The Place Promised in Our Early Days

The Place Promised in Our Early Days
Original Title	雲のむこう、約束の場所 (Kumo no Mukō, Yakusoku no Basho)
Original Language	Japanese
Dubbing Studio	ADV Studios
Voice Director	Steven Foster
Translation & Adaptation	Steven Foster Masako Ollivier (Translation) Shoko Oono (Senior Translator)
ADR Production
Recorded	2005
Dub Country	United States
Original Country	Japan
Year	2004

The Place Promised in Our Early Days (雲のむこう、約束の場所, Kumo no Mukō, Yakusoku no Basho, lit. "Beyond the Clouds, the Promised Place") is a 2004 Japanese anime film written, produced, cinematographed, directed and edited by Makoto Shinkai in his feature film debut. Set over several years in an alternate history where the Soviet Union occupies half of Japan, it follows two childhood friends who grow apart after one of their friends disappears. As international tensions rise and a mysterious tower built by the Union starts replacing matter around it with matter from other universes, they cross paths once again and realize their missing friend might be the key to saving the world.

Unlike his short film Voices of a Distant Star, which was largely made by Shinkai on his own, The Place Promised in Our Early Days is a full-scale production, as reflected by its better animation quality and longer running time. It has been broadcast across Japan by the anime satellite television network Animax. It was licensed for North American release by ADV Films and is now licensed by GKIDS.

It was one of Makoto Shinkai’s films to be selected to be screened at the Japanese film festival in India as part of celebrations of 70th anniversary of establishment of India Japan diplomatic relations.

Synopsis Set in an alternate universe, Japan has been divided since World War II. To the north, Hokkaido has been annexed by the "Union" while Honshu and other southern islands exist under US sovereignty. A gigantic and mysterious tower has risen in the north, easily viewed across the Tsugaru Strait from Aomori, the northernmost prefecture of Honshu. In the summer of 1996, three 9th-graders had made a promise that one day they'll build an aircraft and unravel the tower's mystery, but their project was abandoned after the girl, Sayuri Sawatari, began experiencing sleeping sickness and transferred to Tokyo for better treatment. Three years later, Hiroki Fujisawa has accidentally found out that Sayuri has been in coma since that time and with the help of his friend, Takuya Shirakawa, he will seek a way to revive her. What the friends don't know is that Sayuri's unconsciousness is somehow linked with secrets of the tower... and the world.

Cast

Image	Character	Seiyū	Dub Actor
	Hiroki Fujisawa	Hidetaka Yoshioka	Chris Patton
	Takuya Shirakawa	Masato Hagiwara	Kalob Martinez
	Sayuri Sawatari	Yūka Nanri	Jessica Boone
	Professor Tomizawa	Kazuhiko Inoue	Andy McAvin
	Maki Kasahara	Risa Mizuno	Kira Vincent-Davis
	Okabe	Unshō Ishizuka	John Swasey
	Arisaka	Hidenobu Kiuchi	Illich Guardiola
	Hospital Director	Masami Iwasaki	¿?
	Train Announcer		¿?
	TV Announcer	Maki Saitō	¿?
	Hiroki's Girlfriend	Rie Nakagawa	¿?
	Patrol Boat Warnings	Hirochika Kamize	¿?
	Nurses	Rie Nakagawa Maki Saitō	¿?
	Male Student	Kōsuke Kujirai	Matthew Crawford
	Female Students	Yuki Nakao Maki Saitō	Mariela Ortiz Lesley Tesh Hilary Haag
	Graduate Students	Takahiro Hirano Takeshi Maeda	Jay Hickman James Z. Erivayer
	Emishi Manufacturing Employees	Eiji Takemoto Takahiro Hirano	Adam Jones Andrew Love Jacob A. Gragard
	US Military Officer	Brett Coleman
	NSA	Ian O'Neal

Additional Voices

• Jacob Jones
• John Gremillion
• Rob Mungle
• Chris Nelson
• Carl Ruthers

Video Releases

Distributor	Year	Format	Contents	Region	Country
ADV Films	2005		The Place Promised in Our Early Days	1 NTSC	United States
			1 Volume
Anime Limited	2016	+	The Place Promised in Our Early Days	1 NTSC A DVB-T	United Kingdom
			2 Discs
Shout! Factory	2022		The Place Promised in Our Early Days	A DVB-T	United States
			1 Volume

See Also

• Voices of a Distant Star

External Links

• The Place Promised in Our Early Days at the Internet Movie Database.
• The Place Promised in Our Early Days (anime) on the Anime News Network's encyclopedia.
• The Place Promised in Our Early Days on Behind The Voice Actors.