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The Garden of Words

AnimeDramaRomance

On a rainy morning in Tokyo, 15-year-old Takao, an aspiring shoemaker, decides to skip class to sketch designs in a beautiful garden. This is where he meets Yukari, a beautiful yet mysterious woman. They strike an unlikely friendship.

Year

2013

Duration

4h

IMDb

7.4

Hero Poster

Cast

Makoto Shinkai

Director

Miyu Irino

Takao Akizuki

Kana Hanazawa

Yukari Yukino

Cast

Makoto Shinkai

Director

Miyu Irino

Takao Akizuki

Kana Hanazawa

Yukari Yukino

Fumi Hirano

Takao's Mother

GM

Gou Maeda

Takao no ani

Takeshi Maeda

Takao's Brother

YT

Yuka Terazaki

Takao's Brother's Girlfriend

TH

Takanori Hoshino

Itou-sensei

SI

Suguru Inoue

Matsumoto

Megumi Han

Satou

MK

Mikako Komatsu

Aizawa

YH

Yuki Hayashi

Moriyama

WS

Wataru Sekine

Young Takao

RM

Risa Mizuno

News Announcer

TM

Taishi Murata

Student B

TM

Taishi Murata

Weather Forcast

Crash Buist

Takao's Brother

Makoto Shinkai

Writer

Trailer

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Comments

10 Comments

tazeAug 31, 2026

student and teacher frekin cute

user619019Aug 28, 2025

Yeng ConstantinoNov 28, 2024

Short and with magnificent colours, Garden of Words enchants with the drawings, but the story wasn't quite there. The romance was weak, as the relationship between a young student who wants to become a shoemaker, and a strange older lady, who seems to struggle being an adult, becomes gradually something more than just two people sharing a bench in a rainy day. It would have been a good love story, only if there was some spark or at least some stronger emotions other than poetry and idyllic garden scenes. The characters were much more complex than what the story presents them at first, unfolding gradually and letting the viewer get to know them better and understand them as well. However, for me, it felt like the movie needed some more time to conclude. And for that, I'm giving this film 4 out of 10.

Thewallflower🌻Nov 28, 2024

I decided to check this out cause the cover reminded me of "5 Centimetres Per Second", and then I found out that they are directed by the same guy. What are the chances? But I loved "5 Centimetres Per Second" because it gave a realistic story which is normally not what is done with Anime. So I decided to check this out and hoped that it would be as good. Sadly, it wasn't. Was it beautiful? Yes, it was. But I felt the characters didn't have enough development, at least that we saw, for it to make sense. Also, without spoiling a certain plot point, I felt that a certain aspect of their relationship wasn't explored in detail the way it should have been. The big scene between the two of them had elements there, but because their relationship wasn't explored that much, it felt random and out of place. Overall, I thought it was okay. I would recommend seeing "5 Centimetres Per Second" over this.

Lenda LetlakaNov 28, 2024

This is not a teenage appropriate film. It is rated a 12, and in my opinion that is not an appropriate rating for a film which glamourises grooming. The main female lead is 27 years old. The male lead is 15. I found this extremely triggering. The animation is beautiful. The story is not.

💜🖤R̸a̸g̸h̸a̸d̸🖤💜Nov 28, 2024

The awful slow pace of the first 90% of the film is made bearable with the very best animated art I've seen, complete with complex depictions of everyday life in Tokyo as well as even harder and visually stunning vistas of a public garden. The story, however, is rather unrealistic and shallow during that 90%, with the last 10% being cheesy and ludicrously unsatisfactory, ending at a random point with the tiny subplots it could have had entirely unresolved, as if they just had run out of money and decided to add the credits at the end.

_gehmNov 28, 2024

I'm a bit disappointed with the story. Visuals are good as always. Maybe some "3d" effects are not my kind of visuals, but still great pictures drawn by Makoto. Excellent play with light and water effects. Sound track is accurate for that movie, but for me '5cm per sec' OST is still better. But the story hasn't got me. Got tears in my eyes for like 2 secs, the rest was not that moving like "5cm per sec" or "The Place Promised ...". Maybe not my kind of the story, maybe I haven't got it (guess I got it), but I was hopping for something better, something more. But maybe I've been hoping for happier ending? At the moment that is 4th best Makoto picture. 1st still 5cm, 2nd The Place Promissed, 3rd Children Who Chase ... and 4th this one.

Demms DezzyNov 28, 2024

The cinematography in this film is gorgeous, but much like Fireworks that's where the movie stops delivering. from swirls of breathtaking colors in a sunset to a camera angle that looks from the ground to the sky as rain falls toward the viewer, you can tell that the director had many great visual ideas and then hastily threw together a story around them, always being sure to include every pretty establishing shot. It's almost as if a canopy of impressive animation, interesting camera angles, and dynamic lighting are being held up by a couple of flimsy 2x4's in the form of underdeveloped and/or superfluous characters, (Takao's mother didn't have to be in the film for one and only one 15 second scene) a flimsy storyline, and an ending with bizarre dialog which makes you feel as though a rug was pulled out from under you or maybe your dvd skipped because it was dirty. This scene in question comes in the form of verbose verbal vitriol spewed from one character to another undeserving one that not only does it make you uncomfortable in your seat, but it makes you lose empathy for this character that you spent the whole movie relating to! I feel that this film could have benefitted from more time at the typewriter on the part of the director, or to slim this down to a short film possibly with no dialog a la The Red Turtle.

D-Tesh👑Nov 28, 2024

It's hard to describe an emotion. I think that, for that very same reason, is hard to describe this movie. The way I feel when I watch Makoto Shinkai's movies is indescribable. The way he captures the concept of time and space is something that I've never seen before and that's exactly why I absolutely LOVE his movies. The reliefs and textures in his images make me feel that I could stretch my hand into the screen and perfectly perceived the distance between the different layers. The sense of loneliness, the sense of the time passing by can be easily felt and the music... it's like if the movie was created to fit that music instead of composing the music to fit the movie. It's truly a masterpiece.

wissal marceloNov 28, 2024

this movie has such a nice mellow story to it very true to life, it does motivate you and shows you how real life is , it is truly a beautiful film that i would love to see more of similar to 5 cm per second. i think this shows that a story can be told in the right ways no matter how long it takes, this shows determination to reach a goal that we need to gain in this tough world. I recommend this movie because the art is so beautiful and the soundtracks also, it truly is wonderful. This movie is a work of art. and this needs some awards.