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is a 2013 Japanese anime drama film written, directed and edited by Makoto Shinkai, animated by CoMix Wave Films and distributed by Toho. It stars Miyu Irino and Kana Hanazawa, and featured music by Daisuke Kashiwa instead of Tenmon, who had composed the music for many of Shinkai's previous films. The theme song, "Rain", was originally written and performed by Senri Oe in 1988, but was remade for the film and was sung by Motohiro Hata. It was adapted to a manga with illustrations by Midori Motohashi and later novelized by Shinkai, both in the same year as the film. The film focuses on Takao Akizuki, an aspiring 15-year-old shoemaker, and Yukari Yukino, a mysterious 27-year-old woman he keeps meeting at Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden on rainy mornings. While Takao is skipping his morning class to design shoes, Yukino is avoiding work due to personal problems in her professional life. Yukino tells Takao nothing about herself, including her name, while Takao opens up to her, sharing his passion for shoes by offering to make a pair for her. When Takao learns Yukino's identity, emotions come to a head as both learn that they have been teaching each other "how to walk". Shinkai wrote the story as a tale of "lonely sadness", based on the meaning of the traditional Japanese word for "love", and uses shoes as a metaphor for life. The story's motifs include rain, Man'yōshū poetry, and the Japanese garden. The age difference between the two main characters and their character traits demonstrate how awkwardly and disjointedly people mature, where even adults sometimes feel no more mature than teenagers, according to Shinkai. ''The Garden of Words'' premiered at the Gold Coast Film Festival in Australia on April 28, 2013 and had its general release on May 31, 2013 in Japan. For the Japanese premiere, the film was screened with an animated short called , also directed by Shinkai. ''The Garden of Words'' had an unusual release schedule since it was released digitally on iTunes the same day as the Japanese theatrical premier, and its DVD and Blu-ray were released while the film was still in theaters, on June 21. The film has been licensed by Sentai Filmworks in North America, Anime Limited in the UK, and Madman Entertainment in Australia. The film performed well in theaters for an extended period of time and was hosted at many local and international film events. It ranked highly on iTunes Store during 2013 and was selected as the Year's Best Animation in iTunes' Best of 2013. It won the 2013 Kobe Theatrical Film Award and awards at the Fantasia International Film Festival and the Stuttgart Festival of Animated Film. Online reviews were generally favorable with universal praise of the art, though opinions were mixed regarding the story's length, plot and emotional climax. == Plot == ''The Garden of Words'' is considered a romance and drama film. It opens at the start of the rainy season in Tokyo with , a 15-year-old student and aspiring shoemaker, opting to skip his first class and sketch shoe designs in the garden at Shinjuku Gyoen. There he encounters , a 27-year-old woman who is skipping work and enjoying beer and chocolate. When she notices the school crest on his uniform, Yukino bids him farewell with a tanka (a form of Japanese poetry), leaving Takao puzzled as to its origin and meaning. The two continue to encounter each other and socialize in the park on rainy mornings, but never formally introduce themselves. After Yukino expresses an interest in Takao's shoemaking, he decides to make a pair of shoes in her size. With the end of the rainy season, Takao stops visiting the park and focuses on his work. Following summer break, Takao returns to school and spots Yukino. His friends inform him that she is a literature teacher and that she had been the target of gossip and bullying. Out of kindness and to avoid further confrontation, Yukino opted to avoid work and retreat to the park, hoping she would learn to overcome her fears and be able to "walk" again. However, Yukino quits her job and leaves the school. That afternoon, Takao meets Yukino at the park and greets her by reciting the 2,514th poem from the Man'yōshū Japanese poetry collection, the correct response to her tanka, which he found in a classic Japanese literature textbook. After getting soaked by a sudden thunderstorm, both head to Yukino's apartment and spend the afternoon together. When Takao confesses his love following dinner, Yukino is visibly moved, but then reminds him that she is a teacher and tells him that she is moving back to her home town on Shikoku. After Takao abruptly excuses himself, Yukino realizes her mistake and runs after him, finding him in the stairwell. Still upset, Takao angrily takes back what he had said and criticizes her for being so secretive and never opening up to him. Yukino embraces him and the two cry while she explains that their time together in the park had saved her. The credits show Takao barely passing his final exams, but still working towards his goals, while Yukino moves back to Shikoku and resumes her teaching career. In a post-credits scene, Takao revisits the park that winter, reads a letter from Yukino, places her finished shoes on the bench and then vows that he will go find her after he has made progress with his career. In the manga illustrated by Midori Motohashi, scenes were either added or slightly modified from the anime version. For example, after the conclusion of the rainy season, Takao was unable to visit the park during the only rainy morning that summer because he had scheduled to visit the footwear college he wanted to attend, disappointing Yukino who had hoped to see him in the park. Also, at the conclusion of the story, Yukino is seen wearing the shoes Takao had made for her. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Garden of Words」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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