Dressed in pristine white, Jing Yu arrived with over a dozen key cast members and senior staff from the production, joining Qingyun Video's team on stage.
Though officially billed as a co-hosted event between Bluestar Media and Qingyun, Jing Yu was actually Qingyun's second-largest shareholder—a detail that added pressure to the already tense event. Even the host standing beside him was visibly nervous.
But the moment was quickly overtaken by the screams of five hundred fans packed into the venue.
The second Jing Yu, clad in white, stepped into view alongside Yu Youqing in a floral long dress. The cheers erupted, echoing what countless fans watching the livestream at home were already feeling:
"So handsome!"
"I'm so touched! They're working together again! The last time was... what, Initial D two years ago?"
"Wait, wasn't it Love Letter last year?"
"That doesn't count! In Love Letter, Jing Yu played Fujii Itsuki and Yu Youqing played the adult version of the same character—but they never shared a single scene! No interaction at all. Can you even call that collaboration?"
"Fair point."
"Hope this film is sweeter than 'Kimi ni Todoke'."
"The trailer looked okay… just two kids on opposite sides of a railway, promising to watch cherry blossoms together next year."
While fans in chat debated the film's tone, an on-site fan came right out with the big question.
Fan Q&A segments were standard in these kinds of meet-and-greets—building hype while also leaking just enough info to stir buzz.
"Jing Yu-sensei, I've been a fan for three years! I just want to ask—does this film have a sad ending or a happy, touching one? I bet my friend that it ends happily!"
She had won the mic lottery—and went straight for the throat.
Naturally, everyone watching, whether online or in the venue, fell dead silent, eyes locked on Jing Yu.
He held the microphone. This question…
Emmm…
How should he answer it?
"Well…" Jing Yu began.
The speakers echoed his voice across the hall. With everyone holding their breath, even the reverb felt dramatic.
"Asking about the ending of a romance film… is a spoiler. And that would ruin the experience for thousands of viewers."
"But I can promise this—the ending will stay with you."
In the fan groups:
"Stay with us? That could mean anything! A tragic ending or a happy one—both could be unforgettable!"
"Jing Yu's gotten slick. He used to answer things straight up—now he's all vague and mysterious."
"To be fair, he's right. If he'd spoiled the final confession in 'Kimi ni Todoke' during the promo tour, it would've killed the tension."
"Exactly! Knowing the confession happens in the last two episodes would've made the buildup feel hollow."
After a few more questions, the main screen behind Jing Yu lit up, unveiling the new trailer for '5 Centimeters per Second'.
Scenes flashed:
High school-aged Takaki and Kanae
Snippets from Akari's adult life, presented from her perspective
To viewers unfamiliar with the source material, the imagery didn't fully make sense yet.
Why did Jing Yu emphasize trains so much?
Why harp on "the speed at which cherry blossoms fall is five centimeters per second"?
Still, the visuals were stunning.
A large portion of the film's budget had clearly gone into location scouting and visual composition. Fantastical scenes from the original '5 Centimeters per Second' were reproduced almost shot-for-shot. One particularly breathtaking shot—of a new planet rising in the sky, pulling back into a sea of shimmering stars—had been painstakingly recreated.
Even if the audience didn't understand the plot yet…
The aesthetic was undeniable.
The original '5 Centimeters per Second' anime had a relatively simple narrative structure. Its global fame had far more to do with its art and music than with its plot.
This became clear when reading the novel version—the absence of visuals and sound significantly dulled the emotional impact.
And yet, that's the power of cinema: it's the synthesis of script, visuals, and sound.
Criticizing '5 Centimeters per Second' for having a "thin plot" missed the point. Even a 6 or 7/10 script could become a 12/10 emotional experience when paired with the right visual and musical direction.
And it was Shinkai Makoto's touch that had made that possible.
Even with a better-written script, a different story might not have moved people the way '5 Centimeters per Second' did.
After the trailer ended, Jing Yu smiled and addressed the audience:
"Just now… the trailer actually contained a little easter egg. A detail about time and love. I hope when you finish the film, you'll find it."
In his previous life, '5 Centimeters per Second' had sparked a romantic theory among fans:
From the middle school farewell in "Cherry Blossom Extract" to the silent encounter on opposite sides of the railway in the final chapter—it was exactly thirteen years.
And if you multiplied the speed at which cherry blossoms fall—5 centimeters per second—by the number of seconds in thirteen years, you got the distance from the North Pole to the South Pole.
The idea being: two lovers, separated by time, had grown into people whose hearts were now as far apart as any two points on Earth.
In reality, Shinkai Makoto never confirmed this theory. It was purely fan speculation.
But Jing Yu wasn't just adapting the film—he was building on it.
In the first trailer, there was a single frame showing the precise date of Takaki and Akari's parting at the train station.
Year, month, day—even the exact time.
And in this new trailer, another single frame showed adult Takaki waiting by the tracks as a train rushed past.
On a nearby laptop screen—briefly visible—was a lock screen clearly showing a timestamp.
Again: year, month, day, and minute.
It wasn't random.
This was something Jing Yu had intentionally calibrated. Using the polar distance of the Great Zhou world's version of Earth, divided by 5 cm per second, he calculated the exact time it would take to drift apart.
Not a vague "thirteen years"—but a number down to the second.