Voices of a Distant Star is proof that "artistic" and "good" are not synonymous. Being artistic can be great, but even at its greatest, it is only a flavoring particle, an enhancement. It cannot be the basis of a work of storytelling. Take Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo, for instance. An incredible show, and very artistic. The use of coloring and texturing made every frame a piece of mouthwatering eye-candy. The way the story is told, the use of juxtaposition and scaling, the fascinating "imaginary" camera moves, it was art in motion. However, you could easily take all of that out of the show and it would not be much different. It would still be just as wonderful an experience because the story is so strong and is told with such care and tact that the artistic elements are almost negligible in the grand scheme of things.
If you were to take all of the artistic elements out of Voices of a Distant Star, you would not be left with very much. In fact, you would be left with virtually nothing. I am not sure about you, but I sure as hell know that if a work of narrative storytelling can be reduced to an insignificant speck at the removal of one element, it probably was not all that great to begin with.
Voices of a Distant Star is the story of two star-crossed lovers, Mikako Nagamine and Naboru Terao. The high school sweethearts enjoy their time together until Mikako is selected by the U.N. to join the crew of an interstellar warship called the Lysithea, to do battle against the mysterious alien race known as the Tarsians. For all its acclaim at originality, Voices of a Distant Star has the typical mecha set-up. Military organizations always search for ace pilots in Japanese high schools, because when the fate of the world and all 6 billion people on it is at risk, there is no better way to defend us than to give a sensitive, hormonal, emotional, unreliable 14-17-year old highschooler a giant robot that can destroy a city in the blink of an eye.
Okay, so even though this mecha aspect feels thrown in simply for the sake of drawing mecha fans to a type of OVA they would otherwise never watch, my many years of dealing with the mecha genre of anime and its often ridiculous setups can allow me to get past this. What I can not get past, however, is Voices of a Distant Star's obscurity and resounding sense of self-importance. In this excruciatingly short 25 minutes, a great deal of time is spent with still frames with flowing, narrative dialog unrelated to what we see in the frames. This is a juvenile presentation method typical of a high school or college student, always seeking to be as poignant as possible without considering how silly it all sounds. The sad thing is that Makoto Shinkai was almost thirty when he penned this script.
So Mikako goes off with the Lysithea and they jump into hyperspace. Her only contacts with Naboru are text messages sent via cell phone. Unfortunately, her travels now represent a dilemma. As the Lysithea travels further and further away from Earth, time dilation begins to take effect and the delay between Mikako and Naboru's text messages begins to grow, to the point where Mikako's last message takes 8 years to reach Naboru. As Mikako, remaining 15 years old, fights the Tarsians on their home world 8 light years away, Naboru, now 24, waits patiently for Mikako to return.
It is not a bad concept, really. However, 14 years prior, a little OVA called Gunbuster did this same thing, and it was also much more exciting, meatier, and less artistically bloated. In essence, Voices of a Distant Star is a highly condensed, pretentious version of Gunbuster. The only major differences being visual in nature, and that brings us to the OVA's animation and artwork.
At first, I thought Voices of a Distant Star looked amazing. The art style is extremely detailed, and shows an interesting emphasis on the environments rather than the characters in them. The characters, however, are a bit of a problem. I am not sure what it is, but Naboru and especially Mikako look really ugly, and their facial features are occasionally out of proportion, rendering a fairly cringe-worthy effect. Another big problem is the mecha Mikako pilots. Rather than sensibly using 2D animation, the mecha (and also the Tarsians) are rendered in really low-budget CG. These things are pretty damn laughable, looking like something out of an ancient Playstation game. I do not really have a bias against using 3D models in anime, but if you are unable to make it look good, do not bother trying. Sticking to 2D was the obvious way to go here.
So in the end, what is presented and often heralded as a masterpiece is merely a paper-thin, haughty adaptation of a timeless classic. Do not be deceived by all the flashy bells and whistles designed to fool you into thinking you are experiencing something deep. Voices of a Distant Star is short, obscure, and occasionally ugly. If you are curious about this OVA, do yourself a favor and watch Gunbuster instead. And if you have already seen Gunbuster, you have no reason to see this. That is all.
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