I was fully prepared to like this anime, but I really didn't. I stumbled upon this movie watching a list on Youtube about under-appreciated anime, where I also was made aware of Mind Game, which I liked a lot, so I gave this movie a watch, too.Before I start complaining, let's get the positives out of the way: This movie is beautifully animated and some of the backgrounds are a real treat for the eye. For the stuff that bugged me: This movie is really dull. Now I'm fine with slower paced movies, as long as there is something there to hold my interest, but this movie falls flat in terms of character work, world building and story telling in general. Character motivations are underdeveloped or even worse, change on a whim. The conflict parties and their history are only hinted at or even completely omitted. The big reveal in the second half makes absolutely no sense and no effort is made to get some sense into it. The film picks up a bit at the end, but getting that far felt like a chore to me and instead of thinking about what I just saw like I usually do when watching anime movies I just felt glad it was over. I could go on, but those would just be nitpicks.I feel like there is a lot of substance to this movie and stuff I missed the first time, but for the aforementioned reasons I doubt there will be a second time.The only times I even felt remotely this deflated after watching an anime movie was after watching Wings of Honneamise (for similar reasons) and Steam Boy (not for lack of quality mind you, but for its unnecessarily long runtime).

Hey guys, I saw this movie when i had a craze for anime movies. I saw almost 100 anime movies, and undoubtedly, this is 1 of the best movies which i liked really much. The plot is a bit interesting and the sci fi touch is also awesome. You won't notice as you drift into the plot slowly and steadily and a time comes when you also feel the same emotions as the girl stranded all alone in her dream. This is a must watch for people who know what a movie really is .... PPl who just watch violent movies and expect to like this 1 is a complete no no ..... Adding it up == A MUST WATCH !!

The director and writer of The Place Promised in Our Early Days is a certain Makoto Shinkai who is otherwise famous for movies like 5 cm Per Second and Voices of a Distant Star. He has been hailed as one of the greatest anime directors or even the greatest, up there with legends like Hayao Myazaki. Since I saw his other two movies first and absolutely adore them, it is needless to say that my expectations for this movie were sky high. Simply put, I was not let down. Unlike the other two movies under the same direction, The Place Promised in Our Early Days has a very definite plot with clear dips, rises and climaxes. All in all, it is an exciting story that puts you in the center of a divided Japan with different powers controlling both sides. The plot might seem dry and overused on paper, but it is quite intriguing once you actually see it in action. Also driving the storytelling forward is this movie's sci-fi twist on parallel universes and how certain people react with them. Again, this movie certainly brings around one of the uniquer feeling tales around, even if it doesn't sound it. Anyone who has seen another Makoto Shinkai movie however will be able to tell you though, that it is not the story that makes his movies special, but the characters and the emotion that few movies come close to matching. Although it is still a huge distant beyond any other movie in this respect, the power behind to emotions is probably the weakest of all three movies. Don't get me wrong; you will still find the characters and their relations hauntingly and irresistibly real, but you aren't AS horrified when a character's life suddenly changes for the worse. Still, the feelings of loneliness, desperation, or exuberance, all of which Shinkai is famous for, are still found in their distinct, amazing way. Since this was the second of the three movies, it also seems as though it is a technical middle-step between the OK animation of Voices of a Distant Star, and the truly breath-taking visual found in 5 cm Per Second. The animation will not disappoint you, and there are some truly clever tricks that are used that make it look truly wonderful, but they won't stand out among the best in the industry. The music might just do that however with its beautiful, violin-heavy soundtrack that creates a great ambiance for whatever scene is currently playing. Also, the fact that the violin is featured in the soundtrack is of relevance to the plot, and makes both the character progression and the music appear that much sweeter.Although I have criticized this movie a lot, for every thing it did wrong, it did a million things right. This still stands with the truly great anime movies out there and is a great watch for any fan of sci-fi influenced plots that will bring a surprisingly personal tone to the story.

Actually I would give it a 7.5 but as you know IMDb only allows hole numbers.This movie is basically about three friends (two boys and one girl). Their feeling towards each other is pretty well constructed and easy to follow. This is important because it is the important theme of the movie.The place, time and events in which the main theme develops is the great flaw of the movie. It is basically a separated japan at the border of war; there is a huge tower at Hokkaido that links to parallel universes and a couple of other strange things. this plot is hard to follow and actually not very interesting. Never the less, this should not prevent you from watching this movie because it is not really important for the movie. This is a very light film and I guarantee you will feel really nice after you've finished watching it (by light I mean easy with your heart, not easy to follow).Just as 5 centimeters per second, the animation is excellent. However, if you have not seen a lot of anime or you are just not a big fan I would recommend some other movies first. From the same director, 5 centimeters per second is much much better, although, is not as light as this one.