The Place Promised In Our Early Days (DVD) - Anime Reviews


	Running Time 90 Minutes Language Options English/Japanese/English Subtitles Released by ADV Films Extras - 3 Video Interviews with the Japanese cast - Video Interview with Director, Makoto Shinkai - Original Japanese Trailer Collection
Newsletter
Be notified of site updates. Sign-up for the Newsletter sent out twice weekly. Enter E-Mail Address Below: Subscribe \| Unsubscribe

The Place Promised In Our Early Days (DVD)

In school, they were best friends. And they shared two passions: the plane they built together, christened Bela Ĉielo, and a girl. Sayuri.

Oblivious to the tense international environment, the three form an indelible bond and it seems nothing can ever come between them and their dream. The boys believe that someday they will reach the distant tower – and touch Sayuri’s heart – however far it may be.

But time passes. War escalates. Alliances are changed. Friends become enemies. And Sayuri falls into a dreamlike state that seems inexplicably linked to the mysterious tower of their youth. At the brink of a World War, Sayuri seems to be a key to a new world peace… or a frightening and bitter end to the world as we know it.

Come to The Place critics the world-over have hailed as a work of new animation genius. A mystical, lush and moving masterpiece about the passion of friendship, the pain of war, and the power of a promise that will touch, move, and inspire you.

The Place Promised In Our Early Days is an excellent example of how different an animated film can be. With a pacing more like a drama, we start of by watching the three main characters in their youth. Takuya and Hiroki are the best of friends and share the same passion, building a plane from parts that they have scavenged. Despite their intellects, the two are distinctly different personalities. Takuya is the more intellectual of the two, a little detached from the people around him, but his separation makes him mysterious and quite popular with females (despite his lack of interest is starting any relationships). His friend Hiroki is more a “salt of the earth” type, timid, shy but more conscientious of other people. While these two friends work on their project, they spend time with their female friend Sayuri, who is extremely polite and caring.

In this world, Japan has fallen apart into different nations: the group currently lives on Honshu but the new nation that has formed with Hokkaido (former name) and has constructed a giant tower. This new tower has attracted the boy’s attention, and they plan to use their aircraft to fly to the tower – but the flight would be extremely dangerous with the amount of military might staging around the area. And so, the

Advertisement

boys work to make their plane invisible to radar and be able to slip past the patrols. However, before they get the chance to make their maiden voyage, Sayuri disappears and the boys abandon their project.

Hiroki moves away, and the two quickly lose touch. Now 3 years later, Takuya has become a researcher on a military project that is trying to create what the Tower was working on: opening a passage to alternate

Advertisement

realities. Seriously behind in the basic physics of the research, the group is working aggressively to make up the deficit. He has become extremely involved in the work surrounding the separated nation, and besides working on the research, he has been somewhat involved in subterfuge to prepare for an eventual war between the two countries. On the other hand, Hiroki has become despondent over the loss of Sayuri, and is merely going through the motions of life while feeling quite isolated from the rest of world.

What actually happened was that when the Tower was activated, Sayuri was affected by it and she has since fallen into an extended REM sleep which she does not seem to awaken from. This sleep is quite vivid for Sayuri, and she is constantly exploring her new surroundings. Hiroki has been able to see glimpses of Sayuri during his sleep, and so the memory of her continues to haunt his mind. The Tower’s first activation swallowed a portion of the countryside and sent it to an alternate dimension, and as Sayuri’s sleep lessens – more of the surrounding ground disappears in the reaction. Takuya’s group believes that the Tower could potentially be a threat if it starts to increase the rate at which it absorbs its’ surroundings, and starts to make plans to destroy the tower. Hokkaido is considered a dangerous threat because of the tower, and war is imminent with outside forces wanting to neutralize the potential danger that the tower implies. Except, Takuya’s group intends to go one further – destroy the tower during the confusion of the first sign of war.

During an investigation of where Sayuri disappeared to, Hiroki learns where she was hospitalized. While visiting her room, he enters a waking dream and is able to talk to her – now believing that he can save her, he intends to bring her unconscious body to the tower in the plane. But before he can do that, he needs to complete the plane and find her. Takuya is more than a little surprised to find out that the scientists believe a girl is a key to the Tower’s activities and even more surprised when she is brought to the facility and it turns out to be Sayuri. As Hiroki and Takuya finally meet up again after their years of separation, the two fight over the course of action – Hiroki wants to bring Sayuki to the tower to save her and Takuya believes that bringing her to the Tower will cause the destruction of the world. I’ll stop telling the plot now, so not to ruin the final arc of the movie.

What’s to say about the movie? Incredibly well animated, gorgeous score, excellently plot but characters about as thin as supermodels. Each characters shows minimalist growth from childhood to adult and their character swerves seem completely out of nowhere. If it weren’t for the uninteresting characters, this would be one of the best movies that I’ve seen in the last year, but instead it is more of an unfulfilled work. I’ll probably watch it again and appreciate the excellent storytelling and animation but I may fast forward through any section where the main characters are standing and talking.

- Tazman

(October 2, 2005)

"I ate my sandwich. Now I'm 'sposta to get pudding."

- Tardy the Turtle (Greg the Bunny)


PC \| Gamecube \| DS \| Wii \| PlayStation 2 \| PlayStation 3 \| PSP \| Xbox \| Xbox 360
News \| Reviews \| Previews \| Features \| Classics \| Goodies \| Anime \| Forums