The Essentials
Name: The Place Promised in Our Early Days; Beyond the Clouds, The Promised Place; Kumo no Mukou, Yakusoku no Basho
Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Romance
Episodes: N/A
Released: November 20, 2004
Director: Makoto Shinkai
Produced By: CoMix Wave
US Distribution By: ADV Films
Major Japanese Cast
Hiroki Fujisawa: Hidetaka Yoshioka
Takuya Shirakawa: Masato Hagiwara
Sayuri Sawatari: Yuuka Nanri
Okabe: Unshou Ishizuka
Tomizawa: Kazuhiko Inoue
Maki Kasahara: Risa Mizuno
Major English Cast
Hiroki Fujisawa: Chris Patton
Takuya Shirakawa: Kalob Martinez
Sayuri Sawatari: Jessica Boone
Okabe: John Swasey
Tomizawa: Andy McAvin
Maki Kasahara: Kira Vincent-Davis
Scores
Animation: 9/10 (x 4 = 36 pts)
Story: 9/10 (x 4 = 36 pts)
Music: 9/10 (x 4 = 36 pts)
Coherency/Story Arc: N/A
English Dubs: 9/10 (x 1 = 9 pts)
Gut Score: 9/10 (x 5 = 45 pts)
Total: 162/180 (90%)
Review
The Place Promised in Our Early Days is a movie by aspiring director Makoto Shinkai, and is about a trio of friends in northern Japan in an alternate 1990s where Hokkaido has been controlled by “The Union” since 1974 and the United States and Japan share a very strong military alliance. On the island of Hokkaido, which has been renamed to Ezo, The Union has built an extremely tall, yet narrow white tower that can be seen all the way from Tokyo on a clear day. Two of the friends - Hiroki and Takuya - are building an airplane called the Bella Ciela to fly across the Tsugaru Strait to the tower. Later they invite their friend Sayuri to fly with them.
However, suddenly one day Sayuri disappears. Her disappearence so shocked Hiroki and Takuya that they suspended the construction of their plane, and eventually went their seperate ways. Hiroki goes to high school, but lives largely as a loner while Takuya does research into parallel universes. This research is in reaction to what the Japanese-US alliance believes the purpose of the Union Tower is - to tap into neighboring alternate universes and to “copy” them onto their dimension. However, the tower stopped operating mysteriously and has remained dormant for years.
We soon learn that the belief is that the tower, which was designed by Sayuri’s grandfather, is, instead of feeding it’s information about alternate realities and writing it onto the earth, is sending them into Sayuri’s dreams, which has resulted in her remaining in a coma for 3 years. It is believed that if she awakens, the tower will completely destroy the earth by covering it with a copy of another dimension.
Many themes are strongly portrayed in this movie. Separation is probably the primary theme. The group of terrorists which take actions against Union targets, including the Union Tower, in hopes of reuniting Hokkaido with the rest of the Japan are largely driven by a desire to reunite themselves with the rest of their families which live on Hokkaido. Also, Sayuri in her dream and Hiroki feel alone from being separated by Sayuri’s coma.
Many parts of this movie seem a mystery when you first start watching. First off, you’re thrown in an alternate semi-present day where Japan has been split into two, one half previously occupied and now aligned with the United States, and the other half occupied by “the Union” (I’m guessing the Soviet Union…or this timeline’s version of it).
Also, many of the facts in the movie basically get one pass, and then it is assumed you get it. As a result, it may take two or three viewings to catch everything, and, I guess not surprisingly, one has a better grip of the entire story when you’ve noticed all the major points.
One note about this movie - if you’re looking for an ending that wraps everything up neatly, you won’t find it. The very beginning of the movie, which takes place after the events of the rest of the movie, paints an uncertain picture of what the future holds for Sayuri and Hiroki. One doesn’t see Sayuri at the start of the movie, which suggests the possibility that Sayuri has left Hiroki - possibly because Sayuri ultimately forgets everything from when she was in a coma - or that she and the tower were so connected that she dies when the tower is destroyed, despite being woken from her coma.
Nevertheless, The Place Promised is a moving movie experience which mixes love and separation with sci-fi and alternate universes.
The animation is sharp for the most part, though in some scenes I don’t think the characters blend in well with their background. The music is done very well, with a soundtrack mostly based on violin music. The English dubs are also pretty good.
First Watched: April, 2006
Do I Own: Yes
Do I Recommend: Yes
