Movies - The Place Promised in Our Early Days

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	Movies - The Place Promised in Our Early Days

is a 90 minute Japanese anime movie created and directed by Makoto Shinkai, following his previous work Voices of a Distant Star. As in the previous film, the soundtrack was composed by Tenmon. Unlike the previous film which was largely created by Makoto on his own, Kumo no Mukou was a full scale production as reflected by the better animation quality and the longer overall length.

Synopsis

Note: There is a great deal of symbolism in this film, which may be open to different interpretations.

Kumo no Mukou takes place in Japan during the late 1990's in an alternate timeline. Though it is not directly explained in the film, the world in the anime apparently diverges from our own in the decades following World War II when the southern half of Japan, including Honshu and Kyushu was occupied by the United States, while Hokkaido was occupied by the "Union" (presumably referring to the Soviet Union). Beginning in 1974, the Union began the construction of a strange tower on Hokkaido, visible from as far away as Tokyo. By the 1990's when the story begins, the U.S. occupation of Southern Japan has ended, and the two nations are allies. Hokkaido remains under the control of the Union, contact between the North and the South is all but suspended and border clashes are common. An underground group committed to reunifying Japan known as Uilta exists in the South, and is involved with attacks on, and incursions into Union territory.

The anime follows the story of three friends living in Aomori on the northern end of southern Japan: two boys, Hiroki Fujisawa and Takuya Shirakawa; and one girl, Sayuri Sawatari (also Hiroki's primary romantic interest). While attending the 9th grade in 1996, the three are fascinated by the Hokkaido Tower visible across the Tsugaru Strait to the north. The two boys have been constructing a small airplane over the years and the three promise to one day fly to Hokkaido to visit the tower. However, Sayuri mysteriously disappears at the end of summer, leaving the boys behind.

Three years later, Hiroki and Takuya have stopped working on the plane. Hiroki has moved to Tokyo where he attends school while dreaming of Sayuri; Takuya studies physics while working as a researcher studying parallel universes for the government, and also becomes involved with Uilta. The two eventually learn that Sayuri has developed narcolepsy, which is somehow connected to the Union's research into parallel universes and the Hokkaido Tower.

Tensions continue to grow between the U.S./Southern Japan and the Union, as it becomes apparent that the Union is attempting to use the Tower as a weapon to replace the existing world with a parallel universe. Things are further complicated when it is discovered that the Tower was constructed by Sayuri's grandfather, and the only thing preventing the Tower from activating is Sayuri's coma, forcing Hiroki and Takuya to choose between saving the world or saving Sayuri.

With war brewing, Hiroki and Takuya eventually return to their old home near the border with the (still comatose) Sayuri. The boys finish building their plane just as war finally breaks out. Hiroki flies the plane across the strait to the Tower carrying Sayuri and a missile provided by Uilta. Sayuri finally awakens as the plane circles the Tower, the Tower activates and begins to swallow the surrounding area. Flying back, Hiroki fires the missile destroying the Tower, followed by a scene involving a crying Sayuri (presumably in joy), ending the movie.

It is unclear exactly what follows, though it is implied near the beginning of the movie that Southern Japan and Hokkaido were eventually reunified, and both Hiroki and Takuya survived. Whether or not Sayuri survived the destruction of the Tower that she was linked to is open to interpretation.

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