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Voices of a Distant Star
Voices of a Distant Star
2003
Romance
Sci-fi
Short Film
25m
The story of the high school students Mikako Nagamine and Noboru Terao. When the alien Tarsians attack, Mikako volunteers to be a pilot in the space force that will protect mankind. The lovers try to remain in contact using cellular telephone text messages, but as each battle takes Mikako further from the Earth, each message takes longer to arrive. Will their love stand the tests of time and distance? (imdb)
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Voices of a Distant Star
2003
Romance
Sci-fi
Short Film
25m
Your probable score
Avg Percentile 51.65% from 386 total ratings
Ratings & Reviews
(386)
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Rated 02 May 2023
92
84th
For an animated short film made by one guy on his PC in the early '00s, this is pretty amazing. You can nitpick if you care to (why the schoolgirl outfit?), but the central concept and emotional payoff are great. Well worth seeing, especially for fans of Shinkai's later work like Your Name.
Rated 02 May 2023
Rated 06 May 2012
72
41st
So mankind builds a handful of giant robot space ships to be piloted by the best pilots on the planet, and of course they choose a teenage girl who spends her time--which is supposed to be saving the world--texting. Figures.
Rated 06 May 2012
Rated 30 Sep 2009
80
68th
A truly strange movie, and I mean that in the nicest of ways. I ought to be old enough to be immune to this sort of teen-romance stuff, but this actually works. Hell, romances, teen and otherwise, in real life are usually quite strange as well
Rated 30 Sep 2009
Rated 20 Jul 2009
3
74th
Coated from head to toe in a melancholic sentimentality, the premise of this short is a really interesting one. Gets extra points for being created entirely by one person. I can definitely see why some wouldn't like this, but I did, so it gets my recommendation--just make sure you watch it subtitled.
Rated 20 Jul 2009
Rated 14 Jun 2012
65
77th
I found its premise and animation (especially the wonders of space) to be stunningly beautiful, even if it has some flaws in its characterization or logic.
Rated 14 Jun 2012
Rated 05 Sep 2017
82
77th
I found this quite moving and beautiful. While there are some flaws in the time/distance business, they don't take away from the story. It is a clever and appropriate premise. It's kinda funny that they are still using basic pixelly cell phones in a future that has mechs and moving newspaper pictures, but I found the anachronism charming.
Rated 05 Sep 2017
Rated 10 Aug 2009
79
64th
Beautiful in every sense of the word. A romance that explores the relationship of two lovers as the distance between them is grows so great time itself begins to separate them. The cell phone dynamic introduces an element that fits suprisingly well. Very good.
Rated 10 Aug 2009
Rated 20 Jul 2013
68
54th
The character models are fucking atrocious, but the rest of the animation is wonderful as is expected of Mokoto Shinkai. I really like the concept of this story and I am always a firm believer that Mokoto's work functions at a greater level in a short story format. Fortunately, the concept and the subtle melodrama work in this film, unlike the majority of his films. Conversely, I don't feel as though the mech/action story blends in well with the romance and left me feeling a little conflicted.
Rated 20 Jul 2013
Rated 05 Oct 2010
2
16th
Mech battles and romance are not a great mix.
Rated 05 Oct 2010
Rated 28 Jan 2012
69
63rd
I liked the variety of images. The visuals were pretty well done for a single man, but the romantic story did not impress that much. And the facial animation was not that successful.
Rated 28 Jan 2012
Rated 30 Jun 2014
65
35th
It looks absolutely beautiful (forgiving the character models), and to think that a single man animated this on his own is just incredible, but I can't get over this feeling that its characters are being hopelessly naive. Also I did have some problems with the logic, or lack thereof, of the film and the cynical bit of me is wondering quite whether combining a nostalgic love story with crazy spacebound robot battles could possibly be a good idea in the slightest. Still, enjoyable.
Rated 30 Jun 2014
Rated 18 Aug 2014
40
31st
Horribly insubstantial on its own terms, but it seems to be a reaction to other contemporary works. Given the year, I wouldn't be surprised if it was conceived as a more positive existential approach in the wake of subpar Evangelion clones. The animation is impressive for one person, yet horribly unappealing by any metric of artistry. Shinkai's fascination with love and time is interesting, especially given his medium, but most everything here was bettered in 5 Centimeters Per Second.
Rated 18 Aug 2014
Rated 03 Aug 2023
75
38th
Great concept. Had a poor quality version and so the subtitles were a little too much (pages flashed on the screen for like 5 seconds then gone). It was a little too "anime-y" if you get my drift for such a serious concept and it had a lot of well intentioned ideas that were crammed into essentially a 30 minute short film. Worth the watch, especially if you want to see Shinkai's development
Rated 03 Aug 2023
Rated 29 Jun 2020
62
31st
Considering Voices of a Distant Star is a short, it can be forgiven for having characters that lack depth, and a story that is more conceptual than it is developed. I liked the idea of a (really) long-distance relationship sustained over time and space, but the characters and voice-acting felt so mopey. The music was nice though.
Rated 29 Jun 2020
Rated 20 Oct 2009
60
50th
Sappy, soapy drama disguised as anime. Overrated.
Rated 20 Oct 2009
Rated 03 Feb 2011
35
13th
Why in the world is she wearing a schoolgirl outfit inside that giant mecha?
Rated 03 Feb 2011
Rated 25 Oct 2009
58
55th
Completely overshadowed by 5 Centimeters per Second.
Rated 25 Oct 2009
Rated 31 Jan 2010
50
23rd
Watching this again, it still does not live up to the praise it deserves. Yes, it does look beautiful at times, and that the director made this by himself and was employed in the anime industry because of it deserves praise, but it is an extremely flawed early work, honing out some of the ideas he would continue in other films, but nowhere near his potential best.
Rated 31 Jan 2010
Rated 25 Sep 2012
60
31st
There's a really good dramatic story in there somewhere, but it's really difficult to get deeply invested in anything under 30 minutes long. Honestly one of the biggest things that carries it is the background music. That's probably what generates at least 75% of the story's emotion.
Rated 25 Sep 2012
Rated 23 Jun 2009
43
29th
Impressive, for the one man's work. Makoto Shinkai is great at drawing backgrounds, but character design is rough. There's almost no story, more exploration of the emotions in the long distance relationship. But the whole sub-plot with underteen girl - mecha pilot fighting in the intergalactic war distracted me from any emotional impact it might have had.
Rated 23 Jun 2009
Rated 26 Oct 2015
48
3rd
The logistics are whack, the character animation is plain bad, and the story isn't enough to make up for it. The backgrounds are pretty, though. And as impressive as it seems for one person to have made this, lots of anime have episodes primarily animated by one person, and this doesn't have that much animation to speak of anyway.
Rated 26 Oct 2015
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