Akari Shinohara

## **Akari Shinohara**in *5 Centimeters per Second*

* Grade 6
* Grade 7
* Adult

## Manga

* Child
* Teenager
* Adult

**Akari Shinohara** (篠原 明里, *Shinohara Akari*) is a main character of *5 Centimeters per Second*. She is a childhood friend of Takaki Tōno and his first love interest.

## Background

Akari was born in Utsunomiya, but later moved to Akita, Shizuoka and Ishikawa with her family when she started elementary school, before moving to Tokyo right at the beginning of her fourth year. There she met Takaki, and quickly befriended him due to their similar circumstances. They were always together, and because of this there were rumours about their relationship. The next year, despite being in different classes, Akari and Takaki continued to pass time together, joining the science club, and began to study in order to get into the same middle school.

## In *5 Centimeters per Second*

### Childhood

One day during their Grade 6, as they passed by a small grove full of cherry blossoms on their way from school, Akari told Takaki about how the petals' falling speed was 5cm/s. After they passed the entrance exam, Akari's parents revealed to her that they were to move to Iwafune, in the Tochigi Prefecture because of work. Akari tried to convince them to let her stay in Tokyo at her aunt's house to no avail, and shared the sad news with Takaki through the phone. On graduation day, they parted ways.

In the first year of middle school, Akari and Takaki exchanged letters. When Takaki wrote to her that he was moving too – in his case, to Kagoshima Prefecture – they planned to meet in Iwafune before he transferred. On the day of the date, Akari waited for hours at the train station, since Takaki's train was delayed because of a snowstorm. When he arrived, she gave him the bento she had made for the occasion, and had dinner with him. When the station closed, the two went out in the town, walking on an open field covered by the snow. They stopped at a cherry tree and exchanged a kiss. Afterwards, they found a shed to sleep in. Next morning, Takaki took the train back to Tokyo, promising her that he would send some letters. Akari told him that he would be fine, she was sure of it. After his train departed, she took letter out of her bag, which she had written to give him, but could not.

### Adulthood

During her years in Iwafune, she exchanged letters with Takaki less often and eventually lost contacts with him.

Thirteen years later, she met a man and the two got engaged. One day at her parents' home in Iwafune, while going through the stuff she had kept from her school days, she found the letter she had planned to give to Takaki at their last meeting. She smiled, remembering how happy she was at the time. One month before her wedding to Yuichi, she returned to Tokyo to prepare for the ceremony.

One day in April 2008 when the cherry blossom petals were slowly falling to the ground, Akari went out for a walk. Somewhere in Tokyo, she passed at a train crossing, while a man was coming from the other side. For a moment, Akari seemed to recognize an adult Takaki. However, when she turned around to check, a train covers her field of vision and she decided to move on without waiting for the train to pass.

## In *5 Centimeters per Second* manga

In Akari's high school years, she was asked out by at least one schoolmate. She kept visiting the Iwafune Station to refresh her memories and feelings for Takaki Tōno, but even those were gradually fading away over time, a fact that made her feel tormented.

## In *5 Centimeters per Second: one more side*

After high school, Akari enrolled in the Japanese literature department of a so-called private "Megaversity" in Tokyo, where she became a close friend of Nomiya. During this time, she also involved in some unsuccessful romantic relationships.

After graduation, she became a shop clerk at an outlet of a big bookstore chain for two years, before getting transferred to the procurement department, where she met her future husband.

## Etymology

* The name **Akari** means "bright, light, clear" (明) (**aka**) and "village" (里) (**ri**).
* Akari's surname **Shinohara** means "dwarf bamboo" (篠) (**shino**) and "field, plain" (原) (**hara**).

## Gallery

Grade 7's uniformHighschool uniformIn *5 Centimeters per Second* manga
## Trivia

* Her name is likely based on Mika Shinohara, Makoto Shinkai's former girlfriend who also voiced in his previous works like *Voices of a Distant Star*

## References

1. ↑ *5 Centimeters per Second: one more side*
2. ↑ In *5 Centimeters per Second* novel which is written from Takaki Tōno's point of view, Akari moved directly from Uchinomiya to Shizuoka to Tokyo