It looks absolutely beautiful (forgiving the character models), and to think that a single man animated this on his own is just incredible, but I can't get over this feeling that its characters are being hopelessly naive. Also I did have some problems with the logic, or lack thereof, of the film and the cynical bit of me is wondering quite whether combining a nostalgic love story with crazy spacebound robot battles could possibly be a good idea in the slightest. Still, enjoyable.

Mech battles and romance are not a great mix.

Why in the world is she wearing a schoolgirl outfit inside that giant mecha?

Watching this again, it still does not live up to the praise it deserves. Yes, it does look beautiful at times, and that the director made this by himself and was employed in the anime industry because of it deserves praise, but it is an extremely flawed early work, honing out some of the ideas he would continue in other films, but nowhere near his potential best.

I liked the variety of images. The visuals were pretty well done for a single man, but the romantic story did not impress that much. And the facial animation was not that successful.

so mankind builds a handful of giant robot space ships to be piloted by the best pilots on the planet, and of course they choose a teenage girl who spends her time--which is supposed to be saving the world--texting. figures.

Completely overshadowed by 5 Centimeters per Second.

Sappy, soapy drama disguised as anime. Overrated.

Coated from head to toe in a melancholic sentimentality, the premise of this short is a really interesting one. Gets extra points for being created entirely by one person. I can definitely see why some wouldn't like this, but I did, so it gets my recommendation--just make sure you watch it subtitled.

Beautiful in every sense of the word. A romance that explores the relationship of two lovers as the distance between them is grows so great time itself begins to separate them. The cell phone dynamic introduces an element that fits suprisingly well. Very good.

Impressive, for the one man's work. Makoto Shinkai is great at drawing backgrounds, but character design is rough. There's almost no story, more exploration of the emotions in the long distance relationship. But the whole sub-plot with underteen girl - mecha pilot fighting in the intergalactic war distracted me from any emotional impact it might have had.

A truly strange movie, and I mean that in the nicest of ways. I ought to be old enough to be immune to this sort of teen-romance stuff, but this actually works. Hell, romances, teen and otherwise, in real life are usually quite strange as well