History Anime / TheGardenOfWords

* MaybeEverAfter: The epilogue presents Takao and Yukari's fate ambiguously: despite being on good terms with one another, they are [[spoiler:separated. Even though Takao resolves to see her again after they've matured further, whether or not Takao will go about doing so, and its outcomes, are left to the viewer's imagination.]]

* MysteriousWoman

* ComfortFood: Because she has a taste disorder, Yukari binges on beer and chocolate, the two foodstuffs she can taste. However, after she begins meeting with Takao, her taste gradually returns.

* ComfortFood: Yukari binges on beer and chocolate as it's the only thing she can taste, due to a taste disorder (presumably psychosomatic). She stops doing it when her relationship with Takao develops.

* LethalChef: Yukari's first attempts at cooking after getting off the booze and chocolate.

%%* TenderTears

** [[spoiler:Though his letter implies he will seek her out again when he is an adult.]]
* BlatantLies: When talking to a former colleague, Yukari claims that she's meeting an old woman in the park, our first hint that she's got something to hide.

* TenderTears

* ProductPlacement: Fila and Ginza Diana, two apperel brands depicted in the anime, are real. Fila is a sportsware manufacturer and Ginza Diana is a shoe company that advises their customers not to wear their shoes in the rain.

* TheyCallMeMisterTibbs: Yukari gives a distant, willful response that she is to be referred to as "Miss Yukino following Takao's [[spoiler:declaration of love]] with the intent of reaffirming that there is a professional distance between them.

* BittersweetEnding: Despite Takao and Yukari's time together allowing them to inspire one another and providing the other with an emotional outlet, [[spoiler: the two eventually go their separate ways. Yukari moves to a sothern part of Japan, and Takao continues to follow his dreams of becoming a shoemaker]].

* SceneryPorn: ''The Garden of Words'' features [[http://infinitemirai.wordpress.com/2013/06/21/the-garden-of-words-review/ incredibly vivid and detailed settings]], making use of the weather and lighting to accentuate the gardens, cityscape and even the interior shots.

* EmpathicEnvironment: [[EnvironmentalSymbolism The weather directly mirrors the mood within the story]]: Takao and Yukari spend rainy mornings peacefully together. A storm rages on outside as the two come to terms with their emotions, and golden sunbeams are cast upon them after the two [[spoiler:reconcile at the film's climax]].

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Takao delivers one to Yukari at the film's climax, citing her for her[[spoiler: cowardice, incapacity to speak for herself, and how she had taken advantage of a student to assuage her own troubles]].

''The Garden of Words'' is MakotoShinkai's fifth film and was released in 2013. After ''Anime/ChildrenWhoChaseLostVoices'' ventured out into more Miyazaki-style territory of fantastical landscapes, mystical beasts, and a quest for adventure, ''The Garden of Words'' represents somewhat of a return to his usual style of short, concise, down-to-earth stories about love and loneliness in ordinary people.

The core of the movie is a would-be love affair between Takao Akizuki, a fifteen-year-old student who dreams of being a shoemaker, and Yukari Yukino, a twenty-seven-year-old woman whose life has seemingly spiraled out of her control. Outwardly, their relationship is casual and passing at best, amounting to little more than the mutual agreement to skip school and work to meet up on rainy days and sit together in the park, rarely even talking and almost never talking about anything importance, but inwardly, each one finds comfort and solace in the steady, reliable presence of the other. While the possibility of a romantic relationship is breached, just briefly, a few times throughout the film, the recurring message is more one of acceptance, support, and inspiration than one of love.

!!''The Garden of Words'' provides examples of:

* AdultsAreUseless: Played with. Despite her age, Miss Yukino does not fit in with the adult world and the film's real adults- Mr Ito, Takao's mother- do nothing to solve the problems of the main characters.
* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Takao's last encounter with Miss Yukino is full of tears and thunderous anger, but for all the pain they caused each other, they also inspired each other, gave each other a much-needed emotional outlet, and helped them each get back on track toward their own respective futures. While they can't be together for now, the door's left open for something to develop again years and years down the road if their lives ever happen to bring them back together gain.]]
* BlandNameProduct: Subverted as brands- namely Fila and Ginza Diana- are real. Ginza Diana is particularly significant considering they specifically advise ''not to wear their shoes in the rain''.
* CaughtInTheRain: Many, many times. Usually by deliberate design, but once spontaneously near the end.
* CooldownHug: [[spoiler:Takao's righteous rage and vicious TheReasonYouSuckSpeech are stopped in their tracks when Miss Yukino gives him a hug -- the first truly, openly, unabashedly intimate contact they'd made in the entire movie. She doesn't deny the truth in what he says, but, sobbing, she thanks him for helping her learn to walk again in the darkest time of her life.]]
* CueTheSun: [[spoiler: The music shifts, Takao just finishes his speech to Miss Yukino on the stairwell outside her apartment, and the sun emerges as she finally breaks down and runs to hug him. Notable in that it's the first time in the entire film that her face isn't in shadow, symbolising her finally opening up to Takao.]]
* EmpathicEnvironment: [[spoiler:Their ultimate reconciliation]] is underscored by [[spoiler:the sun finally peeking out from behind a cloud again, casting them in a warm and golden light.]]
* EnvironmentalSymbolism: The rain represents their sadness and unfulfilled ambitions, but it also represents their togetherness -- indeed, the two go hand in hand, as it's their sadness that brings and keeps them together. [[spoiler:When the sun comes out in the ending, it represents both the end of their blues and the end of their time together for now.]]
* HappyRain: A given, considering the two protagonists meet only on rainy days [[spoiler: and both are dismayed by the weather being sunny.]]
* [[spoiler:IWillFindYou: Said almost word-for-word by Takao in the film's post-credits scene.]]
* KarmaHoudini: Aizawa and her gang of friends. [[spoiler: They start debilitating rumors about Miss Yukino, and get away with it due to the school caring more about its reputation than the well-being of one of its teachers. Even when Takao gets into a fight with them, they apparently go unpunished, but by then the real damage is already well and truly done.]]
* [[spoiler:LeavingYouToFindMyself]]: The ultimate fate of our main characters. [[spoiler:Having gotten each other back on their feet, Takao and Miss Yukino now have to walk their own paths, pursue their own dreams, and live their own lives. At least for the time being.]]
* LoveConfession: [[spoiler:From Takao to Miss Yukino. It proves to be something of a breaking point in their time together as she can't legally or ethically reciprocate, and her indirect rejection makes Takao rethink his feelings.]]
* [[spoiler:MaybeEverAfter]]: The ending, especially in the epilogue after the credits. [[spoiler:Takao and Miss Yukino are on good terms but living separate lives. He's determined to see her again someday after they've both grown as people, but whether something romantic will spark up then, whether it'll stay platonic, or whether the reunion will ever happen at all are totally up to the viewer's imagination.]]
* OppositesAttract: Takao is a wistful teenager who falls in love with the excitement and the mystery of Miss Yukino's maturity. Miss Yukino is a burnt out, beaten down adult who's inspired by Takao's childlike passion.
* SceneryPorn: As per the usual for Shinkai's works, the magnificently rich, colorful, and detailed backdrops tell almost as much of the story as the dialogue does. This time around, rain is specifically a big focus, with atmospheric shots of the city, the park, and the sky in the midst of squalls playing a major recurring role.
* TeacherStudentRomance: Takao and Miss Yukino. He doesn't know she's a teacher throughout most of their bonding time -- to him, she's just an exciting older woman who lives in a more mature and adventurous world than his own -- but even after he finds out, he doesn't lose interest.
** Miss Yukino's also accused of having one of these before the movie ever began. The amount of shame and outright bullying she has to endure for the rumors are what put her in the sad and sorry state she spends most of the story in.
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: From Takao to Miss Yukino near the end. He calls her out for [[spoiler:a chronic case of cowardice, a complete refusal to speak for herself, and the way she knowingly used a student from her own school just to make herself feel better.]] It's effectively the emotional climax of the movie.
* TheReveal: [[spoiler: Miss Yukino being a literature teacher at Takao's school.]]
* TheyCallMeMisterTibbs: "Not 'Yukino.' '''Miss''' Yukino." The somewhat purposefully cold response she gives when Takao [[spoiler:first says he loves her]]. It's clearly her knee-jerk effort to reassert more professional distance between them.
* UltimateJobSecurity: Takao initially perceives Miss Yukino has having this, considering the time she spends in the park. [[spoiler: Subverted in that she's quitting her job.]]
* UmbrellaOfTogetherness: In a sense. Since Takao only lets himself skip school on rainy days, he only ever gets to be with Miss Yukino during downpours, where they sit together beneath a tiny shelter in the park. The rain quickly becomes a symbol of their togetherness, with both of them praying for rain every morning and every night, and the little shelter becomes their personal sanctuary from the rest of world.
** Subverted in one scene in which Shinkai states that Yukino's umbrella represents the distance she is trying to keep from Takao. Takao's is notably closed, representing his honesty and lack of secrets.

!''The Garden of Words'' provides examples of:

** Subverted in one scene in which Shinkai states that Yukino's umbrella represents the distance she is trying to keep from Takao. Takao's is notably closed, representing his honesty and lack of secrets.

* UmbrellaOfTogetherness: In a sense. Since Takao only lets himself skip school on rainy days, he only ever gets to be with Miss Yukino during downpours, where they sit together beneath a tiny shelter in the park. The rain quickly becomes a symbol of their togetherness, with both of them praying for rain every morning and every night, and the little shelter becomes their personal sanctuary from the rest of world.

* FootFocus: "Learning to walk" is a recurring metaphor, and Takao wants to be a cobbler when he grows up, so he spends much of the movie sketching out feet and shoes. The first big bonding moment between him and Miss Yukino is when she takes off her own shoes and lets him trace her bare feet to help perfect a shoe design.

''The Garden of Words'' is MakotoShinkai's fifth film and was released in 2013. After ''ChildrenWhoChaseLostVoices'' ventured out into more Miyazaki-style territory of fantastical landscapes, mystical beasts, and a quest for adventure, ''The Garden of Words'' represents somewhat of a return to his usual style of short, concise, down-to-earth stories about love and loneliness in ordinary people.

* OppositesAttract: Takao is a wistful teenager who falls in love with the excitement and the mystery of Miss Yukino's maturity. Miss Yukino is a burnt out, beaten down adult who's inspired by Takao's passion.

''The Garden of Words'' is MakotoShinkai's fifth film and was released in 2013.

* FootFocus: Takao wants to be a cobbler when he grows up, so he spends much of the movie sketching out feet and shoes. The first big bonding moment between him and Miss Yukino is when she takes off her own shoes and lets him trace her bare feet to help perfect a shoe design.