A collection of theme songs, insert songs, and background music from 5 Centimeters per Second
5 Centimeters per Second is an animated film directed by Makoto Shinkai, released in 2007.
It tells the story of Takaki Tōno from his elementary school years to adulthood, centered around his first love from childhood.
Warm, bittersweet, and heartrending, it’s a favorite among many fans who consider 5 Centimeters per Second to be Shinkai’s best work.
And of course, it also features one of Shinkai’s trademarks: excellent music.
Beginning with Masayoshi Yamazaki’s One more time, One more chance, the beautiful tracks are as deeply moving as the story itself.
In this article, we’ll introduce the music related to 5 Centimeters per Second, focusing on the songs that appear in the film.
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- The song from Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea. Theme song and insert song.
- The theme song of a romantic film that gives you a heart-fluttering, moving feeling.
- Song(s) from The Tale of the Princess Kaguya. Theme song and insert song(s).
- Theme and insert songs of 'Your Name'
- Anime BGM compilation: background music and insert songs that color the story
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- Songs from From Up on Poppy Hill. Theme song and insert songs.
Collection of theme songs, insert songs, and BGM from 5 Centimeters per Second (11–20)
OursFumitake Ezaki
This is a piece featured on the soundtrack of the live-action film “5 Centimeters per Second.” Centered around the piano, it’s characterized by crystal-clear harmonic progressions and a delicate sound that makes use of ultra-soft attacks, carrying a fragility that resonates with themes of distance and the passage of time.
It gives you the sensation of slipping into the film before you realize it.
I’d recommend this work to anyone who cherishes bittersweet memories of love.
Waltz for ShinoFumitake Ezaki
A delicate waltz-form piano miniature included on the soundtrack of the live-action film adaptation of 5 Centimeters per Second.
Composed by Fumitake Ezaki, it is one of the score pieces whose triple-meter lilt and restrained harmonies quietly mirror the protagonists’ missed connections and the reverberation of their memories.
Within its brief span of roughly 30 seconds, the condensed lyricism fulfills its role as cue music that breathes with the film, accompanying those moments when faint light and tranquil scenes linger in the heart.
HakuboFumitake Ezaki
This is an original piano piece written for the live-action adaptation.
Mastered by an engineer in Berlin, its resonance and overtones are meticulously crafted.
With a lyrical melody, it captures the subtleties of the transition from dusk to night, while modal harmonies and minimalist ostinati evoke nostalgia and introspection.
It is a work that gives sound to twilight itself, tenderly accompanying the film’s sense of longing shaped by distance and time.
Once AgainFumitake Ezaki
A short piano piece from the live-action film, composed by Fumitake Ezaki.
Positioned mid-way through the soundtrack, this work lasts just over a minute, yet it quietly depicts the film’s motifs of “reunion” and “return” with gentle piano melodies and restrained reverberation.
Included in the album Five Centimeters per Second Original Soundtrack, which comprises 31 tracks.
Why not experience this score that expresses the accumulation of time and memory through sound?
Snow FireworksRappubito
It’s not a main theme or insert song from the film, but I’d like to introduce a track connected to 5 Centimeters per Second.
The song is produced and performed by Rapbit, who is also active as a Nico-rapper.
It’s said to be a piece created with 5 Centimeters per Second as its motif, and the track—built around a bittersweet yet beautiful piano melody that resonates with the other songs featured in the film—leaves a strong impression.
The lyrics contain words that evoke the story, and it’s said that quite a few people discovered 5 Centimeters per Second through this song.
Memories of distant daysHeaven's Gate
Composer Tenmon, whom Director Shinkai trusted and partnered with—even back when Shinkai was working at Nihon Falcom and made the 1999 short animation She and Her Cat—delivers a piano piece that, as the title Memories of Long Ago suggests, evokes the faint, beautiful inner landscape of first love.
It’s soothing, offering the kind of relaxation you feel when you surrender yourself to quietude.
Nostalgic and romantic, the piece may be expressing a slender ray of hope to take a step forward—while looking back on the happiest days and feeling gratitude for the encounter that made them possible.
Collection of Theme Songs, Insert Songs, and BGM from 5 Centimeters per Second (21–30)
END THEMEHeaven's Gate
“END THEME,” which plays over the end credits.
A majestic piece performed entirely on piano.
Filled with gentleness, beauty, wistfulness, and sorrow, it’s the perfect track to conclude the film 5 Centimeters per Second.
Two people who, due to a certain turn of events, have been separated.
Though they still think of each other somewhere in their hearts, the song captures the emotional shifts of growing up as days pass without meeting.
It’s a piece that lets you sink into the film’s story and your own feelings as you watch the end credits roll.