"The Place Promised in Our Early Days" - In an alternate postwar timeline, Japan is divided into the Union-controlled North and the US-controlled South. The story takes place in a alternate postwar period, in 1996, where Japan is divided. Hokkaido is ruled by the "Union" while Honshu and other southern islands are under US authority. A tall tower was built on Hokkaido, which could even be seen from Tokyo. In the summer of 1996, three middle-school students make a promise that they'll cross the border with a self-constructed plane and unravel the tower's secret, but their project was abandoned after the girl, Sayuri Sawatari, became mysteriously ill and transferred to Tokyo. Years later on the brink of another war Hiroki Fujisawa finds out that Sayuri had been in coma since then, and he asks Takuya Shirakawa to help him finding a way to wake her up.

A coming of age story involving young love and a mysterious music, coming from a crystal radio left as a memento by an absent father, that leads a young heroine deep into a hidden world. This is Shinkai's finest film to date, a hard feat to achieve given his previous work. From the very first scene to the very last it is a visual masterclass that puts all other Anime Films in it's shadow in terms of beauty. Shinkai has really gone to great length's to make this film come alive with colour, artistry & technicality that will take your breath away. Tenmon is a regular in Shinkai's works & as always his soundtrack is perfect, beautiful in places & even more beautiful in others it is a real gem that will tug on your heartstrings which brings me nicely to the story of this film. This film is all about losing someone & how hard it is to say goodbye to them, it will move u emotionally (like all of his work), even with the moments of happiness & lightheartedness thrown in this is still a serious film about loneliness & the grieving of losing loved ones which is not going to be to everyones taste. (Journey to Agartha)