Hoshi no Koe

For context, I watched this for the first time in late 2022 and I'd already seen (and enjoyed) several other Shinkai works such as 5 Centimeters Per Second, The Garden of Words, Your Name and others. As it happens, this came before any of those, so maybe that makes my perspective a little wonky, but it certainly seems to me like this was the bedrock that Shinkai would go on to build off of with his future works.

This is, in just about every way, what one would expect from an early Shinkai film, and in fact it's the first film, minus the extremely short She ... and Her Cat, that he himself wrote. As with his other works there is a profound message about the connection between two humans who are separated by a tremendous distance in one form or another (a theme he'd go on to repeat with physical distance in 5 Centimeters Per Second, age difference in The Garden of Words and time difference in Your Name), the backgrounds and environments look stunning (especially for a twenty year old film) and the writing is deep, pure and authentic. I also thought the ending song, Through The Years and Far Away, was quite lovely.

The base premise and setting of this film had all the potential in the world, and had it been expanded upon this film had the potential to be a 9 or a 10 for me easily, but two major shortcomings cap it firmly at an 8 and prevent it from being the masterpiece that it could have been. The first is the length, which at 24 minutes is simply way, way too short to truly build up the attachment to the characters and deliver the emotional whammy it's going for. Had this been an hour and a half or something in that vicinity and he'd maintained the same depth and quality throughout, there's no doubt in my mind this would be among my favorite anime of all time. 24 minutes kills me. It gave me just a small taste of something that could have been incredible but then disallowed me from taking further sips. It's like playing a demo for a video game that absolutely blows you away and gets you beyond excited to play the full version but then being disallowed to ever actually play the full version.

The second thing that really holds this film back for me is how ugly the character models look. It's especially egregious given how good everything around them looks, but they're really, really ugly. I can't even give them a pass because it was 2002- there are several anime older than this whose characters look considerably better. I'm not sure what went wrong here, but it sticks out like a sore thumb and detracts from the final score.

If you're able to get beyond the length and the ugly characters and simply enjoy the story for what it is, there's a short but sweet treat to enjoy here. I liked it, and I'm a big Shinkai fan as a whole, but I see so much wasted potential here and I cannot help but wonder what could have been if he'd only expanded upon this premise further. As it stands, I'd recommend it to people who, like me, already know they like Shinkai's stuff. Otherwise, while I wouldn't NOT recommend it, as it's only 24 minutes of your time even if you don't end up loving it, I don't see this as essential viewing.

OBJECTIVE RATING- 7-8
PERSONAL ENJOYMENT RATING- 8

Hoshi No Koe, or Voices of a Distant Star, is an anime that will make you question whether or not you've accidentally stumbled upon a PowerPoint presentation. The story follows two lovers separated by space and time, and their attempts to stay connected through text messages and giant robot battles. Because, you know, nothing says "romance" like fighting off alien invaders.

The style of Hoshi No Koe is...well, let's just say it's not for everyone. The animation is a strange mix of 2D and 3D, with character designs that are reminiscent of a middle schooler's doodles. But hey, who needs actual artistic talent when you can ... just throw some fancy camera angles and lens flares into the mix, right?

As for the main characters, we have the angsty teenage boy who's always brooding and trying to act tough, and the girl who's...also angsty and always trying to act tough. It's like watching a live-action Twilight movie, but with giant robots and a fraction of the budget.

The music in Hoshi No Koe is actually quite good, which is a relief considering how lackluster the rest of the anime is. It's emotional and haunting, and really helps to elevate some of the more dramatic scenes.

As for my enjoyment experience, well...let's just say that Hoshi No Koe is an acquired taste. It's like eating a dish you've never tried before and not quite knowing whether you like it or not. 7.333/10, because while it's not exactly a masterpiece, it's still worth watching if you're in the mood for some bizarre, quasi-romantic robot battles.

Created/animated pretty much entirely by Shinkai. I see now that he is pretty much in charge of CoMix Wave Flims, the nepotistic self-fellation of him there makes now.
Only 2 characters with no background or character traits of any kind beyond apparently having been classmates/friends with unvoiced crushes and 1 went off to be a space mecha pilot fighting aliens in space. These noncharacters fundamentally break the entire point of the movie centered around their star-crossed nonlove story of longing because it's all about their wanting to communicate over a long distance relationship despite the difficulty of time delay, yet NEITHER EVER ACTUALLY HAS ANYTHING TO ... SAY TO THE OTHER because these are noncharacters with nothing between them nor anything themselves to talk about. And it's not as if they couldn't just send messages pre-emptively most every day for each other rather than waiting around for a reply before sending a reply like idiots because again neither ever actually has anything to say.
And I'm not even going to give consideration to the idiotic Ender's Game mecha-action joke of a background plot rammed in alongside this nonromance story.