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Voices of a Distant Star Directors: Makoto Shinkai, Steven Foster Number of Items: 1 Format: Animated, Color Running Time: 30 minutes Studio: A.D. Vision Product Group: DVD Release Date: 2003-06-10 Buy from Amazon

From Amazon.com Although it looks like a studio work, Voices of a Distant Star is a personal film, made almost entirely by a single artist, Makoto Shinkai. Mikako and Noboru are separated at the beginning of high school in 2046. She's accepted into the training program for mecha pilots to fight the aliens who attacked human settlements on Mars. As she moves across the miles and, ultimately, light years, she sends messages that the forlorn Noboru patiently awaits. The animation is largely restricted to camera moves over still artwork and CG objects, but Shinkai is a skillful enough director to tell this melancholy sci-fi romance through the strong music and vocal tracks. Voices of a Distant Star packs more of an emotional punch than many elaborate studio films. (Rated 13 and older, but suitable for viewers 2 years younger: minor violence) --Charles Solomon From Description When a mysterious alien force begins their annihilation of the human race, a young pilot feels called to join the resistance. But the danger of an interstellar battle is not Mikako's greatest concern. For she has left behind the one young man she loves. And as Mikako flies further into deep space, her only way to connect with Noboru is by cell-phone text messages. While Mikako risks her life to save mankind, Noboru waits. At first days, then months, then years for each new message that will let him know whether Mikako is still alive. And while she barely grows older in the timelessness of space, Noboru ages. How can the love of two young people, torn apart by war, survive? To what distance would you go...for your one, true love?

Customer Reviews: Total numer of reviews: 69 Average rating: 4.0 "Very touching, different and well done" Well, this one caught me off guard! I was very surprised of it... Art is done fantastically... still can't believe that it's done by one person! Can't wait for the second! Just go ahead and see if you can find one! ages 13 up but more sutable for people 2 years younger minor violence "Opps " Oh, I'm sorry I forgot to sign in. The kid's review below was written by me. I'll be better careful next time! "So I Boldly Quit My Job" The creator of this anime repeatedly stated that he boldly quitted his job twice during his interview in the extra section on the DVD. Apart from being very amusing, it did impress me greatly. He boldly quitted this job twice to fulfill his dream to make this anime. This anime is obviously a labor of love and it showed. Unfortunately, I cannot give it 5 stars. It was good but not that good. The story is simple. It seeks to answer the question "Can love transcend distance and time?" The answer seemed trite. So how does focusing on "I am here" going to help anything? The story did touch me greatly, in part due to the excellent voice acting of Cynthia Martinez. You can feel the two lovers been torn apart by war. I suppose these days there are no shortage of real life examples. The animation was good but not spectacular. Of course if you take into consideration that it was basically the work of only one person, you will be tremendously impressed. The voice acting was great. I wish Cynthia Martinez had more exposure these days. I just love her girlish little voice. Wow! The short in the extra section "She and Her Cat" was actually better than the main feature. It was whimsical and sweet. It showed the infatuation of a cat for his owner. I loved it. The interview of the director was a gem. "So I boldly quit my job!" he exclaimed. Not once, but twice! I love it! "Great movie! ... Poor Subtitles" I was entertained by this movie. I even was entertained by the She & Her Cat short. It was a great anime. It even had a very good story to it. I think this is best viewed in English actually. This is prabably the first time I've been so annoyed by the Japanese voice acting and the poor subtitling (and yes I DO own a liscenced verison). It's really short and it just had that slow feeling to it too though. "A wonderful mix of Japanese poetry and relativity..." A coworker, knowing me being a big fan of Miyazaki, recommended this one. I was very very impressed by it. The only reason I gave it 4 stars is that I think Mr. Shinkai has so much potential so I am reserving the 5 stars for his future films. As others have pointed out, it is significant that a high quality product, though short, CAN be made by one person. We are lost in a world believing that only big corporations with big funding can make good things. Producers and audience should be ashamed by all the craps churned out by Hollywood and Disney every year at costs the size of the GDP of a midsize country! It feels like a cool breeze in a summer night watching this 30 minute gem. I guess only an old culture, or people from an old culture, can appreciate the idea that people would wait for 8 years to receive a letter from loved ones. In a world where fast food and quick bucks are expected, people simply don't have patience or the sense of the dimension of "time". It is funny that though our technologies are able to shrink three spatial dimensions by moving us faster and faster, there is very little we can do with time. The scifi writers try to get around it by first inventing wrap drive, then warm holes (from Star Trek to DSP9) so everything become present and instataneous and everything can be covered in one hour, minus commercials. I think that's why the idea of this film is so refreshing. The concepts about space and time in the film are pretty correct in physics sense (warp jump is still pushing a bit far, no matter what). The school girl uniform for a space fighter is a bit odd at first, but it adds the dreaming quality in the whole thing, I think, I notice that Shinkai, being a younger anime artist, is not the greatest at portraying human movement or animals. The perception and light arrangement in his drawings of scenery and still objects are top notch, which is almost expected nowadays with all the computer programs. I look forward to seeing how he develop his style in animating human and animals, which Studio Ghibli is still the king! As I tried to say in the title, this film is a mix of Japanese poetry or sense of time/history and relativity. Most people in this country don't care for real science or history so very few people get it, let alone be able to produce things like this...