Hoshi no Koe (Voices of a Distant Star)

It is the year 2046, Noboru Terao and Mikako Nagamine are close friends who will soon be graduating junior high school. But after an alien attack on humanity, Mikako is selected for the UN military space expedition set to retaliate against the aliens. Separated, Noboru and Mikako attempt to keep in touch by sending emails to each other with their cell phones. Yet as the expedition journeys farther from Earth, the time it takes for them to transmit and receive each other's messages increases substantially.

Hoshi no Koe revolves around the relationship between this couple as they try to stay connected despite the growing distance between them.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Edit

Background

Winner of the 2003 Seiun Award for Best Dramatic Presentation.

Episode Videos

Episode 1

Edit

Related Anime

Adaptation:

Hoshi no Koe, Hoshi no Koe: The Voices of a Distant Star

More characters

Characters & Voice Actors

Nagamine, Mikako

Main

Mutou, Sumi
Japanese

Terao, Noboru

Main

Suzuki, Chihiro
Japanese

Staff

Shinkai, Makoto

Producer, Director, Script, Character Design, Executive Producer, Animation Director

Tenmon

Theme Song Composition, Theme Song Arrangement, Music

Foster, Steven

ADR Director

Latino, Maurice

ADR Director

Edit

Opening Theme

No opening themes have been added to this title. Help improve our database by adding an opening theme here.

Edit

Ending Theme

"Through The Years And Far Away" by Low

More reviews

Reviews

Jun 1, 2007

Stormy_77

Recommended

Another hidden gem gets reviewed.

I randomly picked this DVD up at Blockbuster's Anime section and expected nothing much from it and 25 minutes later I was ...... !!!!!! The next day I told 10 people about this movie. That's how much it *got* to me.

Hoshi no Koe ~The Voices of a Distant Star~, is essentially a story of a long distance love and mail messages between a boy and girl. The movie is really short, but in that time you discover that the two of them are friends, the girl is sent out with space forces, but they "text" each other. As time passes (on ...

Open

Aug 12, 2010

Shuu-chan

Not Recommended

After watching the amazing 5 Centimeters Per Second, I figure I owed it to myself to watch Shinkai Makoto's first work Voices of a Distant Star. Reviews praised it and I assumed that it must be good. Well you know what they say about assuming.

Story:
Right off the bat I was unsure about the story. I liked the concept of love separated by distance as it worked quite well in 5cm Per Second, but the idea of lagging text messages is just ludicrous. You'd think that in the year 2046 we'd have invented a more effective form of communication, but I guess Shinkai Makoto didn't think ... so. Also look at the phones! No effort was made to even design phones that even had a hint of futuristic technology. Oh yeah, they could invent gigantic, space traveling, mechas, but more advanced forms of mobile communication devices are out of the equation! Moving on, the story gets no better from beginning to end and nothing is resolved. Practically no attempt is made to even strengthen the audience's true understanding of the connection that Nagamine and Noboru share. They just sort of tell you that they like each other and expect that to mean something. The years fly by without any coherent sense of meaning and the progression of time ends up not feeling quite right. Things don't change drastically enough for Noboru or Nagamine for me to even care. The story is just a mess. A pretentious, self-indulgent, mess. 5/10

Art:
First impression was a mixture of confusion and disgust. The characters are HORRIBLY designed. From scene to scene, depending on the angle, they look so different that I sometimes couldn't realize if they were one of the leads or a new character. Proportions were also SO off at angles that I had to really try to resist the urge to punch the screen out of anger. Emotions don't quite come across as clearly as I would expect which just compounds with all the other flaws making this OVA nearly unwatchable. The space battle scenes actually stand out as the best art in the OVA, but the doesn't mean anything. The mecha designs and animation is average and uninspired. Yawn. 3/10

Sound:
The sound in this also blows my mind at just how horrible it is. You know how bad the music is? So bad I can't even remember what it sounded like. I can't even remember what if there WAS music in this! And the seiyuu are as lacking in emotion as the Twilight movie actors. The sound effects in the space battle scenes are average, just what you'd expect for that kind of thing, so they leave no impression whatsoever. 3/10

Characters:
There were characters? Really? I just thought there were talking slabs of painted wood. Not that they had much to say. The characters are just so lacking in any relatable emotion since the OVA didn't spend enough time establishing the nature of Nagamine and Noboru's relationship to make the audience give a car that they are separate. I'd like to see what exactly they love about each other. Noboru is a distant, blank, emotionless guy and Nagamine is a clingy, whiny, child. Neither are developed and both are just without any sort of distinguishing personality. And the whole lack of ANY other characters just blows my mind. Really. 2/10

Overall:
5 Centimeters Per Second is, to this day, one of my favorite anime movie/OVAs of all time and I think, since it came after this abysmal pile of filth, that Shinkai Makoto is a very talented man. He knows how to establish atmosphere and characters, situations and emotions that you can relate to. He brought none of his skills in these areas to this OVA. Flat characters, a ridiculous premise, emotionless seiyuu and horrible art all make this one of the WORST anime ANYTHINGS I've ever seen. I will never understand how so many people could enjoy this trash, but they can if they want. I do not suggest watching this. Save your time for Shinkai Makoto's other works as they are worth the investment. 4/10

Open

Apr 20, 2015

milnivek

Recommended

I first watched this movie in 2004 in university and remember being blown away by the sheer depth of emotions and feelings that this short film manages to convey in the time that the typical shounen anime may have managed to advance the plot by about 2 screams, a power-up and a fireball.

Coming back to this film over 10 years later, I was apprehensive at how my memories of the film would hold up to a rewatch by my older, cynical, 30-something self.

The art is pretty mediocre especially given the advances in animation in the past decade. The faces especially tend to be distorted and ...

Open

More stacks

Interest Stacks

Short Anime

by MITB

12 Entries · 19 Restacks

Sublime and Poetical Anime

by Mur-CuoreDiVirgo

20 Entries · 17 Restacks

Sad Series to Torture Yourself With

by Ohana7676

42 Entries · 42 Restacks

More recommendations

Recommendations

View All

More news

Recent News

Q1 2022 Anime & Manga Licenses [Update 3/18]

In this thread, you'll find a comprehensive list of anime and manga licensed in the first quarter (Jan-Mar) of 2022. Winter 2022 anime which were licensed befor...read more

Dec 29, 2021 1:20 PM by Snow | Discuss (26 comments)

Shinkai Makoto Comes Back Home From One Year Stay in London [Updated]

According to the official website, Shinkai Makoto came back to Japan this month. He had been in London since February 2008 and not been working on anime movie produc...read more

Apr 29, 2009 8:37 AM by dtshyk | Discuss (26 comments)

More discussions

Recent Forum Discussion

Poll: Hoshi no Koe Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ) then - Aug 16, 2008	201 replies	by Zoopiez »» Aug 11, 3:13 PM
Where to watch this MoustacheDino - Nov 7, 2021	3 replies	by Knight-Ender »» Nov 7, 2021 3:52 PM
Anime or manga? FurySlasher - Oct 27, 2021	3 replies	by TranHieu120102 »» Nov 1, 2021 5:45 PM
Would be great if they remade this. TheMasterSword - Apr 8, 2020	3 replies	by removed-user »» Jan 21, 2021 6:16 AM
If someone really looks here, a question about the ending dadnaya - Jul 28, 2015	9 replies	by the7thfloor »» Jan 26, 2020 11:49 AM

Recent Featured Articles

Is Makoto Shinkai's Tenki no Ko "The Next Kimi no Na wa."?

There's been a ton of hype surrounding Makoto Shinkai's latest film after the success of Kimi no Na wa., but it's not quite what everyone's been expecting it to be.

by Shymander

95,082 views

Spoiler

A Look At Makoto Shinkai's Style And Themes

Makoto Shinkai has made several feature films and short over the years, but the emotional core and visual style of his films has stayed the same.

by MAL_Articles

38,030 views

Hoshi no Koe

Alternative Titles

Information

Statistics

External Links

Streaming Platforms

Synopsis

Background

Episode Videos

Visit MALxJapan
MALxJapan -More than just anime-

Related Anime

Characters & Voice Actors

Nagamine, Mikako

Terao, Noboru

Staff

Opening Theme

Ending Theme

Reviews

Interest Stacks

Recommendations

Recent News

Recent Forum Discussion

Recent Featured Articles

MoreTop Anime

MoreTop Airing Anime

MoreMost Popular Characters

Hoshi no Koe

Alternative Titles

Information

Statistics

External Links

Streaming Platforms

Synopsis

Background

Episode Videos

Visit MALxJapan MALxJapan -More than just anime-

Related Anime

Characters & Voice Actors

Nagamine, Mikako

Terao, Noboru

Staff

Opening Theme

Ending Theme

Reviews

Interest Stacks

Recommendations

Recent News

Recent Forum Discussion

Recent Featured Articles

MoreTop Anime

MoreTop Airing Anime

MoreMost Popular Characters

Welcome!

Free Sign Up with

Visit MALxJapan
MALxJapan -More than just anime-