boclani Watch the visual review at https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=pTvCA1i6B50Never would I have thought that so much emotion could be captured and work in a 25 minute movie. I was surely proved wrong.The Voices of a Distant Star follows a girl and a boy. These two are together but become distant as the girl is sent to war in different galaxies, and the only form of communication is over their phones, but the messages take almost ten years to send. This is a movie as you might be able to tell, explaining the distant relationship between some and even the issues that soldiers had to face when wanting to talk to their loved ones on the other side of the world. And I found it very surreal and scary, and that's why I got a little teary eyed. And I just want to say, that this isn't your normal anime. All of Shinkai's movies focus on emotions, and things like loss, love and finding yourself, these all tend to kind of break the fourth wall and make you analyse your own emotions and ask you if you're okay, regardless of the characters. He says through his story telling that sometimes the situation is out of hand and it is impossible for you to change anything, much like in Distant Star.The story, like most of Shinkai's work, is simple. But as I always say with his movies, it doesn't need to be anything else. This is beauty in simplicity. This is the same reason I loved The Garden of Words. Everything feels so real. Regardless of the mecha robots fighting in space, the characters aren't superficial and is a big part of what backs up this simple story. They don't have horns on the head, or have tails on the back, they're just people wanting to talk to their lover. Earth feels so much like Earth, from the rain and the landscape. A planet that the girl discovers seems a lot like Earth with the same looking creatures, landscapes and rain, and then she bursts into tears realising that there is nowhere like Earth. The real winner in this movie is the gorgeous soundtrack this comes with! Holy moly, what sound! I think that at times I felt I was going to cry from the music itself!This isn't a perfect movie though, it has its downsides. I can't say that it needed to be longer, as this director likes creating these shorter movies, and having this as a short worked well. The main issue I have is the machine that the girl is in. The 3D rendering of the objects looks so fake and extremely overdone, I believe they should have stayed with the 2D drawing style. The mixture of 3D and 2D in animation can work hand in hand with each other, but here, the mixture of both didn't gel and work. I think Shinkai learned from his mistake as I haven't seen another machine looking as bad as this since he made it in 2002. Another part I didn't like was the English dubs. I've definitely heard worse, but this is nothing to write home about.But all-in-all The Voices of a Distant Star is just another movie to persuade you that this guy can create beautiful films, from the music to the characters to the artwork. Everything is done with so much heart. This is a film that beautifully looks at war, love and separation. This is more of an emotionally investing film than most of Hollywood's movies. And seeing that this short 25 minute movie, that was created by one single person and is executed with a great amount of detail shows just how special this film and director is.OVERALL : A

Nick Kilano The emotions in which this film garnered from me were such that I never thought one could feel when viewing an anime. Every Otaku/Anime Fan has that one ground breaking moment when they have no choice but to allow their emotions to explode and weep; whether it be in joy, agony, hatred, or sorrow. There have been only three anime's that have pushed my emotions to the edge in such a way. This is one of them. I felt agony whilst watching this film. The test of time and the great expanse of space that separates these two lovers can bring any person with the capability of understanding these emotions to their knees. I watched as Makoto Shinkai created magic which left me spellbound and entranced. Each silent whisper these characters pledged, each hopeful vow never heard by the other caused another tear to spill from my eyes. The use of space and the attack on humanity made by this alien race known only as The Tarsians are incredible metaphors that Shinkai did not try to hide or make subtle. The allegory is far too brilliant to write this director off so early in his career. Distance, especially between loved ones is a test that no one deserves to live through. Though time has all but stopped for the female protagonist, her lover continues to age. Messages from one character to the other increase in time to arrive. First a day or so. Then a week. Then a month. Then six months. Then a year. A year and a half. Eight years. The silent battle waging on within the male protagonist as he attempts to wait patiently for his lover to return parallels the physical battles the female protagonist endures every day during the war. Voices of a Distant Star is a beautiful film. It should not be judged as an anime, but as an all around drama. Keep a wary eye out for Makoto Shinkai. He will one day be as revered as Miyamoto.

richrodi Honestly this film is an inspiration to all budding film makers, graphic design artists, and artists alike because the creator of this animated film, wrote, directed, animated, and even voice acted everything in this film. His artwork and computer animation is quite breathtaking especially in the landscapes and skies he paints. This film tells a science fiction/mech anime/love story in a matter of only twenty five minutes while other animes would take over fifty episodes to properly express the relationships between the main characters and the political climates they are submerged in. Because of these elements this film truly surpasses the negative expectations a Japanese animated film might have attached to it. Voices of a Distant Star creates an extraordinary scenario in which the the main character's gender roles are switched. The quiet meek girl joins the air force and is sent off to die valiantly in war while the young man stays home and patiently waits for her phone calls. However these phone calls are delayed due to the fact they are light years apart. The main theme throughout this film is the communication between these two individuals. Even when they are unable to communicate their feelings and thoughts they remain close and eagerly await each other's phone call . Even with the vastness of space and time these two individuals manage to express themselves in a way that can not be contained in this universe. This theme, which simply yet stylistically laid out before us makes this film a truly remarkable and undeniably heartfelt melancholic tale.

Galcian Voices of a Distant Star is proof that "artistic" and "good" are not synonymous. Being artistic can be great, but even at its greatest, it is only a flavoring particle, an enhancement. It cannot be the basis of a work of storytelling. Take Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo, for instance. An incredible show, and very artistic. The use of coloring and texturing made every frame a piece of mouthwatering eye-candy. The way the story is told, the use of juxtaposition and scaling, the fascinating "imaginary" camera moves, it was art in motion. However, you could easily take all of that out of the show and it would not be much different. It would still be just as wonderful an experience because the story is so strong and is told with such care and tact that the artistic elements are almost negligible in the grand scheme of things.If you were to take all of the artistic elements out of Voices of a Distant Star, you would not be left with very much. In fact, you would be left with virtually nothing. I am not sure about you, but I sure as hell know that if a work of narrative storytelling can be reduced to an insignificant speck at the removal of one element, it probably was not all that great to begin with.Voices of a Distant Star is the story of two star-crossed lovers, Mikako Nagamine and Naboru Terao. The high school sweethearts enjoy their time together until Mikako is selected by the U.N. to join the crew of an interstellar warship called the Lysithea, to do battle against the mysterious alien race known as the Tarsians. For all its acclaim at originality, Voices of a Distant Star has the typical mecha set-up. Military organizations always search for ace pilots in Japanese high schools, because when the fate of the world and all 6 billion people on it is at risk, there is no better way to defend us than to give a sensitive, hormonal, emotional, unreliable 14-17-year old highschooler a giant robot that can destroy a city in the blink of an eye.Okay, so even though this mecha aspect feels thrown in simply for the sake of drawing mecha fans to a type of OVA they would otherwise never watch, my many years of dealing with the mecha genre of anime and its often ridiculous setups can allow me to get past this. What I can not get past, however, is Voices of a Distant Star's obscurity and resounding sense of self-importance. In this excruciatingly short 25 minutes, a great deal of time is spent with still frames with flowing, narrative dialog unrelated to what we see in the frames. This is a juvenile presentation method typical of a high school or college student, always seeking to be as poignant as possible without considering how silly it all sounds. The sad thing is that Makoto Shinkai was almost thirty when he penned this script.So Mikako goes off with the Lysithea and they jump into hyperspace. Her only contacts with Naboru are text messages sent via cell phone. Unfortunately, her travels now represent a dilemma. As the Lysithea travels further and further away from Earth, time dilation begins to take effect and the delay between Mikako and Naboru's text messages begins to grow, to the point where Mikako's last message takes 8 years to reach Naboru. As Mikako, remaining 15 years old, fights the Tarsians on their home world 8 light years away, Naboru, now 24, waits patiently for Mikako to return.It is not a bad concept, really. However, 14 years prior, a little OVA called Gunbuster did this same thing, and it was also much more exciting, meatier, and less artistically bloated. In essence, Voices of a Distant Star is a highly condensed, pretentious version of Gunbuster. The only major differences being visual in nature, and that brings us to the OVA's animation and artwork.At first, I thought Voices of a Distant Star looked amazing. The art style is extremely detailed, and shows an interesting emphasis on the environments rather than the characters in them. The characters, however, are a bit of a problem. I am not sure what it is, but Naboru and especially Mikako look really ugly, and their facial features are occasionally out of proportion, rendering a fairly cringe-worthy effect. Another big problem is the mecha Mikako pilots. Rather than sensibly using 2D animation, the mecha (and also the Tarsians) are rendered in really low-budget CG. These things are pretty damn laughable, looking like something out of an ancient Playstation game. I do not really have a bias against using 3D models in anime, but if you are unable to make it look good, do not bother trying. Sticking to 2D was the obvious way to go here.So in the end, what is presented and often heralded as a masterpiece is merely a paper-thin, haughty adaptation of a timeless classic. Do not be deceived by all the flashy bells and whistles designed to fool you into thinking you are experiencing something deep. Voices of a Distant Star is short, obscure, and occasionally ugly. If you are curious about this OVA, do yourself a favor and watch Gunbuster instead. And if you have already seen Gunbuster, you have no reason to see this. That is all.