Review: The Garden of Words (movie)

A faint clap of thunder,
Clouded skies,
Perhaps rain will come.
If so, will you stay here with me?

Current mood: WTF man you're basically ruining my OTP! Btw that protagonist is SO my type!

When it first came out in 2013 Tumblr was BURSTING with GIFs, I'm not even exaggerating here. GIFs with shoes, rain, scenery porn, time lapse and most of all, the couple and their interactions. And frick I know better than to watch that movie cause the feels train is REAL. Then again I got bored in the hostel so I downloaded the movie along with 'The Girl Who Leapt Through Time' which I've watched and got hit by feels train.

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「言の葉の庭」, or simply known as 'The Garden of Words' is a movie about, ahem, reality angst and some romance, I guess? Also there's some fight scenes LOL. Basically if you're not ok with a large age gap romance and older women paired with a younger guy, please don't watch this and bash the movie.

The theme is rain. Basically rain has everything to do with romance because script writers will need it when the protagonist cry and rain comes pouring making the whole thing look more dramatic. However this rain is what connects both the characters. It's almost like a chance meeting. Not knowing if they'll be there if it rains.

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So we don't know the names of the guy and gal. Maybe they were mentioned at some point, but I just didn't pay attention. They meet for the first time in June, during the rainy season in the park. She was drinking beer with chocolate. Odd. He sits down and sketches feet and shoes. On rainy mornings the guy skips first period while the gal... skips her job I guess? After a few chance encounters they grow closer and closer, to a point where the guy brings breakfast and shares it with her (apparently). The gal tries to make some of her own, but fails. She buys him a book as a gift, and  he's grateful. The guy talks about his life, his school, his dreams, and she listens. The gal has life problems, mainly with work and relationships. The guy has to deal with his mother and his dream. However both wish it will rain the next morning. The guy said he's making a pair of women's shoes, but he doesn't have the right measurements, and intimate moment ensues, take your time to indulge it, I'll just wait here.

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The rainy season ends. With no reason to skip school or work and go to the park, they carry on with their lives. Ah, I wish the rainy season wouldn't end. Summer break starts in August, and the guy spends his holiday working part time. His chance meting with the gal occurs again when school reopens in September, but they didn't do it like the traditional 'just a brush of the shoulder'. Nope. They literally saw each other in school! The gal is a female teacher bullied by the senior students, thus the reason she's skipping work. She quit as a teacher. After school the guy bitch slaps the senior who bullied her, and got punched by some of the lackeys. Poor him. He got his face patched up and meets her in the park, even though it's not raining... yet.

You guessed right! A thunderstorm occurs right after and the two get so soaked and cold. They spend some quality time together in her apartment. He cooks while she dries his clothes, they talked and I'm sure time seemed to stop... until she reveals she's going to move back to her hometown. Seeing his chance (or maybe only chance) the guy confesses. The gal 'rejects' him by correcting him to call her a teacher. And he leaves. She ponders on her choice. She weeps. And she runs. She falls, she gets up and she runs. And she saw him. Just by the stairway. He turns and he shouts "I hate you!", for there are things he doesn't understand. When all is said, they embrace, and it rains some more.

She leaves for her hometown as scheduled, and he sits for his finals. He has finished working on the pair of shoes, and visits the park one day in winter and reads her letter.

idk the source for this too many reposts

My thoughts: BEAUTIFUL. I HAVE NO WORDS TO DESCRIBE THIS. You'll be surprised to hear that this movie is only 45 minutes long! A movie usually has at least 130 minutes! Few things to point out: one, the age gap. She's 27 and he's 15. Not much of an age gap really, a mere 12 years. Haytham and Ziio are like, 6 years? My eternal OTP (Hoperai) is 7 years difference and used to be called a pedophile relationship while Ezio and Sofia is a shocking 17 years gap! Surely 12 years is nothing? The aging process isn't all so obvious once you reach adulthood, so yeah, it's fine! Second, the teacher-student relationship. Really I'm not into these kinds of stuff, mostly because I grew up thinking it was inappropriate and too immature. However the guy met the gal even before he knew she was a teacher so that pretty much kills the point... and CLAMP made a grade-schooler have an engagement ring with her teacher in Cardcaptor Sakura, so is there even a difference?! Third, the guy is so my type. I started liking this type since Daichi from Haikyuu!!. But he's cute anyway.

The whole thing made me cry. I cry when they don't meet, I cry when they kind of get angsty over each other, I cry the hardest when the guy vents on the girl, I cry when he says he's going to 'grow up' more before he meets her again... WHAT IS THIS I DIDN'T ASK FOR THIS FEELS TRAIN! Overall, this is better than what I expected. So now I'm off to re-watch The Girl Who Leapt Through Time! Wish me luck!

A faint clap of thunder,
Even if rain comes or not,
I will stay here,
Together with you.