TV Tokyo aired the first five minutes from The Garden of Words, the latest film from auteur director Makoto Shinkai (Voices of a Distant Star, 5 Centimeters Per Second), during the Saturday showing of his The Place Promised in Our Early Days film.

The Garden of Words begins in June during Japan's rainy season. A shoemaker-in-training named Takao is sketching shoes in a Japanese-style garden when he meets a mysterious older woman. From that first encounter, the two continue meeting and deepening their relationship.

Shinkai previously wrote that The Garden of Words will be his first story about love in the traditional Japanese meaning of the word. Originally, "love" was written as "lonely sadness" (koi), and, according to Shinkai, the modern concept of "love" (ai) was imported from the West. While his new film is set in the modern era, it will be about koi in the original "lonely sadness" meaning — of longing for someone in solitude.

Kenichi Tsuchiya designed the characters and oversaw the animation process. Hiroshi Takiguchi served as the art director, and Daisuke Kashiwa composed the music. Miyu Irino and Kana Hanazawa headline the cast as Takao and Yukino, respectively. Motohiro Hata contributed the theme song "Rain" with lyrics and music by Senri Oe.

The 46-minute film will open in Japan on May 31, after Shinkai hosted its world premiere at at Australia's Gold Coast Film Festival (GCFF) last month. Sentai Filmworks will release the film digitally with a release on bilingual Blu-ray Disc and DVD to follow later this year.

Thanks to Vito Plahuta for the news tip.