan’s highest-grossing Japanese films of all time.

5 Centimeters per Second was released in 2007, with Makoto Shinkai directing at CoMix Wave Inc. The movie not only won Best Animated Feature Film at the 2007 Asia Pacific Screen Awards but also left a lasting impact on Japanese cinema. Its success and influence are a source of pride for both Shinkai and his fans.

About 5 Centimeters Per Second

Takaki yearns to spill his heart out for childhood crush Akari, but their families move away before any feelings can fully blossom. They stay in touch, but eventually drift apart with school and new friends to distract them. As the seasons pass, Takaki navigates his relationships while haunted by all the things he left unsaid with Akari, his first love.