the first half felt kinda slow to me. the cast really made me feel frustrated, downhearted, and angry. i was so mad with shinji's boss (?) because he's clearly manipulating shinji and ruining his career. it also made me feel sad thinking about how many mangakas out there had to go through this kind of horrible situation in real life. shinji's assistant had me going on a roller coaster of emotions because i felt like she's gonna betray shinji or that she likes him so she might hurt hibiki but then at some point it felt like she was harmless, she's a very confusing character. the second male lead was very very VERY annoying. im the kind of person who is not good with sympathizing to people who are in a situation that i havent experienced but araki yuko and yamashita tomohisa's acting really made me feel like i was there and i was being subjected to the struggles that they are going through. tho i must say i was kind of weirded out with the way hibiki found shinji's address. you know, it felt like stalking and i didnt really understand why would she track him down when they dont really know each other but in the end im still happy that she did because in that way she found shinji and saved him and even if things are still hard at least they have each other to hold onto now. im a sucker for love stories where they save each other and find their purpose or reason for living because of that special someone. in my opinion, this movie would have been perfect with a sad ending. the way they presented shinji's disease, when he went away from hibiki, and the way hibiki found him in that park felt final so i didnt really like the way they ended this movie but still, worth the watch.