It's hard to believe that something like Voices of a Distant Star, or Hoshi no Koe, could have been created almost entirely by one man on a macintosh computer, but it's actually true. In fact, the only thing that Shinkai Makoto (the creator) didn't do was the voices and the music. The first time I watched this, I could have sworn that it was a professionally produced anime.

The first thing that made my jaw drop was the sheer amount of detail in the artwork. Yes, the character designs were a little... awkward, but everything else was easily just as detailed as a film by Studio Ghibli. The mechs, which were done with CGI a-la Vandread, are incredibly detailed as well. However, just like in Vandread, CGI mechs are just seem so strange.

Enough with the technical stuff, let's get on to the story. For an anime that's only a little over 24 minutes long, there is so much information and so many events occuring that it may actually make your head explode. Due to its short length, there seems to be a bit of a pacing problem. It all flows very slowly in the beginning and in the middle, but then it goes into light speed by the end. However, in a story like this, it's not really the ending that matters as much as how the characters get there.

I really loved how the story flowed in Voices of a Distant Star. It is done mainly by watching the two main characters, Mikako and Noboru, sending each other text messages. As Mikako travels further and further away from Earth in search of the Tarsians, it takes longer and longer for her messages to reach Noboru. The whole experience of watching the two lovers in their strife of being unable to talk to each other - to express their feelings with each other - in any way other than text messages which may take years to reach their destinations.

I know it's nitpicking, but something really bothered me while I was watching this: why is it that even after lots of training and doing missions in outer space, Mikako was still piloting a mech in her school uniform. Did the military run out of their own uniforms to give to soldiers? What I really liked, though, was simply the fact that it was Mikako that was piloting the mech instead of Noboru. It was just a different change of pace from the usual.

The ending really bothered me at first, but after watching it a couple of times it really started to grow on me as I understood it more. It took a lot of work for me to form my own conclusion of what happens in the end, especially about what happened to Mikako. Then, I happened to come across a summary for the novel and found out that there was actually an ending that just didn't make it into the anime. However, I still had a nice time thinking about it, and I thoroughly enjoyed watching Voices of a Distant Star. I'm sure you will too.