Hoshi no Koe

For context, I watched this for the first time in late 2022 and I'd already seen (and enjoyed) several other Shinkai works such as 5 Centimeters Per Second, The Garden of Words, Your Name and others. As it happens, this came before any of those, so maybe that makes my perspective a little wonky, but it certainly seems to me like this was the bedrock that Shinkai would go on to build off of with his future works.

This is, in just about every way, what one would expect from an early Shinkai film, and in fact it's the first film, minus the extremely short She ... and Her Cat, that he himself wrote. As with his other works there is a profound message about the connection between two humans who are separated by a tremendous distance in one form or another (a theme he'd go on to repeat with physical distance in 5 Centimeters Per Second, age difference in The Garden of Words and time difference in Your Name), the backgrounds and environments look stunning (especially for a twenty year old film) and the writing is deep, pure and authentic. I also thought the ending song, Through The Years and Far Away, was quite lovely.

The base premise and setting of this film had all the potential in the world, and had it been expanded upon this film had the potential to be a 9 or a 10 for me easily, but two major shortcomings cap it firmly at an 8 and prevent it from being the masterpiece that it could have been. The first is the length, which at 24 minutes is simply way, way too short to truly build up the attachment to the characters and deliver the emotional whammy it's going for. Had this been an hour and a half or something in that vicinity and he'd maintained the same depth and quality throughout, there's no doubt in my mind this would be among my favorite anime of all time. 24 minutes kills me. It gave me just a small taste of something that could have been incredible but then disallowed me from taking further sips. It's like playing a demo for a video game that absolutely blows you away and gets you beyond excited to play the full version but then being disallowed to ever actually play the full version.

The second thing that really holds this film back for me is how ugly the character models look. It's especially egregious given how good everything around them looks, but they're really, really ugly. I can't even give them a pass because it was 2002- there are several anime older than this whose characters look considerably better. I'm not sure what went wrong here, but it sticks out like a sore thumb and detracts from the final score.

If you're able to get beyond the length and the ugly characters and simply enjoy the story for what it is, there's a short but sweet treat to enjoy here. I liked it, and I'm a big Shinkai fan as a whole, but I see so much wasted potential here and I cannot help but wonder what could have been if he'd only expanded upon this premise further. As it stands, I'd recommend it to people who, like me, already know they like Shinkai's stuff. Otherwise, while I wouldn't NOT recommend it, as it's only 24 minutes of your time even if you don't end up loving it, I don't see this as essential viewing.

OBJECTIVE RATING- 7-8
PERSONAL ENJOYMENT RATING- 8

Hoshi No Koe, or Voices of a Distant Star, is an anime that will make you question whether or not you've accidentally stumbled upon a PowerPoint presentation. The story follows two lovers separated by space and time, and their attempts to stay connected through text messages and giant robot battles. Because, you know, nothing says "romance" like fighting off alien invaders.

The style of Hoshi No Koe is...well, let's just say it's not for everyone. The animation is a strange mix of 2D and 3D, with character designs that are reminiscent of a middle schooler's doodles. But hey, who needs actual artistic talent when you can ... just throw some fancy camera angles and lens flares into the mix, right?

As for the main characters, we have the angsty teenage boy who's always brooding and trying to act tough, and the girl who's...also angsty and always trying to act tough. It's like watching a live-action Twilight movie, but with giant robots and a fraction of the budget.

The music in Hoshi No Koe is actually quite good, which is a relief considering how lackluster the rest of the anime is. It's emotional and haunting, and really helps to elevate some of the more dramatic scenes.

As for my enjoyment experience, well...let's just say that Hoshi No Koe is an acquired taste. It's like eating a dish you've never tried before and not quite knowing whether you like it or not. 7.333/10, because while it's not exactly a masterpiece, it's still worth watching if you're in the mood for some bizarre, quasi-romantic robot battles.

[Spoilers... sort of]
As someone who considers Gunbuster one of his favorite interdimentional timey-wimey emotional space operas, I was going into Voices of a Distant Star with a handful of recommendations and comparisons to the classic Gainax OVA. What I got was... ehhh. Thankfully, other than the basic concept of time distortion, the mecha setup, and the pacing issues (more on that later), Voices of a Distant Star is it's own thing, so I'm going to do my due diligence and not compare it to the Other Time Dilation Mecha Anime.

I should start off by saying that yes, it's awfully impressive that this was made on ... some dude's laptop in it's entirety - in 2002! How often do you get genuine passion projects in anime? Not very often. Mad kudos. With that being said, bad animation is bad animation and poor storytelling is poor storytelling, no matter how big or small the production is. This is the first and last time I apologize for any insensitivites about the subject.

It's a shame, because the concept of the show and how it's explained does pull at my heartstrings. It's a question that humanity doesn't currently have the technology to answer - "as time distorts, how does relationships?" - that gives off a unique combination of dread and longing.

Funny how time distortion is probably this anime's biggest problem, given it's short length. Wait I know, it was probably born out of necessity and passion, ect! And I can certainly appreciate time-limited production's incredibly tough decisions to Show, Tell, or Infer... but there's a little too much assumptions on the viewer's part to really get invested in any of the story. My entire issue with the show's story is how much it skirts by with so little - and that's basically what the Characters and Story section get into.


Characters:

The protagonists' relationship is what I would call "defaulted" - they're a guy and a girl and they're in the same class so of course they hit it off - it's an anime, don't ask why! Outside of a few scant mentions of them hanging out at convenience stores, there's not much development of their relationship. "Defaulting" assumes the viewer will be perfectly ok with this - "love is love", after all. Unfortunately, without being given a real reason to care about the relationship, all the drama involving time and distance and love come across as nothing more than waxing poetic. "I miss him" "I love him" "I want to go to the convenience store with him" is basically all you're really going to get in terms of character motivation.


Story:

The lover's method of communication - their cell phones - is a cool analogue function that is immediately understandable to the viewer. Easily the best case of inferred storytelling in the entire OVA. "Of course digital data takes a long time to get from point to point in space!"

Unfortunately, all this in service to a story that doesn't particularly go anywhere special. They eventually long for each other so much that they are able communicate across space-time because love finds a way, or something. They basically miss hanging out with each other, mostly in ways we have to infer.

And I'm sorry if I wax on, but the mecha aspects leave something to be desired. Fine, a 14-year-old is chosen to fight in some space war - that's a genre birthmark. The real make-or-break for a show like this is why? Lack of manpower? Wanting the youngest people available for a campaign that would take decades of real time service? A simple sentence - or even showing other pilots - would seriously help with worldbuilding.


Art:

Alright, bear with me guys. I think we can at least agree the art is sorta bad, although easily the easiest thing to overlook in this production.


Let's start with a semi-nitpicky complaint - why is Nagamine wearing a school uniform in her mecha suit?


The character designs suffer from frame inconsistency to the point that it's distracting. You know how it goes - facial features go up, down and sideways depending on the perspective.


The mecha and enemy designs are basic 3D models with some sheen added. Strangely nostalgic, as a 2000's kid used to this era of CGI.


Conclusion:

Voices of a Distant Star has a cool concept and an impressive production background. Even with it's limitations in mind, it simply fails to tell a comparatively compelling story to more fleshed out shows, OVAs, and movies, and that's probably the one thing that's universally important for any story-based medium. I don't hesitate to recommend this to people if they want to see what a truly "indie" anime looks like, but outside that, it's all empty space.