THE MOVIE

There is a lot of anime flooding the market, so to stand out it takes something very different. A few years back, animator Makoto Shinkai did just that. His short animated story, Voices From a Distant Star, was a beautiful and poignant story, beautifully animated by Shinkai on his own PC.

Now Shinkai is back with his new film, The Place Promised in Our Early Days. Yet again he takes audiences into a dreamy, beautiful world, transporting them to another place. With so much subpar stuff out there it is so refreshing to finally see something like this.

The film follows three childhood friends who dream of one day traveling to a far off tower on a plane that they built together. However, time separates them and when one of seems to fall under a spell that is someway related to the tower it is up to the others to find out what is going on.

This film is quite staggering. It isn’t everyday when a trailer makes me really want to see a film, but I can still remember the trailer for this film stopping me in my tracks. It features a beautiful and touching story, exquisite animation and great sound design. It makes me think that the future of anime may be okay if Shinkai keeps doing what he’s doing.

THE TRANSFER

Video:

The anamorphic widescreen image is breathtaking. Every color, hue and nuance is captured perfectly. With such a visually rich film this was a necessity and the DVD delivers on all fronts. Beautiful.

Audio:

The audio (English or Japanese DD 5.1) does an equally good job. The sound design has also been given the royal treatment by the filmmakers so it is welcome to hear it presented so well here. All of the speakers get put to good use and no subtlety is lost.

THE EXTRAS

There are a few extra features on this DVD which make it a welcome addition to any collection. Firstly we have a series of interviews with the Japanese cast and the director. Seeing this gives you an appreciation of what these people have poured into the work and how much they cared for it. There are also several trailers on the DVD.

SUMMARY

A must have DVD whether you are an anime fan or not this is one filmic experience you cannot deprive yourself of. Beautiful on many levels it shows that the future of this art form is indeed bright.