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The Place Promised in Our Early Days Director: Makoto Shinkai Number of Items: 1 Format: Animated, Color, Dolby Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated) Running Time: 90 minutes Studio: A.D. Vision Product Group: DVD Release Date: 2005-07-12 Buy from Amazon

From Amazon.com Makoto Shinkai made an impressive debut as a writer-director in Voices of a Distant Star (OVA, 2002); The Place Promised in Our Early Days (OVA, 2004) is his first studio work. In this alternate world, Japan was divided after World War II: Hokkaido, renamed "Ezo," belongs to "the Union;" the rest of archipelago is an American dependency. Ezo is dominated by the Union Tower, a seemingly topless needle. Middle school students Hiroki and Takuya dream of visiting the Tower, and start building an airplane. They're joined by Sayuri, who nurtures a crush on Hiroki. As the characters move into high school, Sayuri falls into a coma. Hiroki and Takuya learn that her dreams are linked to the Tower and to experiments in contacting parallel universes. Shinkai fills the screen with sun-drenched landscapes that recall the films of Hayao Miyazaki, but the story rambles and falters. Although his understated style is often effective, Shinkai needs to learn to pace a longer work. The narrative often feels choppy, and the ending weak. Serious anime fans will want to watch the progress of this talented young director. (Unrated, suitable for ages 13 and older: alcohol and tobacco use, minor violence) --Charles Solomon From Description In 1996, an enormous tower is constructed on the southern shore of Hokkaido, it's purpose-unknown. Curious, three school children make a vow to discover the mysterious tower's secrets. Will this promise have to be left unfulfilled when one of the three falls into a coma?

Customer Reviews: Total numer of reviews: 10 Average rating: 4.5 "i cant wait until i get this one!!!" voices of a distant star is hard to get now, i was about to get it but i decided to get another anime because it was only 30 minutes. Now that "the place promised in our early days" is comming to dvd, i cant wait until i get this movie. its another masterpiece by only one person who directs, screenplays, and produced the movie, and already won 2 awards in japan!! "Simulataneously beautiful and disappointing" Approaching this from the perspective of a sci-fi enthusiast, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that, despite the complexity of its theories on divergent realities and their harmonic coexitence with dreams, there was a far simpler coming-of-age story that centered on a childhood promise. The score is haunting. The visuals and animation is stunning and the characters are charmingly awkward. Although their are some action sequences and a pint of blood thrown in for measure, the film's pace is decidedly that of a romantic reflection on loneliness and bittersweet affection. In the end the story telling is adequate, but viewers who were eager to be exposed to fantastic alternate universes will be disappointed. rated 13 older: alcohol and tobacco use, mild violence "The Place Promised...but not fulfilled." The movie had great artwork and a score that can only be described as awesome, but these were muddied by the fact that the storyline was obscure and uninteresting. As a love story it failed in establishing a repoir between its main characters and as a story of war it failed in providing action scenes. As a scifi movie it left you wondering if maybe the science was left out in favor of the fiction. I give it two stars. One for the art, one for the music. "Makoto Shinkai has heart for his characters" "The Place Promised in Our Early Days" is set in a fictional version of modern Japan. After World War II, Japan was split in two, like Korea. The southern section was occupied by the United States and the northern section by a force called simply "Union." Union builds a huge tower on the island of Hokkaido. Its purpose is a mystery, but it can be seen as far away as Tokyo. Tensions build, and war between north and south seems inevitable. Two middle school students, Hiroki and Takuya, have found an abandoned drone aircraft and have plans to repair it and fly it to the mysterious Tower. On a summer's day, they make a promise to their schoolmate Sayuri that they will take her to the Tower with them in the aircraft that they call "Bela Ĉielo." Then, the girl suddenly leaves the town without saying goodbye, and Hiroki and Takuya end up going to high school in different cities. Three years pass. The aircraft and the promise are all but forgotten. Takuya, as a high school senior, works for a government research lab that is trying to crack the secret of the Tower. Hiroki becomes a loner, attending high school in Tokyo but remaining separate from everyone else. He is haunted by a recurring dream: Sayuri is in a place alone, literally in pain from loneliness, and he is looking for her but cannot find her. The one flaw I found is that the science-fiction background story has some plot holes that cannot survive close examination. However, that one flaw certainly did not hurt my enjoyment of the relationship between Hiroki, Takuya, and Sayuri. I found their characters complex and their interactions compelling. The great strength of this movie is that Shinkai has a heart for his characters. He knows just how to communicate his love for them to the audience. When Hiroki and Sayuri tell of each other's loneliness, you can feel that loneliness as if it were your own. Shinkai`s artwork is cutting edge and his backgrounds provide realistic stages for his characters. Before I watched this, I had read that he does amazings things with light and I find that to be true. The movie also highlights Tenmon's music that adds to the poetry of each scene. The closing theme song, "Kimi no Koe (Your Voice)" is among the prettiest songs I have ever heard. "The Place Promised in Our Early Days" Last year, I took "CTCS403: East Asian Cinema" at USC with Professor David James. Before showing us a film that might be considered unpalatable to our Western tastes, he'd preface by saying "you're either going to like this film and have good taste, or you're not going to like it and have bad taste." Since taking that course, I struggle valiantly to appreciate (or even just comprehend) critically-acclaimed films that are not immediately accessible. Since this film trumped both Otomo's Steamboy and Miyazaki's Howl's Moving Castle for the honor of Best Animated Film at the prestigious Mainichi Film Awards, I was determined to glean the deeper meaning no matter what. Other matters aside, you have to give The Place Promised in Our Early Days points for an interesting setting: In an alternate history of the aftermath of World War II, Japan has been cleaved in half, with the south-Honshu and the other islands-allied with the United States and the northern island Hokkaido annexed by the enigmatic Union. It was on Hokkaido that a mysterious tower had been built, a strand of metal reaching up out of the atmosphere, visible from the northern tip of Honshu. In 1996, three teenagers, Hiroki, Takuya and Sayuri, make a pact-they will build an experimental aircraft, almost invisible to surveillance, cross over to Hokkaido and unlock the secrets of the tower. Their dream was never realized, because Sayuri was sent to Tokyo for treatment after she fell into a coma. It is now three years later. The rosy illusions of youth have fallen away, but not the unbreakable strength of the trio's promise. The truth of the tower will be uncovered, and with it, the link between it and Sayuri's mysterious, carefully tended condition. Sadly, things fall apart in terms of cohesion almost immediately. For one thing, all of the characters are basically blanks in the personality department, making them all blend together. I can see how Shinkai is trying to make his tale seem more universal, but the technique just ends up distancing the viewer from onscreen events. That's not to say that these events are remotely approaching understandable, by the way. In regards to of any form of a plot, I can remember some half-baked metaphysical musings on parallel universes juxtaposed with some junior-high recollections. That's really about it. BOTTOM LINE: There wasn't a single moment that my attention was engaged while watching, and to me that isn't a sign of quality. Accuse me of "bad" taste if you must.