So I ventured into town with a friend and to my surprise, they had a copy of this particular film, which for some reason went out of print even though only got released half a year ago in the UK.
5 Centimeters per Second (Byousoku 5 Centimeter) is an original anime film directed by Makoto Shinkai and animated by CoMix Wave Films in 2007. The story is split into three acts and overall the runtime is around just over an hour long, so this is one of the shorter films from the director’s catalog.
Manga Entertainment had licensed the film over half a decade ago with a DVD release. Due to licensing reasons, they weren’t allowed to release it on Blu-ray but neither were any other English speaking territory. Eventually, a Blu-ray version happened in October 2018 but for some reason had already gone out of print a couple months later.
The film overall was initially licensed and released by ADV Films in the US before eventually rescued by Crunchyroll, with Discotek Media taking over the license and bringing it to the Blu-ray format. There are two English dubs for the film, but only the Crunchyroll dub produced by Bang Zoom! is included in the Blu-ray release.
Manga Entertainment’s Blu-ray release uses the same transfer as the Discotek Media version which comes with a number of on-disc features and a solid transfer to go against the Japanese Global Edition release from a few years back. Both the Crunchyroll English dub and original Japanese audio with English subtitles are included on the disc. The subtitles are yellow and unlockable during playback while the disc itself is region locked to B.
Blu-ray Specs:
Languages: English, Japanese
Audio: English Linear PCM 2.0, Japanese DTS-HD MA 4.0, Japanese Linear PCM 2.0
Video: 1080p High Definition Native format with 16:9 ratio
Region: B
Subtitles: English
Locked Subtitles: No
Discs: 1
Plot Synopsis (via Manga Entertainment):
Beginning with the lyrical image of cherry blossoms falling at 5 centimetres a second, Makoto Shinkai paints a breathtakingly vivid tableau of young love, desire, loss, and hope. Told in three heartbreaking chapters, we follow the young dreamer Takaki through his life as cruel winters, cold technology, silence, and, finally, adult obligations and responsibility converge to crush the delicate petals of true love. Finding beauty in everyday objects and moments, Shinkai reveals he is a master of animation and haunting, beautiful storytelling. Fall in love with this gorgeous, thoughtful film, hailed by critics and audiences alike for its beauty, truth, and innovation in animation.
Blu-ray On-Disc Extra Features:
English Credits
Teaser Trailer
Theatrical Trailer
Storyboards
Music Video
Interview with Makoto Shinkai
Cast Interview
5 Centimeters per Second on Blu-ray is no longer available at the time of this article by Manga Entertainment however you can still own the DVD version, but it is currently available to import (if you have Region A access) from Discotek Media.
The Normanic Vault 