See. I’ve read all the replies and I think all of you have failed to understand the true motive and the brilliance of this story. (No offence intended to anyone of course).

The first chapter is pretty straightforward. The young and naive protagonists where in what can be referred to as ‘child’s’ love. The sort of love that seems irrational and spontaneous (she waited for him at the station even though he was VERY late and it was snowing.) The first chapter ends with a sense of continuity and longing between the two main characters; this quickly will change in the second chapter. The fact that the girl didn’t give him her ‘pink letter’ means that she realized it was impossible to keep him in her mind as she moved on with her life. At the end of Chapter 1, she has moved on completely.

The second chapter delves into the mindset of the male main character, Takaki Tōno. Even though he was now in what appeared to be late high school, he was still unable to move on with his life. The ‘mail he wrote but never sent’ can only be explained as mail that was left unanswered. The girl protagonist, Akari Shinohara, at this point had stopped replying to his messages and in fact stopped sending any messages herself. He was stuck at the ‘boy’ stage, while she was moving on with her life and building upon what she had with him. For her, it was very evident that it was time to move on. (I find her to be a bit cold hearted, but also more rational). The third girl that is introduced in the picture, Kanae Sumida, is a very emotional girl and is actually quite the counter-part of Akari. She is very emotional and much more sentimental and considerate. The proof for this is that she refused to tell Takaki her true feelings, because she could tell that he was still stuck with Akari on his mind and was being rejected through ignorance.

In the third and essential chapter to this story, and to my conclusions, we meet a new, unnamed lady. The girl with the phone and the glasses who appears to be trying to call Takaki. She is an affair. A relationship that Takaki had started when he moved into his company in an attempt to move on with his life. There is even a scene where they are in bed together. This is shortly followed by him ‘drinking’ away the sorrow of his relationship. This third girl was now left in the shadows, as she was nothing but a substitute for Akari in Takaki’s head. What’s next could be wrong, but then again, this is my speculation. Up to this point, Takaki thinks that Akari is indeed still in love with him, in the same childish manner that he is. This gets proven wrong when they both meet one last time. (she has a coffee cup in hand and you can see her engagement ring; she is in love with someone else and meets with Takaki to explain this to him). At this point, Takaki now knows that Akari has learned and decided to move on; he also accepted it (this explains the drinking scene, he was trying to get over the fact that she moved on while he didn’t). This is proven in the end when they meet each other at what is essentially a ‘life-crossroad’. Two trains going in opposite directions symbolizing life. They are fast moving, sudden and come in the way between people both metaphorically and physically. After the trains move on (or life moves on since Takaki’s life = one train, Akari’s life = the other) Takaki looks back at his past (or physically looks behind him after the train has passed) and finds that Akari is indeed no where to be found. This means that she has moved on both from his present AND his past; he also got over her. Takaki smiles and then looks ahead and takes a turning step forward continuing his life.

From this point on, what happens to Kanae Sumida (the highschool girl) can be speculated. But I think Takaki moves back to that island where he completed high school to meet again with Kanae.

What is true about this movie is that it is very confusing and very subtle indeed. I had to watch chapter 3 2/3 times to really understand the chain of events, but I think my conclusions are spot on.

In short form:

Chapter 1:
Both Takaki and Akari are in love with each other, they exchange mail.
At the end of the chapter Akari (main female protagonist) doesn’t give Takaki her letter, because she realizes she has to move on.

Metaphorical evidence: The letter that Takaki looses to ‘the wind’ symbolizes how sudden life can be and that it can literally steal away what is most precious from you at any moment. This leads people to adapt to what life has to throw at them, and this is a part of why Akari moves on.

Chapter 2:
Akari stops responding to Takaki’s messages, and he stops sending them. He realizes he needs to move on but can’t due to his feelings. Kanane (third girl) also realizes that he is still not ready to move on and selflessly avoids to confess to him. At this point Akari has clearly matured and moved on, while Takaki is still living in his past.

Metaphorical evidence: Takaki states that ‘I didn’t know when I started writing mail that I don’t send’.

Chapter 3:
In this chapter, Takaki forces himself to start a relationship with the ‘office, glasses lady’. This relationship is empty (proven by the scene where they are sleeping in one bed but on separate sides). Takaki quits his job to avoid the glasses girl and is in a low point in his life (when he was drinking). He then is pulled out of the bottom of the barrel by Akari, who meets with him one more time and exposes that she has moved on.

Takaki moves on as well after their meeting and this is proven by the fact that they both walk past each other, go on opposite directions and smile.

If you read this and have opinions thoughts, do contact me at arwud_91@hotmail.com
since I doubt I’ll be checking this.

Everyone who’s had a hard time having real good friends they can trust in real life should know better than to let a trustworthy one out of touch. And everyone who’s had a hard life can do better than this. The only thing the movie shows is the guy being pathetic & expects life go his way.

I honestly had to go back and re-read the blog post and realize it was a horrible blog post with no actually explanation of anything at all.

As i can recall I was so bored watching it I wasn't paying to much attention to what was going on. Some slow shows keep you interested long enough to watch it. I do remember this was a problem with this show. I was bored while watching it. I wasn't to much of a fan of Skycrawlers, but even though it was slow at times it held my interest long enough to watch the while thing without getting bored.

As for opinions now they have changed a bit. Reading the comments have actually made me care more since of the storyline. Now my general problem is it was too slow in general.

I think this anime should be watched as 3 seperate episodes like it was made. I think people should take some time between each episode for digestion sake. This was presented to me as one long show and not 3 seperate episodes, didn't know until later it wasn't one solid show. That in mind would probably have made it a bit better for me.

Dismissing, circumstance as a problem for liking it. The idea of the movie I have a general problem with that it was inevitable for him to miss the girl and not get with her. I If someone wants something bad enough nothing is stopping them if he truly wanted her he should have gone and gotten her when he was able and not let anything stop him.

So it mostly comes down to difference of opinion and me being a horrible writer as to the problems here. lol.