Shinkai once mentioned in an interview that the beauty of scenery had saved him during his adolescent struggles, and what that may have entailed is of course foreign to others, but there's truth to natural landscapes acting as a deterrent to negative emotion. He constantly emphasizes shot selection, wide settings, and trains, establishing one of his recurring directing traits in applying visual spectacle. Sure it's not his most breathtakingly detailed effort, but the layouts are indeed expansive, as picturesque as rural areas can be. A lot of these shots tend to use a person as the center of symmetry to give depth as the camera leans into aerial tilts, which was utilized well in the closing sequences. Kumo no Mukou, Yakusoku no Basho as a collective production undeniably feels amateurish, more so the storytelling not being able to dictate itself enough, and on occasion, it can also be heavyhanded without necessary exposition. Shinkai experiments with the usual loss and plays with time, yet makes little progress in crucial moments. I'm willing to commend the role of the opening sequence though, setting up a clever implication for what would become the prologue to that scene. At times streaky, an ambitious take on melancholic human connection with the universe as a whole.
