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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

Customer Reviews: Total numer of reviews: 10 Average rating: 4.5 "Excellent" After seeing the trailer at the ADV website, and knowing it was another Shinkai movie, I had to see this one, and it was just as good as I thought it would be. Hell, I'm almost willing to call it the best I've seen in the last few years. I can see now why some call Shinkai the next Miyazaki...if you think that is blasphemous to say, you ought to check out his works before judging that for yourself. As much as I enjoyed Voices of A Distant Star (Hoshi no Koe), I found it too short. His animation style, the colors, the computer effects were all amazing...and even more so that he did the whole thing by himself. Then he comes up with this masterpiece. Voices had an okay plot, but wasn't too terribly developed or interesting. This one is spectacular. It everything that Voices should have been...full length, proffessional looking, same beautiful use of computers to enhance colors, Shinkai's little trick of using real places in Japan to draw out buildings...it just blew me away. Any anime fan looking for something fresh and beautiful should check this out, it is well worth the small amount of cash it will cost you. And if you are fortunate enough to live in one of the cities where its being shown in the theaters, I highly encourage you to see it there on the big screen. The story is about three children and their quest to greater know the world they live in. This alternate universe takes place after WWII, except here the island of Honshu (the main island of Japan) and all southern islands came under US occupation, and the northern most island Hokaido came under control of the mysterious "Union", who in 1974 erected an enourmous tower for an unknown purpose. The two boys, and the one girl they both loved, Sayuri, promised each other that some day they would fly to that tower in the plane they built. But then Sayuri falls into a mysterious coma, and the promise is delayed... I won't spoil the story, but needless to say its quite terrific and the ending quite satisfying. Enjoy this one for yourself, trust me when I say its worth every penny. "A Promise Kept" I wanted to see this ever since I heard that it was done by the same director who created Voices of a Distant Star, and I have to say that it lived up to my expectations. Every single frame of this piece looks as though it could be framed on the wall as art. It looks amazing. The attention to detail is astonishing. But Promise is not just eye-candy. There is a story, told in subdued tones, and supported by a rich, lovely score. A complex blend of romance, drama, and science-fiction, the narration on both the Japanese and English tracks is perfect. This is a film that will change anime the same way that Akira did, but for vastly different reasons. "Another refreshing work from Shinkai Makoto" I've wanted to watch this ever since the pilot trailer was out in 2002! Having finally seen the movie, I must admit that I like the pilot trailer a bit better. I'm not sure about the details, but I suppose it's possible that like every other artist that has to work with a studio, Shinkai Makoto had to make compromises to his own unique artistic style of animation and narration. As a result, the final product looks more mainstream than the pilot trailer suggested. While it's unmistakably Shinkai, it doesn't have quite the pure vision and poetry seen in the pilot trailer or his other independent works like Voices of a Distant Star or even the short video "She and Her Cat". Let's hope that the next Shinkai production will have less mainstream studio influences so that we can enjoy more of Shinkai's visual poetry... Oh and Tenmon's musical score shines again in this movie, every bit as good as it was in Voices of a Distant Star, and really enhances the atmosphere of the movie. I'm listening to it right now ^_^ "Interesting, but slow-moving" After watching the preview on the Anime Network, I decided to try out this title. Usually not being a fan of most anime movies (I'm more interesting in on-going series), I was surprised that this title appealed to me. I was a little disappointed, however, after watching the film. The artwork and animation is beautiful, and the music is also wonderful. But for the most part, the movie is just pretty quiet and peaceful as it follows the lives of the three main characters. The story is thought-provoking and interesting, but it seemed like I was always waiting for something big to happen. The plot was a little slow, and sometimes I didn't quite understand the reasons behind some of the things that happened. Overall it's a good movie, and definitely worth watching. It's just a bit slow-moving, and the action isn't on a very high-scale. "An exceptional work of art" The Place Promised in Our Early Days, or a more literal translation of the Japanese title, "Beyond the Clouds, The Promised Place" is Makoto Shinkai's first studio work, the director who single handedly wrote, directed, edited and animated his debut film "The Voice of a Distant Star" using a Power Macintosh 7600/120 computer and several consumer and professional-level design and animation software programs. His attention to details is meticulous, which is evident in the subtle and fine details in his animation. You should check out the trailer at advfilms.com and see for yourself.