Beyond the Clouds, the Promised Place

The story is set in an alternate world derived from reality, depicting a scenario where Japan's Hokkaido, located on the other side of the Tsugaru Strait, was occupied, creating a stage for confrontation between the north and south. In 1945, the Soviet Union abandoned the Soviet-Japanese Neutrality Pact and invaded Hokkaido in October. After Japan regained its sovereignty, Hokkaido was renamed "Ezo" and incorporated into the Soviet system. In 1965, Khrushchev announced at the 20th Communist Party Congress the birth of the "Union," a unified political body integrating all communist countries in the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, and West Asia. In the latter half of the 1960s, nationalist movements rose within Ezo. To respond to this situation, the Union severed diplomatic ties with Japan in 1975, prolonging the division of Japan to the present day. The Union constructed a mysterious building on Ezo that reached high into the clouds, known as the "Union Tower." This enigmatic tower became a point of military conflict between the United States and the Union.