Hoshi no koe (2003)

Directors:

Makoto Shinkai
Steven Foster

Writer:

Makoto Shinkai (writer)

Release Date:

2 February 2003 (Japan)

Genre:

Animation | Short | Romance | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

A love story that transcends time and space

Plot:

The story of the high school students Mikako Nagamine and Noboru Terao. When the alien Tarsians attack...

Plot Keywords:

Love | True Love | Anime | Love Across Time | Mecha

Cast

Mika Shinohara	...	Mikako Nagamine (voice: Japanese version)
Cynthia Martinez	...	Mikako Nagamine (voice: English version)
Makoto Shinkai	...	Noboru Terao (original version) (voice: Japanese version)
Sumi Mutoh	...	Mikako Nagamine ('seiyuu' version) (voice: Japanese version)
Adam Conlon	...	Noboru Terao (voice: English version)
Chihiro Suzuki	...	Noboru Terao ('seiyuu' version) (voice: Japanese version)
Donna Burke	...	Operator ('seiyuu' version) (voice: Japanese version)

Also Known As:

Voices of a Distant Star (International: English title)

Runtime:

25 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese | English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Certification:

UK:PG | USA:Unrated | New Zealand:PG | South Korea:15 | Australia:PG

Trivia:

The film has two different Japanese voice casts. The original cast was made up of director Makoto Shinkai and other non-professionals. The official release version was re-recorded with a professional cast. Both of these voice tracks are available on DVD.

Quotes:

Mikako Nagamine: From now on, it will take eight years and seven months to receive each others' mail... Sorry... Say, we are separated by space and the Earth... like lovers... like lovers, aren't we?

Soundtrack:

Through the Years and Far Away (Hello Little Star)

Beauty in simplicity

What a simple concept for a film, executed so wonderfully. A teenage girl travels in space, and the only way for her to contact the boy she loves back on earth in through her cell-phone's text messaging. But as she drifts further from earth, the messages begin to take a much longer to reach him. He begins to give up on hearing from her again, and she grieves over what she is unable to tell him from this distance. However, the ending is extremely moving and uplifting, more so than I thought this 25-minute film would be.

I need not mention how this film was made, by one man on his computer. While the visuals are surprisingly good for a film made with such sparse resources, Makoto Shinkai clearly understands that storytelling is the most important part of animation, and he made a film that is more beautiful and touching than almost anything you'd see in Hollywood, and he did it on his computer, and with a run time of under a half hour. This guy is talented, and I hope to see him directing more animes in the future.

Voices of a Distant Star is a superb film by any standards, certainly a must see for anime fans.