Preview

Karada lives with her older brother but hates being a child (12 years old), since she believes she is a burden to her brother. One day, she prays on a nearby shrine as a strange woman named Shouko approaches and decides to also pray with her. They later learn that Shouko was Karada's brother girlfriend back when he lived in America, from where he had to return when their parents died, leaving Shouko totally alone and without news.

At that night, as they coincidentally meet again by the shrine, their secret wishes are granted by the "Wishing Stone", and they exchange ages, as while Karada turns 24, Shouko turns 12.

Pacing

Although emotionally intense, always focusing on the dramas of the characters, Asatte no Houkou (The direction of the day after tomorrow) can easily be considered a pleasant romance with subtle touches of "Make you feel good" genre and daily life events with it's (now confuse) main characters.

The focus is strongly on Karada and shouko, though some is also given to Karada's brother Hiro, and Karada's best friend, Tetsumasa Amino, who loves her.

Although they have their wishes granted, the title shows that people not always know what they are wishing for, and certainly having them is not necessarily for the best, as both go thru a lot of hardships with their new reality, starting by the fact that nobody knows them nor believes them, and thus they are all alone. They also eventually face the fact that they were happy but just couldn't accept it.

Conclusion

With a fair mysterious and pleasant pace, Asatte no Houko will hold the viewer exactly because it focus so much on the reality of it's unreal event, about how in real life, changing your body's age would really be weird and troublesome, and it won't be easy to start your new life with that. Karada is a young girl in the body of a 24, but have no experience nor résumé to show, while Shouko is a young adult in the body of a 12, but with the mentality of a grown up, and thus won't find friends nor a proper pass time as a child. They end up having to turn to each other to find any real friendship, and as such, they learn from each other why they desired to exchange ages.

The pace holds nicely up to the title's end, which stores some interesting surprises in the end. However, the end is quite appropriate and will hardly displease the viewer, and also show us some interesting new point of view to the ending situation (read essay after watching)