This was a movie that was shown at Anime Expo 2013, but I got shut out of the viewing for it. Part of the interest in the film was that Sentai Filmworks had a convention contest going on and this was one of the locations to get a “Words” sticker. Get the six stickers and you would win a prize (of a black t-shirt. Not too good in the blazing summer sun of Los Angeles).

As it turned out, I had an opportunity to catch “Garden of Words” in a different location. Not as good as the big screen, but I did get an idea as to what it is all about.

The first thing it is all about is less than an hour. That’s right; this film clocks in around 46 minutes, which really gives the feeling of incompleteness. And since it came from the same people who brought us “Children Who Chase Voices from Deep Below”, it also embraces the same problems as with that film, in that things are set up but are not really carried through to a conclusion. Perhaps they are making a statement that things are never really done, but life moves on, but this isn’t life. This is a film and we expect, nay, demand closure to some extent.

Now, as always, this is a gorgeous looking film, preferring to revel in watching the raindrops as they hit the pavement or tree branches swaying in the wind, heavy with rain. This particular image is part of an extended sequence, where the two people are sitting under this pavilion, letting the rain fall and just doing what it is they want to do and we are just watching the time pass. Still, I felt that there was really more of the story to tell, not only of these two, but of the people around them, but it seemed that the director wanted to give us a surprise jolt in telling this tale.

We start off with Akizuka Takao. He will be graduating from high school soon, and wants to be a cobbler or shoe designer. He is always drawing and sketching feet and footwear. Although dedicated to what he wants to be, he really is a Sunshine Patriot. Whenever it rains, he ditches at least his first period class and, potentially, all of school to go to this little place in the park to enjoy both the rain and the solitude. One day, he arrives to see an older woman there (we do not learn her name until late in the film, but she is Yukino Yukari), drinking beer and eating chocolate. She has no real place to go, so she comes here.

Akizuka has no place to go to, either. Mom and Dad have split up, preferring to move in with their new steadies and even big brother is moving out, so the apartment is all Yukino’s. But it is just a place for him to work on his shoes and nothing more, so he leads a rather lonely life. He also hasn’t made a great deal of friends at school (another missed opportunity, as we go to school about as often as he does.)

Since it is the rainy season, they meet each other almost daily for about six weeks and we see the formation of a type of relationship begin and grow, even though there is a 10-year age gap between them. However, when the rains stop, Akizuka applies himself to his classes and his job. He wants to go to a trade school to learn how to make shoes, but the tuition is about $7600 a semester, so he works his part-time job as hard as he can, to get enough money for it. We also learn that Yukino has a variety of emotional and health problems, as she seems to have a taste issue. The reason she drinks beer and eats chocolate is because she can taste those flavors; otherwise, everything else is like cardboard.

As to how they connect up again, as Akizuka doesn’t go to the park when it’s sunny, I cannot relate, as it is the key plot point and is a spoiler to boot, and so I must beg off on that. But this leads me to my first big problem with the film.

It ended far too soon. It felt like the whole middle of the film was discarded. There were no confrontation scenes with Akizuka and his parents over the rupture of their marriage and the wholesale abandonment of not only each other, but their children. The relationship between Akizuka and big brother was never really explored as well, so the whole thing came off not much different than being merely roomies and the other had found a better place to live.

The second was we knew so very little about Yukino’s life, although we are aware there is a problem with her at work. Plus, it appears that she may be moving on, but that was vague enough to not be written in stone and more writ in water. It’s like we can watch these people, but we are not allowed to understand how and what they feel, which brings me to the third problem.

Everything felt too brief, too superficial, too dismissive. Again, at 46 minutes, it really is nothing more than an extended anime episode. I watched a special showing of “Tenchi Muyo: War on Geminar”, where they put the first two episodes together and that gave us 50 minutes, so I know that they could have told more with the tale. I mean, they had a lot going for it. I was willing to forgive some of the artistic decisions (the shadows and shadings looked more like they felt they should have it there rather than it being necessary or required, so it didn’t always make sense as to why they needed to have it) as it all looked marvelous. The way they had the relationship unfold was equally marvelous. You wanted these people to find the happiness that was eluding them and that they could be able to find the path to achieve their goals. I view this more as opportunities lost and not fully conceived to make it successful.

Because of the brevity of everything, which I felt hurt the film, I can only give it 2 1/2 stars out of four.

And remember, it’s first run until you’ve seen it. May I see your feet?