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The Garden of Words

The Garden of Words

Animation · Drama · Romance · 2013

Takao, who is training to become a shoemaker, skipped school and is sketching shoes in a Japanese-style garden. He meets a mysterious woman, Yukino, who is older than him. Then, without arranging the times, the two start to see each other again and again, but only on rainy days. They deepen their relationship and open up to each other. But the end of the rainy season soon approaches.

Movie details

The Garden of Words

2013 Animation · Drama · Romance 46m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

7.6 / 10

Community rating

Takao, who is training to become a shoemaker, skipped school and is sketching shoes in a Japanese-style garden. He meets a mysterious woman, Yukino, who is older than him. Then, without arranging the times, the two start to see each other again and again, but only on rainy days. They deepen their relationship and open up to each other. But the end of the rainy season soon approaches.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over The Garden of Words?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Makoto Shinkai

Written by

Makoto Shinkai

Miyu Irino

Miyu Irino

Takao Akizuki (voice)

Kana Hanazawa

Kana Hanazawa

Yukari Yukino (voice)

Fumi Hirano

Fumi Hirano

Takao's Mother (voice)

Takeshi Maeda

Takeshi Maeda

Takao's Brother (voice)

Yuka Terasaki

Yuka Terasaki

Takao's Brother's Girlfriend (voice)

Takanori Hoshino

Takanori Hoshino

Teacher Itou (voice)

Suguru Inoue

Suguru Inoue

Matsumoto (voice)

Court is in session

Put The Garden of Words on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Prestige Tourist

“Sincerity is not manipulation.”

The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.

The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist

“The strings are showing.”

Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.