I feel like this is another one of those under-appreciated things. It's also not in my usual genre, despite seeming to be exactly in my genre.
Anyways, enough of this, let's get right to the nitty gritty, shall we?
I honestly can't remember how I came to watch Voices of a Distant Star, or what drew me to it in the first place. It must have been sometime after I finished high school, that's all I can recall. As I mentioned in my last post, romance is not exactly my most favored of genres, due to being incredibly formulaic, and tending to fall flat unless it's done right.
Well, if you have never seen Voices of a Distant Star, go watch it. It's only 25 minutes long. You can spare a half hour, I'm sure. It's amazing, and here's why:
The entire thing short of the voice acting was done by one man.
You read that right. The artwork seems kind of meh, until you realize that one dude created the entire. F***ing. Thing. By himself. In about nine months time. That is impressive work for one person. Once you have this in mind, suddenly the art direction doesn't seem so bad, because this isn't a team of industry vets coming together to work on the same project. This is one man's vision from start to finish with no go-betweens to get in the way.
But that's not what makes this piece so goddamned brilliant. It's the story itself. In a brilliant twist, this isn't merely a romance story - it's a science fiction story through and through. Sure, it's got giant robots, and space ships, and space, and a trip to Jupiter and some other places. That's not what makes it science fiction though. Good science fiction, and I mean really good science fiction, takes a premise and asks a lot of questions. It's not all futuristic and super awesome tech that looks sweet. It asks questions about humanity itself, which is exactly what this piece does.
Even with all of the advancements that humanity has made, it's still not enough to keep two people constantly connected in the future. Which is what the entire thing is about - people staying connected through vast distances.
As someone who has been in a long-term, long-distance relationship, I can tell you how difficult this can be. So maybe for me, it's always hit a little closer to home than it might for others.
I re-watched this one earlier today, and I felt like lumping it in with Makoto Shinkai's followup work, 5cm Per Second, but felt that this one deserved a special place all to its own, because unlike most traditional anime, the entire thing feels like viewing a poem. The writing is very poetic, and we get to see how the few characters feel through incredibly limited dialogue, which only makes the impact of the words that much greater.
After all these years, this is one of those anime that reminds me that I'm human by bringing tears to my eyes. There are few shows that do this, and those that do generally involve manly men making incredibly manly sacrifices. I'm looking at you Gurren Lagann and Gao Gai Gar. Seriously, I don't think I will ever be able to watch those finales without getting choked up even a little.
I don't want to say that this is Miyazaki-level mastery, but my god I would be doing a great disservice if I didn't tell you that this is an absolutely brilliant story that is absolutely a must-watch. It is something that will make you feel. What it will make you feel will differ from person to person, but there's a lot of feels to be had in this short span of time. For me, however, it makes me wonder about a great many things. It makes me question what challenges humanity will face in the future, with loved ones light years apart from one another. It fills me with bittersweet sadness, and tears me apart inside as I consider how alone we are in today's modern world, compared to a decade ago - and how alone we will be in yet another decade.
I think the opening does a great job of illustrating what I'm talking about: "There is a word, 'world'. I always thought that my world extended only as far as my cellular signal would reach."
It was great back in the day. But today, I think it takes on a completely new sort of brilliance, as you realize that the world portrayed there may not be so far-off after all. Which is something good science fiction is supposed to do.
So in case I haven't sold you on this yet, let me mention one final thing that may convince you.
This OVA has Donna f***ing Burke in it.
You remember when I said the voice of Raging Heart was also the voice of the computer in Voices? Yeah well that's Donna f***ing Burke. I somehow never put that together, but her name leapt out at me in the opening credits, and it all slapped me in the face like a wet fish.
Donna. F***ing. Burke.
What are you waiting for? Go watch it if you haven't already!
I honestly don't know what more I could possibly say. Actually that's a lie, I could probably go on forever about the things I love about Voices, but in the interest of not completely spoiling everything for someone who may not have watched it, I think I will let the words I've written here suffice.
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