The Place Promised in Our Early Days (2004)

The Place Promised in Our Early Days: Directed by Makoto Shinkai, Yoshio Suzuki. With Hidetaka Yoshioka, Masato Hagiwara, Yuka Nanri, Unshô Ishizuka. In an alternate postwar timeline, Japan is divided into the Union-controlled North and the US-controlled South.

“Makoto Shinkai came back. And this time he is not alone.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eu0026#39;The Place Promised in Our Early Daysu0026#39; is a pure and beautiful piece of work. This has probably the most beautiful visuals of all animations that Iu0026#39;ve seen (u0026#39;Please Save My Earthu0026#39; and some others are also beautiful but they all have different characteristics, I must say). Pictures themselves are beautiful, and it is no wonder how people call him the u0026#39;magician of lightu0026#39;.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eMy overall impression of this anime is that itu0026#39;s like a poet but with Sci-Fi to match with it. u0026#39;Voices of a Distant Star (Hoshi no koe)u0026#39; was quite boring for me honestly. But with a similar structure and image, u0026#39;The Place…u0026#39; seems to deliver much better what Makoto Shinkai wanted to deliver, even though its story is slightly loose here and there.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI do think, however, that it is u0026#39;toou0026#39; consistent throughout – from Makoto Shinkaiu0026#39;s authentic poetic and solitary, pure atmosphere to its story/drama, visuals (e.g. lighting), music etc (I must say that sound aspects outside music is not very well done but letu0026#39;s put that aside), pretty much everything. This strengthens the sense of purity this anime represents, but I really think it would be better to have more u0026#39;bandwidthu0026#39; to it, so it can have more dynamics and life in it. It is great how Makoto Shinkai pulled it off gracefully knitted altogether, though. Iu0026#39;d say that u0026#39;The Place…u0026#39; stands on its very own ground, really. I think it is something thatu0026#39;s quite different to all the rest, and donu0026#39;t really think itu0026#39;s appropriate to judge this by typical standards.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eTo hold it together for a much longer period of time, and to do it well, he has effectively implied editing (if I could say that) and careful laying out of the story. But the biggest difference I witnessed from u0026#39;The Place…u0026#39; was how Makoto Shinkai has casted much more characters than before – though characters lack in variety as well. This enriches the story as well as adding complexity and depth to it so you donu0026#39;t get bored out easily.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eBut after all, it is superb how well Makoto Shinkai has put the whole thing together so well. I was very fascinated and captured while I was watching it – which didnu0026#39;t happen for quite some time. I think this is one piece of work that overwhelms viewers by its beauty and sense of purity.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eP.S. Although I can understand how some animatings are not up to the feature animation quality, I personally think itu0026#39;d be better for Makoto Shinkai to get somebody good to retouch on his charactersu0026#39; faces.”