Alicia I love this movie so much

Lollivan It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

filippaberry84 I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Brendon Jones It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

sad_mike I really like most of his work, but maybe I made a mistake by watching it out of order with this one being last. But then again, if I started with this one, I'd probably not watch the other ones.I have therefore no choice, but to judge this movie with the eyes that have already seen Garden of Words, 5 Centimeters per Second or Your Name.There are two sides to this, first one sees all of his moves that I mentioned as basically iteration of the same story, always being said the same way with same basic heroes, beginning and ending. It makes those movies kind of predictable. The second one is that because he makes them the same way, he can make them better and better. I'm on the fence with this one.What about "The place.." then? To cut it short, it was boring. I know his movies are convoluted, but his one made little sense to me, story wise. Emotions were not as neatly drawn as in the others and whole experience was basically dull, watch and forget.Mandatory for Shinkai fans, everyone else should probably sit this one out and watch "Your name" instead.

Psycane I was hoping for a great animated film when I sat down to watch The Place Promised In Our Early Days. This film even for an anime felt very different and stylized right from the beginning. What started out interesting and promising, became one of the most incredible experiences that I could have ever asked for. The one thing I could say after watching it was wow. All I could think was this was an exceptionally beautiful filmThe film tells the story of Hiroki and Takuya, two young boys who are trying to build a plan in order to someday reach an enormous tower in the distance. When they befriend a young girl named Sayuri, they all make a promise to build the plane, dubbed the Bella Ciela, and someday reach the promised place. But as time goes by this prospect becomes thinner and thinner.This film is able to represent something that happens and is significant to everyone: how we view the world. Perspectives change throughout the film, we see the world as beautiful, mysterious and wonderful and something to explore like most people feel when they are young. We then see it as depressing and sad through the eyes of someone who has felt loss and grief. And we see it as horrible and violent as the divided Japan inches ever so closer to war. The characters bring to life a beautiful parable to how we deal with our pain and world and loss. It creates real human relationships and characters. The beautiful surreality entrances you and makes you truly think about how your actions can affect someone. The film has this overarching line where people have a premonition of losing something. Innocence, love, wonder, things that matter that we so often throw away and take for granted.It's almost hard to describe how this movie made me feel and how incredible it is. All I can say is that you stumbled onto a truly fantastic movie that I guarantee you will never forget the experience of watching. The characters, story, stunning animation, surreality and style will have you thinking for ages afterwards.Beautiful.

mazinkaiser57-698-139334 Makoto Shinkai is unique in his directing style in that he often places more focus on a character's inner thoughts rather than his or her dialogue and interacting with the environment. While this style has its own set of strengths and weaknesses, Shinkai uses it to his advantage to often show a emotion driven story. Such as is here in "The Place Promised in our Early Days." It is not a good as some of his other efforts, but it is still worth the watch nonetheless. The story is about three friends living in a alternate reality Japan. Japan has been split in have by America who controls the south and "the Union" controlling the north. There is a tower that goes beyond the clouds and the three friends make a promise to go fly up to it using a plane that they salvage and start to repair. One day, one of the friends disappear and story follows the other two friends and how they cope and ultimately try to find and help her. Like I said, the setting is in a alternate history and there are some science fiction influences in the world. However, it does not detract from the highlight which is he story. The first part of the story involves the three friends enjoying their summer. It is so genuine in terms of emotion and the bright lighting and beautiful drawn environments really brings the story to life. The character animations is not the best and the voice acting is OK at best, but the environments themselves are so beautiful that you'll easily forgive the previous complaints. Shinkai excels at portraying emotions of lost and isolation, especially when it involves old friends and lost lovers. It is no exception here. The main character is the most developed here as we hear his inner thoughts the most and his desire to see his lost friend again is interesting. As much as I like this movie, it is hard not to compare it to another Makoto Shinkai film, "5cm per Second." The reason I like that film better is because there was nothing that distracted the main story. It was clear and to the point with nothing distracting. Same can't be said for this movie. There is a lot of background here involving politics and a weird dream/ parallel universe science that gets convoluted and messy and at times, it can get distracting. That being said, if you want a movie with genuine emotion, this is not a bad watch. In a age where anime tends to focus less on story and more and cutesy hi jinks and everyday nonsense of high school students who can't get a girl, "The Place Promised in our Early Years" is a refreshing, emotional, and occasionally beautiful film that won't leave and tears in your eyes, but might leave you staring at the screen even after the credits start rolling.

Seragovitz OK lets list some anime conventions; insipid male leads with about as much personality as a bowl of rice, all the female characters are snivelling drips, banal supporting cast, glorious childhood memories, some promise or other that needs fulfilment and dialogue that would make a Furby wince etc etc. Behold "The Place Promised in our Early Days" delivering each in spades. The animation is very well done but is "over done" with every scene seeped in sepias, moonlight etc which I found soon got tiresome. The sci-fi plot is a strange mix of quantum mechanical dream state mumbo jumbo and parallel universes; which while rather silly (sorry all you parapsychologists) is at least quasi-interesting. The musak is dreadful fluffy garbage. I think this would have made a good silent animated short. If you want to watch a ten star anime rent "Night on the Galactic Railroad".