While a popular anime, I find that the title (The Place Promised in Our Early Days) is more interesting than the slow, plodding script. Many will find this film unmoving and uneventful.

The animation is so-so. In only one scene (a mountain background with mist) was I impressed; otherwise it's very typical. I'm honestly surprised by the number of reviews stating this is "beautiful". It's really simply not that impressive animation-wise. I guess beauty really is in the eye of the beholder.

The characters are largely undeveloped. The plot line is simple and mono-directional, without much in the way of suspense, surprise or emotional impact. There are no highs or lows, no real climax to the film, and the ending is weak.

I am a fan of anime and very much enjoy artistic anime. I don't need giant robot battles in order to enjoy a film-- and enjoy many aspects of the drama genre where story is as important as the animation itself. But this work struck me as mediocre in all aspects. I do appreciate that some may enjoy the (very)subdued romantic aspect, but I found it as undeveloped and uneventful as the rest of the work.

As would be expected I give it 5 stars. Neither impressive nor bad... just a slow-moving story, weak plot line and so-so animation.

I was most impressed when I watched Makoto Shinkai's Voices of a Distant Star, which came in a boxed set with this, but wasn't sure if he'd be able to make a film three times the length which looked as good. I need not have worried as The Place Promised in our Early Days looks as good as, if not better, than his previous work.

The story is set in 1990s of an alternate world where Japan was left divided after the Second World War, the south occupied by the United States and the north, known as The Union is presumably occupied by the Soviet Union although that is never explicitly stated. The main characters are two school boys; Hiroki Fujisawa and Takuya Shirakawa and a schoolgirl Sayuri Sawatari. The boys spend their free time repairing an aircraft which they plan to fly over the border to the northern islands to investigate a huge tower which is so high it seems to have no top and on a clear day can be seen from Tokyo. When Sayuri mysteriously disappears at the end of the Summer the boys lose interest in finishing the plane.

The action then jumps forward three years and we find Takuya is working as a scientist helping to research into the tower and its connections to parallel universes. We also learn that Sayuri is in a coma and her dreams are somehow connected to the strange tower which was built by her grandfather who was trapped on the other side of the border at partition. It is feared that if she awakens the effects on the tower cause the parallel universes to devastate their world. Takuya has an idea which will both allow her to wake up and protect his world, although I won't spoil the ending by giving it away here.

As said before the animation is stunning and most of the acting sounded good too although a couple of English speaking characters sounded rather hammy but as they only had a few lines it didn't damage the film for me. I'd certainly recommend this film to anybody who likes anime, especially anybody who enjoyed his previous film.

Mind-bending sci-fi is a staple of Japanese animation, and many of them are complex in a way that makes them difficult to grasp immediately. This one, though, I really don't think the director has any idea how to tell a story. The film is just never coherent. Not only is its science fiction premise (which deals with alternate universes) never clear, nor its world comprehensibly established, but it's terrible at establishing characters and their relationships to each other. All of the characters are quite thin and clichéd. The artwork is nice(the animation is a bit choppy, though),and the music is pretty (but also occasionally too sappy),but this is an annoying mess of a film.