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 theme song of a romantic film that gives you a heart-fluttering, moving feeling.
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- Anime BGM compilation: background music and insert songs that color the story
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Collection of theme songs, insert songs, and BGM from 5 Centimeters per Second (11–20)
LonerEsaki Fumitake
A short score track placed near the beginning of the soundtrack written specifically for the live-action film.
Though only about 38 seconds long, it delicately renders the nuances of a lonely psyche suggested by its title through subtle timbres.
The combination of piano and fine-grained electronic textures gently brings out the original work’s worldview, centered on themes of distance and time.
It accompanies that poignant feeling of thinking of someone yet being unable to reach them.
Once AgainEsaki Fumitake
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?
Waltz for ShinoEsaki Fumitake
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.
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.
Vanishing in the RainEsaki Fumitake
A song that delicately depicts rainy scenes and the wavering of the heart.
Centered around the piano, its soundscape conveys the blurring of memories and feelings for things that fade away.
It is placed at key moments in the latter half of the film where the characters’ inner worlds shift, playing a crucial role in supporting the emotional arc of the story.
I think it’s a piece that accompanies quiet nights when you listen to the sound of rain, or moments when you look back on memories with someone special.
Memories of distant daysTenmon
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 THEMETenmon
“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.
