Voices from a Distant Star
I was leaving work the other day and noticed a cool looking anime tape in the bargin bin, and decided to give it a shot and took it home. It was "Voices from a Distant Star", and I'm glad to have checked it out. While only clocking in at about 24 minutes, this animated short (rather than feature) really packs a huge emotional punch.
The story takes place over a long peroid of time due to the nature of the plot. It starts off detailing the relationship between two schoolmates, one of whom decides to join the military and pilot a mech in an intergalactic war. She is eventually shipped out for service, yet the friends keep in touch with each other despite the light years seperating them. Communication takes longer and longer as the radio signals must travel further through space, so the months turn into years as the couple relates even their most basic thoughts.
A long distance relationship is a tough subject to tackle, and with only 24 minutes to explore it, VFDS has a fast pacing. They do an excellent job of mixing just the right amount of mech action with character interatcion - most of the dialogue is revealed through the character's thoughts, so even though alone, they can still give you a glimpse of what someone is feeling. The space battles are a cross between Robotech and Silpheed: The Lost Planet (a game for the Playstation 2) - in fact I wonder if Silpheed inspired this or vice versa, there are so many similar artistic designs. The music is also used to heighten emotions as the couple grows farther apart, with haunting, sad melodies.
I'm not a very emotional person at all, but I must say VFDS, along with Grave of the Fireflys had me a little choked up. At it's heart Voices is a love story, but don't let that stop you from watching if you're not a fan of sentimental material. There is still enough sci-fi and space mech fighting to carry any anime fan through this title. I'd recommend watching this, especially as a date movie - as long as the two of you aren't parting for any length of time.
The story takes place over a long peroid of time due to the nature of the plot. It starts off detailing the relationship between two schoolmates, one of whom decides to join the military and pilot a mech in an intergalactic war. She is eventually shipped out for service, yet the friends keep in touch with each other despite the light years seperating them. Communication takes longer and longer as the radio signals must travel further through space, so the months turn into years as the couple relates even their most basic thoughts.
A long distance relationship is a tough subject to tackle, and with only 24 minutes to explore it, VFDS has a fast pacing. They do an excellent job of mixing just the right amount of mech action with character interatcion - most of the dialogue is revealed through the character's thoughts, so even though alone, they can still give you a glimpse of what someone is feeling. The space battles are a cross between Robotech and Silpheed: The Lost Planet (a game for the Playstation 2) - in fact I wonder if Silpheed inspired this or vice versa, there are so many similar artistic designs. The music is also used to heighten emotions as the couple grows farther apart, with haunting, sad melodies.
I'm not a very emotional person at all, but I must say VFDS, along with Grave of the Fireflys had me a little choked up. At it's heart Voices is a love story, but don't let that stop you from watching if you're not a fan of sentimental material. There is still enough sci-fi and space mech fighting to carry any anime fan through this title. I'd recommend watching this, especially as a date movie - as long as the two of you aren't parting for any length of time.
posted by Anonymous at 12:39 PM
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