Shinkai’s feature debut, featuring a delicate score by repeat collaborator Tenmon, revolves around friendships on the verge of dissolution and a world hanging on the brink of war, imagining an alternate timeline Japan where half of the country has been occupied since 1974 by the Soviet Union. Boyhood friends Hiroki and Takuya drift apart in later life, but remain united in their shared grief at the disappearance of their friend, Sayuri, even as their youthful dreams are ground under the gears of approaching tank convoys.