Stumbled-upon: Makoto Shinkai films

So I was browsing through the recently added anime on Crunchyroll the other day, in one of my futile attempts to try and keep up with the current season, and I noticed that the three Makoto Shinkai works 'Voices of a Distant Star', 'The Place Promised in Our Early Days' and '5 Centimetres Per Second' were all up to watch for free for a limited time. As you may have gathered by now if you've read my blog before, I'm slightly obsessed with the latter film and so naturally sacrificed any social activity for the evening to give the other two a watch. First, summaries of them both (whilst trying not to give too much away).

Status Update: Usagi Drop and other misc.

Status updates are for bloggers what Top Gear is for Dave - an easy way of filling up space and time. But there were a few half-baked things I fancied putting out there, so to avoid forgetting all about them by tackling them one at a time I'll post them under the vague category of "Status Update". Then everyone's happy, surely?

Speed=Distance/Time: 5 Centimetres Per Second

Have you ever seen or heard something so depressing that you can't even cry? That, my friends, is '5 Centimetres Per Second' ('5CPS' from here on in) all over. The first Makoto Shinkai piece to receive real critical acclaim in the West, 5CPS has been one of the anime hits of this year (finally dropping on DVD) alongside 'Summer Wars', and I definitely felt the magic in this one.