DVD Review - Voices of a Distant Star

Definitely a very different type of mecha piece - and sadly just a one-off 25 min OVA project.....But ohhhhhh, what a project it was!

With technology being what it is today, a solo anime project may not be quite the extreme oddity - but in 2003....That's right, I'm talking about Makoto Shinkai's "Voices of a Distant Star."

I've gotta tell you - for all the young millennial whippersnappers out there - when we heard that a guy, working alone at home had put together a full, original anime on his mac (a mecha anime no less) - our minds were pretty much blown.  And even more so when we finally saw it.  I was just out of college when I first heard about it (it had just come out), but still working at the campus computer store where - you guessed it - it was a non-stop PC/Mac rivalry among the employees.  And when I finally saw it - it didn't disappoint at all.

Now, coming at it almost 12 years later - I honestly haven't heard of, or come across anything that yet matches this technical achievement (although I am meaning to get around to checking out the first real crowdfunded anime - that I'm aware of - Little Witch Academia).

But to get back to VoaDS - Makoto has followed it up with a number of larger projects, several of which I've enjoyed watching as well - specifically "5cm per second" and "Children who Chase Lost Voices from Deep Below".  Mentally, I always kinda link him with Kerry Conran, whose homemade tech demo lead to him directing "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow."  Of course, unlike Conran, Makoto's had a bit more of a career following his solo project (not to mention his pre-VoaDS jobs).

But to get back to the review.  While the mechs are integral to the film here, it's not really a movie about mechs.  They serve the plot and advance the plot - the action is thrilling (if brief) and well shot - but there's not too much to go into.  The real meat and potatoes is focused around the characters of Noboru and Mikako (originally voiced by Makoto and his wife respectively) - and how they attempt to deal with what is far and away the craziest long-distance relationship imaginable.

I mean sure, we expect a few seconds lag between text messages - even on a good day - and obviously radio transmissions lag by minutes when calling to the moon or Mars - but a year...8 years between messages.  The pain at lost opportunities is almost palpable - brought to a head by a near total absence of any other physical characters portrayed in the story on either end of the communication.  Imagine being completely alone with your only contact 8 years away - and hoping there's still someone alive to receive your message when it arrives (admittedly a theme handled well in last year's "Interstellar").

So - on the whole - this is most definitely worth checking out - if you can still find it.  I have my DVD from 10 years ago - but it appears to be out of print these days (it might be available in an anthology or import collection though).  Watching it now, you can see some of the simpler animations - and knowing more about some CGI, I can recognize some techniques and other editing features that most AMV folks probably take for granted these days - but when this came out - take my word for it - our jaws were on the floor.