The Place Promised in Our Early Days
Set in an alternate ending to World War II, when the islands of Japan are divided into Union-controlled North and the US-controlled South, and the island of Hokkaido is annexed. A tall tower was built on Hokkaido, which could even be seen from Tokyo. In the summer of 1996, three middle-school students make a promise that they'll cross the border with a self-constructed plane and unravel the tower's secret...
9 February 1973, Nagano, Japan
9 February 1973, Nagano, Japan
December 3, 1973 in San Antonio, Texas, USA
15 March 1971, Houston, Texas, USA
19 October 1967, Houston, Texas, USA
18 October 1964, Houston, Texas, USA
14 May 1984, Houston, Texas, USA
26 March 1954, Yokohama, Japan
13 March 1984, Nagasaki, Japan
June 16, 2005
Eschews the standard deathdroids and fuzzy critters for a more grounded, hard SF approach. Shinkai's debut ... falls prey to a frustrating feedback loop of a plot.
July 20, 2005
Superior anime offering.
June 17, 2005
Shinkai Makoto, who made the 30-minute 'Voices of a Distant Star' by himself on a laptop computer, has written and directed an anime that favors human emotions over robot battles.
June 17, 2005
By any standard it's impressive anime; as a feature debut it's a remarkable achievement.
June 28, 2009
I suspect that in 20 years, film buffs worldwide will be pointing to The Place Promised in Our Early Days as the introductory work from one of cinema's first-rate directors.

