Garden of Words

Garden of Words (言の葉の庭, Kotonoha no Niwa) is a 2013 Japanese animated film written and directed by Makoto Shinkai. In the story, 15-year-old Takao Akizuki and 27-year-old Yukari Yukino meet every rainy morning at a garden (specifically, the Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden), and slowly start interacting with each other. While Yukino does not reveal much about herself, Takao confides in Yukino about his aspirations of becoming a shoemaker, without even knowing that Yukino is actually a teacher at his school. Nonetheless, the two find themselves looking forward to their rainy morning meetings, but also eventually learn from each other how to "walk" through their own lives and look ahead to the future.

While Garden of Words is definitely one of Shinkai's more subdued and simpler films, it still expresses many different melodramatic modes and aspects. For instance, the concept of showing "conflict as a polarized battle" (Ito 3) that is a major aspect of Shinkai's films is evident here: there is a clear divide between society and the individual in the case of Garden of Words. Takao and Yukino are required to live their set lives as student and teacher respectively, but the movie portrays these roles in a negative light, while their meeting at the garden as a result of skipping school to "learn to walk" is portrayed positively. This is reflected in the film's use of sunny days as an unfortunate event and rainy days as the opposite, because rainy days are the only days can truly get to know one another. Society is also portrayed negatively as some characters, such as Takao's brother and his girlfriend, ridicule is dreams of becoming a shoemaker, while the mistreatment of Miss Yukino by third-year students goes unattended to protect the reputation of the school. In the end, no one can really understand these two people in the story, meaning that their treatment of each other as individuals is the "good" force in this polarized battle.

Moreover, the film's final scene of Yukino running down the stairs of her apartment to reveal her feelings to Takao before they part ways without resolving their conflict portray the "outpouring of exorbitant emotion" (Ito 2) so prominent is many melodramas. The scene itself is filled with feelings of extreme regret and determination as Yukino runs down her apartment stairs in the pouring rain, as she tries to catch Takao before he leaves forever. Takao's initial love toward Yukino changes to hate and confusion very quickly as he screams out his frustration over Yukino's inability to express herself honestly and move on from her young mindset. At the very end, Yukino runs to Takao and embraces him, completely letting out her tears and sadness to him as she reveals that Takao was the person who saved her from being afraid to go to school and face those who have oppressed her for so long. The scene, in addition to expressing a multitude of exaggerated emotions within 5 minutes, displays these "exorbitant emotions" through its animation, as the rain is drawn as falling in different directions due to the wind, in addition to the faraway still shots of Takao and Yukino on the staircase that most likely represents the distance between them. While this being the only scene with this amount of exaggerated emotion within the film, it nonetheless displays the melodrama that is so integral in all of Makoto Shinkai's movies, despite its more subtle interactions and still scenes.