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In an alternate postwar timeline where Japan is divided between the American-controlled South and the Soviet-aligned Union in Hokkaido, middle school friends Hiroki Fujisawa and Takuya Shirakawa spend their summer building an experimental airplane called the Bella Ciela. Entranced by the colossal Union Tower soaring into the stratosphere across the Tsugaru Strait, the boys make a solemn promise with their classmate Sayuri Sawatari to fly there together. However, Sayuri abruptly disappears without explanation, suffering from a mysterious sleeping sickness that inexplicably links her unconscious mind to the parallel-dimension experiments of the Union Tower.
⚠ Background — may contain spoilers
Years later, Takuya conducts physics research on the Tower, while Hiroki lives as a lonely musician in Tokyo, haunted by Sayuri's telepathic dreams. They discover that if Sayuri awakens, the Tower will activate, transforming Earth into an alien quantum universe. Refusing to sacrifice Sayuri, Hiroki abducts her from the hospital and loads her into the completed Bella Ciela. Flying across the border, Hiroki destroys the Tower with a missile as Sayuri wakes up. Although Sayuri awakens safely into Hiroki's arms, her dream memories of their childhood promise vanish into the sky.
Because with this film, Shinkai has assured me that the anime industry, as a serious storytelling medium and not just an excuse for fan service, is safe in his hands.
