To quote bitwize from this thread: Well-done anime has a way of focusing on the mundane in order to establish an emotional connection to the setting. For anyon

To quote bitwize from this thread: Well-done anime has a way of focusing on the mundane in order to establish an emotional connection to the setting. For anyone who wants to understand this aesthetic, I strongly recommend watching The Garden of Words (言の葉の庭), which is only 46 minutes long. There is something breathtakingly beautiful about this film and other ones like it. They engender a strong feeling of longing and gentle sadness (nostalgia?) by bringing focus to the little things in life. It's a sentiment that tugs at the human soul. Look up mono no aware (物の哀れ), which may be translated as 'a gentle sadness at the transience of things', as well as wabi-sabi (侘寂). Both of these are central to Japanese culture and history. Edit: I also recommend checking out '5 Centimeters Per Second' and 'Your Name', both directed by Makoto Shinkai. To quote Ronnie Scheib's review: Shinkai has been hailed as the next Miyazaki, and his dreamy mindscapes often equal or surpass the anime maestro in breadth of detail and depth of emotion. Shinkai extends the innate possibilities of the anime dynamic, reapplying its principles of lush effects, inflated background detail and sometimes undernourished character animation to mirror the interiority of the characters in every nuance of their surroundings. Some images from 5cm/s: https://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&q=5+cm+per+second&oq=5+cm+per+second https://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&q=5+cm+per+second&oq=...