Anime Review: Place promised in our early days, the

Review Place promised in our early days, the aka Kumo no Mukou, Yakusoku no Basho Written by Warpshadow Rating very good/ excellent

Ever since I saw Voices of a distant star I was looking forward to another piece by Makoto Shinkai. After seeing this movie I would say that this is more of the same, but that Isn't exactly a bad thing.

Hiroki and Takuya are two friends who share a common dream. They are working together to build a plane to reach a tower that rises into the sky. Due to a political mix up the island that the tower is on is now in another country. Everything changes when a girl named Saiyuri learns about the project. One day she disappears without a trace and the boys stop working on the plane. As time passes the two friends drift apart but the memory of the tower and their promise still rests in their minds.

The most obvious and best aspect of this movie is the animation. Makoto's Shinkai's art style really shines through and is a joy to watch. The other aspects of the show are still good but not spectacular. The setting in particular has some unanswered questions about itself. The characters primarily exist to evoke moods as opposed to being well rounded characters. In fact the movie itself attunes itself more to evocation of moods rather than trying to tell a complete story. As such I refrain from giving this a top score but I still feel that this movie is still a good one.