Japanese cartoons have been a treasured part of after-school T.V. viewing since Astro Boy in the 1960s. Japanese cartoons are now widely known as 'anime', and are hugely popular among children and adults worldwide. The T.V. series Planetes, for example, is a realistic depiction of space-debris collectors in the near future. There are political and social undercurrents, including conflict between richer countries exploiting the resources of space, and terrorists who want exploration funds spent on poorer nations. Another popular series is the rather noir, definitely adult Cowboy Bebop. It tells vivid, violent tales of bounty hunters travelling space in the spaceship Bebop.

Like the Godzilla movies, much anime is set in a futuristic society where people are dealing with the consequences of weapons of mass destruction, including the earliest anime film to be widely viewed in Western countries: the cryptic, complex Akira. Social and political themes often underlie the action.

Hayao Miyazaki is the creator of the anime films best known in the West. His films, which include Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke, are emotionally powerful and visually stunning.

His surreal landscapes are always lovely, and his fascination with flight is expressed in glorious sequences of birds, insects, gliders and strange powered craft.

A young writer and director, Makoto Shinkai, is being praised as the 'new' Miyazaki. His first film, Voices of a Distant Star, won attention from fans and critics, and his current film, The Place Promised in Our Early Days, has some of Miyazaki's lyrical quality.

Japan is separated into North and South, and war between them threatens. Two boys and a girl who live in the South are fascinated by a mysterious tower in the North, designed by the girl's physicist grandfather. The boys promise to fly the girl to the tower. It seems the tower is a weapon that can unleash the power of parallel universes, and the girl is its key.

This film is beautiful and haunting.