Voices of a Distant Star (2003) Hoshi no koe (original title)

Director:

Makoto Shinkai

Writers:

Steven Foster (adaptation)
Makoto Shinkai (writer)

Release Date:

2 February 2003 (Japan)

Genre:

Animation | Short | Romance | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

A love story that transcends time and space

Plot:

The love of Japanese high school students Mikako Nagamine and Noboru Tera is tested when Mikako is sent to fight aliens in a distant universe and voice mails to and from Earth become months to years in transmission.

Plot Keywords:

Love | Text Message | True Love | Young Love | Cell Phone

Cast

Mika Shinohara	...	Mikako Nagamine (voice: Japanese version)
Cynthia Martinez	...	Mikako Nagamine (voice: English version)
Makoto Shinkai	...	Noboru Terao (original version) (voice: Japanese version)
Sumi Mutoh	...	Mikako Nagamine ('seiyuu' version) (voice: Japanese version)
Adam Conlon	...	Noboru Terao (voice: English version)
Chihiro Suzuki	...	Noboru Terao ('seiyuu' version) (voice: Japanese version)
Donna Burke	...	Operator ('seiyuu' version) (voice: Japanese version)

Directed by
Makoto Shinkai

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Steven Foster		adaptation
Makoto Shinkai		writer

Produced by
Yoshihiro Hagiwara	....	producer
John Ledford	....	executive producer (english version)
Makoto Shinkai	....	producer
Mark Williams	....	executive producer (english version)

Original Music by
Tenmon

Cinematography by
Makoto Shinkai

Film Editing by
Makoto Shinkai

Casting by
Toshiki Kameyama

Art Direction by
Makoto Shinkai

Art Department
Makoto Shinkai	....	character designer
Makoto Shinkai	....	storyboard artist

Sound Department
Steven Foster	....	adr director
Youji Nishimura	....	sound recordist
Kiyoshi Okabe	....	sound designer

Animation Department
Makoto Shinkai	....	animation director
Makoto Shinkai	....	animator

Music Department
K. Juno	....	lyrics: original song
Ai Miyoko	....	performer: original song
Tenmon	....	composer: original song

Distributors

• ADV Films (2004-2009) (USA) (DVD)
• Mangazoo
• Section 23 Films (2009) (USA) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Pastral Sound  sound effects

Also Known As:

"Hoshi no koe" - Japan (original title)

Runtime:

25 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese | English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Certification:

Australia:PG | UK:PG | USA:Unrated | New Zealand:PG | South Korea:15

Trivia:

"Hoshi no Koe" was shown for one month by small theater "Tollywood" in Shimokitazawa (a town in the west area of Tokyo), but the many people who had watched the trailer on the Web thronged there. Tollywood has only 46 seats, but 3000 or more persons watched it through the month.

Quotes:

Noboru Terao:The seasons have passed once and summer has come again. It was the winter of last year that I quit waiting for mail from Mikako.

Soundtrack:

Through the Years and Far Away (Hello Little Star)

Beauty in simplicity

What a simple concept for a film, executed so wonderfully. A teenage girl travels in space, and the only way for her to contact the boy she loves back on earth in through her cell-phone's text messaging. But as she drifts further from earth, the messages begin to take a much longer to reach him. He begins to give up on hearing from her again, and she grieves over what she is unable to tell him from this distance. However, the ending is extremely moving and uplifting, more so than I thought this 25-minute film would be.

I need not mention how this film was made, by one man on his computer. While the visuals are surprisingly good for a film made with such sparse resources, Makoto Shinkai clearly understands that storytelling is the most important part of animation, and he made a film that is more beautiful and touching than almost anything you'd see in Hollywood, and he did it on his computer, and with a run time of under a half hour. This guy is talented, and I hope to see him directing more animes in the future.

Voices of a Distant Star is a superb film by any standards, certainly a must see for anime fans.