Voices of a Distant Star
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Voices of a Distant Star (ほしのこえ, Hoshi no Koe; translation: "Voice(s) of a Star/Voice(s) of Stars") is a 30-minute Japanese anime OAV conceived, directed, and animated by one man, Makoto Shinkai. It chronicles the emotional story of very-long-distance relationship between a girl Mikako and a boy Noboru when Mikako is sent to space and her cell phone text messages take increasingly long to reach Earth.
Hoshi no Koe is perhaps most noteworthy because it was created almost entirely by Makoto alone. Makoto's various roles included writing, storyboarding, and directing his story; also animation, as he created all the digital imagery on his home Macintosh computer. Indeed, Makoto even performed voice acting, using his own voice and his fiancée's for his working dub. (A second Japanese dub was later created for the DVD release with professional voice actors.) Makoto did not, however, compose music for his anime — that responsibility was given to composer friend Tenmon, who had worked with Makoto at his video game company. Shinkai and Tenmon had worked together in the making of Kumo no Mukou Yakusoku no Basho (The Place Promised In Our Early Days) and Kanojo to Kanojo no Neko.
In July 2002, ADV Films announced that they had licensed Hoshi no Koe for U.S. distribution and would release the 30-minute short as "Voices of a Distant Star." The finished DVD premiered in May 2003 at Project A-Kon in Dallas, Texas.
Plot summary
In Hoshi no Koe, the U.N. Army is recruiting crew in their battle against the Tarsians, a race of aliens. Middle school student Noboru is on the fringe of the battle because his nearly-girlfriend Nagamine Mikako, whom he hoped to attend high school with, has been chosen as a Special Agent by the U.N. Space Force to pilot a giant mecha as part of the crew of the Lysisthea, one of the space force's battleships. The ship launches with Mikako onboard, and as the army pursues and retreats from the Tarsians farther and farther into deep space, the cell phone text messages that are Mikako's only way to reach Noboru take incresingly long to reach Earth. Voices focuses on the bond between the two throughout their very-long-distance relationship, rather than on the space battles that Mikako must fight. It follows Mikako's journey and Noboru's life as he grows up apart from her.
The emotional power of the film is amplified by it becoming increasingly clear to the viewer and Noboru that Mikako will not return from space, because her fleet would have jumped through space back to the Earth by the time Noboru receives messages eight years late. The movie concludes with Mikako, making her last stand defending her flagship, and Noboru, gazing out over the city from his apartment on Earth, each expressing the same thought: "You know, Noboru ... we are very far apart…" "… but it might be that thoughts can overcome time and distance. What would Mikako think?"
It should be noted that the above is only one interpretation of the ending. Other versions, including the storylines in the associated manga and novel, have contended that Mikako's spacecraft warped a distance of more than 8 lightyears from Earth, thus causing the eight year transmission time of the final message. It is implied that Mikako did indeed survive the final battle along with elements of her fleet, but would have to make their way back to Earth through slower means due to the loss of their warp engines. In addition, if one were to take relativistic effects such as time dilation into account, by the time of her arrival back to Earth, Mikako would be much younger than Noboru since less time will have passed in her reference frame.
External links
- Official English web site (http://www.advfilms.com/favorites/voices/)
- Official Japanese web site (http://www.HoshinoKoe.com/)
- Makoto Shinkai Fan Web (http://daike.hp.infoseek.co.jp/index.html)es:Hoshi no Koe