Price: $89.98 as of 11/23/2009 23:32 EST
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: Unrated
Binding: DVD
Brand: ADV Films
EAN: 0702727038624
Format: Animated, Color, DVD, NTSC
Label: Adv Films
Languages: JapaneseOriginal LanguageEnglishOriginal Language
Manufacturer: Adv Films
MPN: ADNDVD001D
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Adv Films
Region Code: 1
Release Date: June 10, 2003
Running Time: 25 minutes
Studio: Adv Films
Theatrical Release Date: 2002
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
Studio: Adv Films Release Date: 06/10/2003 Run time: 30 minutes
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
Average Rating: 
Rating:  -
I was extremely disappointed with this movie. The story was a couple of people in a high tech world who for some reason had cell phones from 1999. They were in love but separated so they text eachother then sat around depressed waiting for eachothers text messages. This movie was the longest 30mins of my life. Seriously this was one of the worst movies I've seen in awhile. I highly do not recommend watching this film.Voices of a Distant Star
Rating:  -
So often I am disappointed by anime - the vast potential wasted on mindless battle sequences or cheesy sexual inuendos.
Every so often, I am inspired. This film is extraordinary - beautiful, touching, and all made by ONE person.
My only complaint is that there is not enough of it. The premise of this aging love affair could have gone so much further and we could have seen her return when he is an old man and she still young. But, that's not to detract from what this piece is, only to say that I was intrigued enough to want to experience more.
Rating: -
As usual, not only am I late for the party, but when I do arrive I walk in a** backwards. Such is the case of my personal discovery of director Makoto Shinkai. The first movie of his that I saw was 5 Centimeter per Second, which despite its sincerity was much too sappy for my taste. Yet, Shinkai's artwork was compelling enough to take a stab at Voice of a Distant Star, which came highly recommended by a friend -- four years ago. I'm not kidding. It was that long ago, and I finally got around to seeing it.
Never has the expression "better late then never" been so appropriate. No matter how long you wait, you really shouldn't let this one slip past you. In fact, see it before you see 5 Centimeters, which was produced after Distant Star. Now that I've seen the latter, I better appreciate many of the visual elements of the former. Distant Star hasn't changed my opinion about 5 Centimeters, but it does soften it.
The story of Distant Star is remarkably simple and brilliantly original. A teenage girl, Mikako Nagamine, goes into deep space with the United Nations army. She leaves behind her boyfriend, Noboru Terao. For reasons that probably has something to do with the Space-Time in Einstein's General Relativity and the Black Holes of Stephen Hawkings, Mikako doesn't age as she travels into ever more distant galaxies. She attempts to stay in touch with Noboru by sending emails through her cell phone. But the further she travels, the longer it takes for the messages to reach him -- eventually as long as 8 years.
Unlike Mikako, Noboru ages while he suffers the long lapses between messages from his lost love. First months go by between messages. Next years. Eventually, he must move on.
Unlike 5 Centimeters, where the narrative is overloaded with exposition, with Distant Star the poignancy of the characters is never explained away. It's left exactly where it is supposed to be -- in the painful body language of the characters. Occasionally, the emails sent to Noboru are read to us by Mikako's voice, but here it is well done. The messages do not come off as bad poetry, but instead the true anxiety of a young girl who knows that she may never see her boyfriend again. The ending of Distant Star is by far one of the most memorable I have ever seen -- and possibly even the best, or at least, among the best.
5 Centimeters relives this theme of early separation, and many of the visual motifs that were used in Distant Star are revisited in 5 Centimeters. I can now see that Makoto Shinkai has very early on discovered for himself both a directing style and tonality that warrants him being called a master. More astonishing than anything else is that Distant Star was done entirely by Shinkai on his desktop computer. If the budget technology shows in the first few minutes, it disappears soon after as you are lost in a compelling story and graphical execution that still holds up to our standards 5 years later. The scene of Mikako on a planet in the Sirius star system rivals the lush work of Miyazaki. Believe me, that's saying something.
At only 30 minutes, there are few reasons to not see this anime short. Even if cartoons aren't your cup of tea, you may find Distant Star to be the rare exception.
Rating:  -
I thought this movie was alright. It was a bit sad and it was interesting and well done but I didn't like it all that much. I saw 5 centimeters per second before seeing this movie and I liked 5 centimeters per second much much better. Not bad to check out but I think you can expect better from Shinkai's later releases.
Rating: -
"Voices of a Distant Star" is like a great short story. Clocking in at under 30 minutes, it manages to hit emotional heartstrings more powerfully than some longer movies can.
The story takes place after an alien race called Tarsians have started attacking the human race, starting with an attack on the moon. Mikako, a teenage girl, has joined the fight as a pilot. With her cell phone, she periodically sends text updates to Noboru, a boy she knew from school back on earth. But, as her mission takes her farther and farther from earth, those messages take longer and longer to reach him, and as he begins to receive messages from a Mikako who hasn't aged as much as he, their longing for each other grows, as they remember a simpler time together.
Like all great stories, this movie focuses on its characters and their emotions, deftly mixing in battle sequences with heart-to-hearts. I also liked the added scientific dimension of text messages taking longer and longer to reach their destination the farther out in space Mikako goes. This movie utilizes that fact to emphasize how vast the physical distance is between the two of them, and yet the farther apart they become spatially, the closer together they become emotionally, driving the story towards its emotional and poignant climax.
As for the visuals, they are beautiful, but many of them also serve to create a mood, whether it's rain that drives Mikako and Noboru to shelter, or the light snow that falls while Noboru receives one of Mikako's messages.
My only complaints with the movie have to do with the dubbing and the subtitles. Other discs give the option of removing subtitles from the screen: why ADV did not do that for this release is puzzling, especially for people who want to hear the Japanese without subtitles cluttering the screen. Also, why subtitle the song? It's in English, and the lyrics are included with the DVD.
As for dubbing, the opening sentences don't match the meaning of the opening Japanese sentences as closely as the subtitles do, and since there isn't any mouth to match the words to in the beginning of the movie, why use different words with a completely different meaning? Also, why does the voice actor doing Mikako's voice have an accent? Did I miss a country dialect in the Japanese version?
Translation issues aside, this is one of the best movies I have ever seen, animated or otherwise. And, because it's so short, you can watch and enjoy it again and again. Also comes with bonus features, including "She and Her Cat" in three versions of differing length, which was the previous short film done by the creator of this movie.
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