Voices of a Distant Star
Voices of a Distant Star, short… but sweet. As a one off OVA by acclaimed director Shinkai Makoto it comes with a rather impressive pedigree, but I feel like it never really got moving. The story tells of a young boy and girl who are separated by an intergalactic war. Sounds excellent, but it never really gives you a sense of why they are fighting or even who they are fighting. If the story was more fleshed out and placed in a movie format I feel that this would have been a real winner. It isn’t bad as it is, but it could have been a lot more.
The animation and art direction are where Voices of a Distant Star really stand apart. In every scene the smallest details are animated perfectly and realistically. The CG mechs are very well done, especially considering this was produced six years ago. The backdrops and the sky in particular are always top notch and very well drawn. Top marks all round. The character models were a little goofy looking, but it wasn’t enough to bother me to any extent.
The music and sounds really give a sense of distance. It’s an odd way of describing it, but the music really gives scale to the battles and makes you feel like something epic is taking place. If I had a complaint about the sounds it would be the voice acting. It wasn’t poorly done, but it could have been better. When the girl was getting emotional and crying, I just wasn’t feeling it.
The characters, Mikato and Noboru, are the only characters in the story. As it is only a one episode OVA there isn’t a chance to see any back story or flesh out the story any way. In the time provided it was mostly focused on their desire to be together and how much they loved each other. They have no personality at all and are very one dimensional. Get over it.
I was expecting a lot better out of this OVA, but it is a nice quick watch none the less. As a movie I think this would have been much better and would be placed up with other top notch movies. As it is though there isn’t enough time to get a sense of what is going on or even care. Still worth watching though.
