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Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Audience Rated by buyers Unrated
Type of bind: DVD
EAN num: 0702727127724
Format: Animated, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, NTSC
Label: Adv Films
Manufacturer: Adv Films
Quantity: 1
Publishing house: Adv Films
Region Code: 1
Release Date: July 12, 2005
Running Time: 90 minutes
Sale Popularity Level: 19569
Studio: Adv Films
Theatrical Release Date: 2004
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Description:
In 1996, an enormous tower is constructed on the southern shore of Hokkaido, it's purpose-unknown. Curious, three school children make a vow to discover the mysterious tower's secrets. Will this promise have to be left unfulfilled when one of the three falls into a coma?
Amazon.com:
Makoto Shinkai made an impressive debut as a writer-director in Voices of a Distant Star (OVA, 2002); The Place Promised in Our Early Days (OVA, 2004) is his very first studio work. In this alternate world, Japan was divided after World War II: Hokkaido, renamed 'Ezo,' belongs to 'the Union;' the rest of archipelago is an American dependency. Ezo is dominated by the Union Tower, a seemingly topless needle. Middle school students Hiroki and Takuya dream of visiting the Tower, and start building an airplane. They're joined by Sayuri, who nurtures a crush on Hiroki. As the characters move into high school, Sayuri falls into a coma. Hiroki and Takuya learn that her dreams are linked to the Tower and to experiments in contacting parallel universes. Shinkai fills the screen with sun-drenched landscapes that recall the films of Hayao Miyazaki, but the story rambles and falters. Although his understated style is often effective, Shinkai needs to learn to pace a longer work. The narrative often feels choppy, and the ending weak. Serious anime fans will want to watch the progress of this talented young director. (Unrated, suitable for ages 13 and older: alcohol and tobacco use, minor violence) --Charles Solomon
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Rated by buyers 
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The Place Promised in Our Early Days is Makoto Shinkai's very first full length movie. In this one he has attempted to broaden his focus beyond what he did with Voices of a Distant Star, taking more time to flesh out a plot that reaches beyond his main characters. In broadening his focus I feel that this movie loses a little in terms of characterization: where 'Voices' was very emotionally moving, this film is less so. Don't get me wrong, it is a great film, and what the director does here in terms of emotional depth is well beyond the reach of anyone except perhaps Miyazaki. However, I feel that Makoto Shinkai will do better with future films as he matures and finds his perfect balance.
Some here have said that this film is depressing. I didn't find it so, although it certainly does enter some dark territory, and until the end there's a feeling of uncertainty and foreboding that pervades the film, so maybe that's why others found it downbeat.
I thought the dub in this version was very well done, with the actors achieving the perfect tone for each character. The dub on 'Voices of a Distant Star' was not good, so I was concerned for this film.
In terms of subtitles, there was one glaring problem in that the text-reference subtitles (i.e for signposts, newspaper headlines, etc.) often get in the way of the visuals, and there's no way to switch them off - they appear in both the English dub and the Japanese version. In light of this, I'd advise fans of this director's work to seek out other versions of this film that have text-reference subtitles that are optional. Yes, they are that bad - mainly because in 90% of cases the text of signposts etc. don't matter.
The DVD sound and image are excellent, the film is presented in anamorphic format and enhanced for widescreen TVs. Extras include three video interviews with the Japanese cast, one with the director, and the usual spattering of trailers.
Rated by buyers 
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Back in 2002, Makoto Shinkai won an award as "Most Valuable Newcomer" at the Tokyo Anime Fair 21 for his film "Voices of a Distant Star".
What made this film so different from many anime out there was that it was created only by a staff of one and that was Shinkai Makoto, himself.
Using a Power Macintosh 7600/120 computer and various consumer and professional design and animation software, he was able to write, direct and create an animation so beautiful that it was difficult to believe that one man was responsible for it.
Now, Makoto is back with another award winning animated film titled "The Place Promised In Our Early Days".
The film takes place after the Second World War, with Japan now divided into two factions.
Honshu and the rest of the Southern Islands came under the sovereignty of the United States and Hokkaido was annexed by "Union".
In 1996, an unsual tower was created South of Honshu and Its purpose is unkown.
In the Aomori prefecture (Northern Japan), the storyline focuses on three friends who made a vow to fly an airplane to the tower and find out its secrets.
Two programmers and their friend Sayuri made a promise that was meant to be kept until something happened to Sayuri and the promise was broken.
The film features three main parts. Focusing on the characters as they make the promise.
The subsequent focuses on the lives of the individuals three years later, on how a broken promise has set two of the main characters into two different paths in their lives, one working for the Southern Islands as a master hacker and the other who has not fully adjusted because his love for Sayuri and feels empty without her.
And the third and final part which focuses on the two friends as they are put into opposing paths and the answer to Sayuri's connection with the tower.
If you thought Makoto Shinkai did amazing things with his very first film, "The Place Promised In Our Early Days" is a glimpse of what Makoto can do with a full staff and potential for the future. Absolutely amazing!
The attention to detail on the animation is very well done. There is strong attention to detail for buildings, outdoor scenery and vehicles which are well done.
Even the audio was a pleasure to listen to and the surround sound is well done.
I've heard noises may it be rain or subtle noises used effectively on my rear speakers. Very nice!
Of course, with a beautiful looking and sounding film, it wouldn't make a whole lot of difference if the storyline is bad. Fortunately, the storyline of this film is quite good.
It's not to difficult to understand and it could have been "Ghost in the Shell" cerebral but fortunately, it doesn't go that far.
As for the DVD special features, the original Japanese trailer collection is included. You also get the interviews with the Japanese cast and an interview with director, Makoto Shinkai.
I may be a bit biased towards Makoto's work because I'm amazed of how one man has inspired so many people with creating an anime by himself and the potential shown through this film.
"The Place Promised In Our Early Days" is a film that doesn't disappoint and fortunately has a good balance via storyline, animation and with sound.
Makoto Shinkai has created another winner.
Rated by buyers -
After watching and thoroughly enjoying Shinkai Makoto's 5 Centimeters Per Second the other day, I decided to go in reverse order and watch all of his major films with The Place Promised in Our Early Days (2004) being up next. In many ways I found The Place Promised in Our Early Days to be similar to 5 Centimeters Per Second: they both deal with young love, separation from loved one, isolation, and an overall sense of melancholy that is infused within nearly every scene with sparks of happiness that only last for moments. However, a major difference between this film and 5 Centimeters Per Second is that technology plays a much heavier role and the Japan depicted in the film is quite different than the most recent film.
In 1974, The United States and the Union, most likely referring to the Soviet Union, waged war against each other with the result that the southern islands of Honshu, Kyushu, and Shikoku came under the Union and Hokkaido became knows as Ezo, an ancient named for Japan's northern most area. Like North and South Korea in our world, the South knows little about the North, and the Union makes no attempts to contact the South, but an uneasy peace has been established and the land has not known war for some 22 years.
The Place Promised in Our Early Days revolves around three friends: Fujisawa Hiroki, Shirakawa Takuya, and Sawatari Sayuri. Fujisawa and Shirakawa are both in the 8th grade, but have already shown great promise in the field of science and aerospace engineering. They have gained mastery of these areas so much in fact that they are refurnishing an old plane which they intend to fly to the Union Tower, a huge monolith that is so tall that it can be seen from Tokyo on clear days. Sayuri does not share the scientific genius of her two friends, but soon becomes keen on the idea of flying to the Union Tower and Ezo, a place where her grandfather was stranded after the split. However, the three friends never make the trip because Sayuri one day up and disappears. The subsequent part of the film begins some three years later with Shirakawa working with the NSA while still attending high school in Aomori. Fujisawa has gone to Tokyo, but can only think of the missing Sayuri. The three friends are of course reunited, but not in the way they hoped and the silent Union Tower seems to be much more ominous than it had very first appeared.
The Place Promised in Our Early Days is almost liked watching a "What If?" film depicting what would have happened if Japan had been split like Germany in a time when there was greater technology, and the Soviet Union had acess to said technology with America lagging behind. Also, the film has a very interesting version of parallel worlds which makes this film viewer wonder if the director is a fan of the influential cotemporary writer Murakami Haruki. A fine, interesting animated film that can be enjoyed by both anime fans and non anime fans, The Place Promised in Our Early Days is highly recommended to those who like alternate history fiction and films.
Rated by buyers -
Some other-world Japan has been split in two, like our world's Korea. War hasn't broken out yet, but everyone feels the impending, inevitable start of hostilities, as if war had some life of its own, independent of the humans who fight and die in it. Then, just across the border, the other side has erected a mysterious tower, a needle that pierces the sky.
This is the backdrop against which people live their lives and against which children go to school, with that silent, shining tower standing above them all. It's where three friends struggle towards adulthood, and see their struggles crushed under forces they can't control - but maybe ...
You'll have to see this for yourself. Science fiction elements contribute to this movie, but only as background. The story really revolves around the human need for a little beauty, friendship, and personal challenge in a world where such things become increasingly hard to find Although emotion gets a little overheated in one or two places, it's the personal drama that pulls the viewer in.
-- wiredweird
Rated by buyers -
Motoko Shinkai has been hailed as the greatest animation genius to come out of Japan since Miyazaki himself. He made his very first widely hailed sucess on his iMac and did the voice-acting himself. It was called Voices of a Distant Star, at less than an hour in length, it was the greatest story of light-speed time-delay since Gunbuster, a Mecha sci-fi that focused on two (literally) star-crossed lovers and their battle against time and for the salvation of the human race, when all they really wanted was to be together. Every since that film, people have been clamoring for more of that magic. Well the day has come, complete with orchestral music, and a full motion-picture budget. Was the very first feature-length vision of the great Shinkai worth waiting for? Yes indeed!
Voices of a Distant Star was an epic in miniature, a tale of love between the stars expressed through time and space on a cell phone (literally!). It struck a chord with myriads of fans across the globe by making the epic extremely personal, making us wonder if the love between two teenagers in the end might be more important than a war across the universe. No Shinkai again creates a deeply personal epic, but of a slightly different nature. Both films create an enormous feeling of lonliness as star-crossed loves drift apart and a quiet desperation sinks in, Voices was highly tragic, while the feeling this film conveys is more one of triumph and salvation, through the belief that there is still time to fulfill life's promises, and there is always the chance to start again.
At its outset the film introduces us to a world where Japan is divided much the way German once was, with the two sides locked in a cold war. On one side are two friends working to build their own aircraft (and the girl who fascinates them both). On the other side lies an immense tower that they want to reach with the plane they are building. It's a peaceful, beautiful, tranquil world, but flashes of future events fill one with a sense or foreboding, just before we fast-forward to a time of impending destruction...
The friends grow up and drift apart. One enters into research and the other goes to the city to study at a university. Here the differences in their personalities which were at very first subtle now seem like night and day, as the more stoic and studious one is getting involved in the razer-edge political climate and the daydreamer finds himself in danger of completely losing his grip on reality. And that's where the real drama kicks in.
You see that mysterious tower is a weapon of mass destruction, capable of rewriting the world with an alternate one...one where there are no people. And somehow that tower is connected to the girl, who has fallen into a deep sleep. But like in Voices of a Distant Star, the real story is one of the connection between two people across time and space, and dimensions. Not long before I saw this film I had an idea. What if our dreams were really a portal to other dimensions? While the two friends are pursuing their destinies, the idealistic one starts to hear her calling to him from far far away, from the dimension where her mind is trapped while her body sleeps. She is all alone and desperately searching for him to save her. And the thought that speaks to me most, is one I see again and again in Japanese stories. Often those who seem weakest are really the strongest. This girl who is so mild, soft-spoken, sweet, and fragile. And the only thing between the world and total annihilation is her will holding back the tower...
As she starts to wake up, and the nations head toward all-out war, the friends must reunite, and decide the ultimate fate of the world, as one tries to save the girl he loves, and the other tries to save the world.
This film is one of the most beautiful I have ever seen in my life. Voices of a Distant Star was gorgeous, with orange and purple hues over everything making it a world of perpetual sunset. But that short film was made by one man on his iMac. This film was made by a team of animators with a real feature film budget. And it certainly shows. The animation is much higher quality, with less sill shots and more natural-looking characters. Each and every frame is a work of art, with everything bathed in a perpetual sunrise pallet of colors. On a good TV, particularly if you have a progressive-scan dvd player. The music too is quite beautiful, with the main violin theme being perhaps as memorable as the piano them from Voices. Even with the greatly upgraded visuals, you can still very clearly see the director's tradmark style. Often you see objects in close view or tremendous vitas, and the characters are part of the world rather than standing out from it.
There are shots where you seem to focus on some small detail such as reflections on a ceiling or glittering lights, the passing of shadows. It gives everything a very dreamlike storybook quality, ... Read More
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