Anime Review: The Place Promised in Our Early Days

The Place Promised in Our Early Days (minor spoilers review)

Continuing my run of watching all the films by Mikoto Shinkai, The Place Promised in Our Early Days is his first feature length film. He previously made the excellent short film Voices of a Distant Star (my review) and this film (which is a long mouthful of a title so I'll just call it Promise) carries many similar hallmarks from that short film and expands upon them.

Promise is a science fiction story about an alternative version of Japan at war with the US plus there's a gigantic and mysterious tower that reaches high into the stratosphere. There's an ever present sense of world-ending doom. But all this background however takes a back seat to the interactions between the three main characters: Hiroki (the dreamer lad), Takuya (the nerdy science whizz) and Sayuri (coma girl).

The first third of the film flashbacks to when the three school kids get together over summer to build a supersonic jet aircraft which they want to fly to the top of the tower. The tower apparently acts as an antenna to parallel universes (although I'm not sure they knew that at the time). Not much happens in this flashback portion. It's all very slow and a bit dull. There is the sense that Sayuri and Hiroki fancy each other, which leaves Takuya as a bit of the odd one out in the gang so there's a wee bit of tension there. The artwork however is absolutely gorgeous - as I now know to expect from a Shinkai film.

I wonder if the tower is a metaphor for something? It's always present in the film, a bit like a giant needle piercing into flesh. The tower also reminds me of the Tower of Tiphares from Battle Angel Alita (more about that in a later post).

The story really kicks in about 35 minutes into the film when it reverts to the current timeline and the two boys are several years older. Sayuri has disappeared (we see that she's in a coma but there are no scenes to show the grief the other two felt when she went AWOL), Hiroki wanders aimlessly lost in a depressive cycle and Takuya works as a double agent (half government scientist, half secret terrorist). There are some explanatory scenes with scientists talking about parallel universes but to be honest, I found these subplots a bit confusing and distracting. I concentrated my focus on the weird love triangle between the main characters - the unconscious Sayuri makes a dream like connection with Hiroki, who then promises to rescue her, Takuya seems like he has gone to the dark side and in one disturbing scene turns on his old school pal by threatening to kill him.

The final act of the film is all action. Will they get the plane ready in time? Will the war destroy everything? Will the tower's weird powers destroy everything? Will Sayuri wake up?

Visually this film is absolutely stunning. Released in 2004 the scenic artwork and depiction of light is among the best in anime. The character depictions are a little less intricate but they're ok. As a story however, I think it tried too hard to tick all boxes: weird science fiction backstory, profound love story, action and drama, political intrigue etc. It was all too ambitious and came at the expense of not allowing the characters more room.

What is the story behind the tower? What does it actually do? How did they have the means to build it and how did they know how to harness that cosmic power? All this access to parallel universes and yet no aliens? No weird exotic planets and cosmic bodies? I have so many questions! Yes, despite my criticisms this film still had enough to keep me watching and dwell upon the ideas that it brought up.

I'm going to read more about this film in the hope my questions can be answered. In the meantime, if you liked Voices of a distant Star, then I think this one will satisfy your sci-fi curiosity. There's a lot packed into the second two thirds of the film, probably too much, yet the first third is very slow. It is interesting see how Shinkai has developed his craft by comparing this film with Your Name, which is a far superior film.

6.5/10