CAA: Christian Anime Alliance

I bought the dvd, not really knowing what to expect. But … wow. What else can I say about this anime other than – incredible. It’s less than thirty minutes long, but it touched me deeper than entire series have. To even begin to understand the anime, you must know that one person made it. One. Makoto Shinkai did everything except the musical score and the voice acting. If you watched it without knowing that, I don’t think the anime would mean as much.

It’s the story of two friends, Mikako and Noboru. Mikako leaves to fight in the interstellar battle, and the only link she has with her best friend is text messages through a cell phone. And while time hardly touches her in space, the days, weeks, and months go by on earth. Her text messages take weeks, months, and finally years to get to him. Noboru waits for her – never knowing if she is alive somewhere above him.

I just cannot get over my amazement with this masterpiece. The music goes directly inside of you, and your heart seems instantly joined with the story. The voice acting was flawless, each character being reflected perfectly. And the battle scenes are breathtakingly beautiful. The characters and animation of them did not impress me at first, but as you watch the story, no other style would have given Voices of A Distant Star its bittersweet beauty.

Not everyone will understand this anime. I can guarantee that some will find it boring and pointless, but its depth and meaning will be visible for most.

Although I hate to mar this review with a recount of negative content, I wouldn’t be doing my job as a reviewer. There is one very minor, quick swear. There are also a few scenes of shooting blood. However, I’d let someone as young as seven watch it – although I highly doubt it would keep their interest.

Oh, and those that saw the trailer for this in the last Newtype dvd, it doesn’t begin to do it justice.

Again … wow.

I saw the preview on NewType's DVD, though it looked interesting... I thought it was for a series or something.

Then I saw the DVD at Suncoast and picked it up to look at it. The price to time ratio seemed a little high to me (I'm having a hard time getting the "cheap" out of me sometimes ).

Might have to give it a second look.

PHIL

Gypsy,

Didn't you just love it? ^___^ I heard about it online and got the DVD just yesterday... how incredible!! ^__^ My boyfriend and I just watched it and cried the whole time. ^^;; It really is something. And did you watch the featurette "She and Her Cat"? It was Beautiful. ^^ This DVD is anime at its greatest, guys, and very cheap. The DVD was only $20 at my local Suncoast ^___^

(By the way, this was one of the anime I mentioned way back when in the famous "Infiltrate the Media" post. ^_^ Japanese title: Hoshi no Koe ^_^)

Yay! I'm glad someone else loves it too! It really was amazing. And although "She And Her Cat" didn't touch me as deeply as the feature, I still thought it was an excellent short. I can see why he won a pile of awards for it.

Following a good gypsy's advice, I went out and bought the dvd yesterday. Figured, 20 bucks wasn't bad...

Probably the best 20 I ever spent. This anime...no praise can do it justice. It's perfect. And it's even more amazing to think one man did all of that by himself...truth be told it made me want to get into animation.

Anyway, uh review. I'd just like to add in that there is absolutely NO nudity, sexual references, etc. Violence a bit...there's some blood spurts in the space fights. But it was never man-slaughter like; very clean, very tasteful. I only caught one bad word in the whole dub, and I'm guessing it won't even be in the sub version. I'd put a age zone about 14 or so up...below that it probably would be a bit too deep to understand.

I simply cannot find anything wrong with this. The style well...it wasn't quite what I am attracted to, but the storyline way, way made up for it. I give it two thumbs way, way up.

And yes I cried. Blew a faucet is more like it.

> Following a good gypsy's advice, I went out and bought the dvd yesterday. Figured, 20 bucks wasn't bad...

It sounds pretty interesting. Where did you pick it up from, or where would you recommend ordering it from (cheaply )?

I bought mine from Suncoast for $20, but I did some research and Amazon.com has there's for $16.99 here. Barnes and Noble's copy is for $15.98. I think that's about as low as your gonna go....but ordering it online, you make up for the price in shipping. At least in the mall you get free shipping, right?;)

Only $20? Why do I remember it being there as like $34.99 at Suncoast? Hmmm... maybe it was in the wrong slot on the display (rack at the enterance)... I'll have to check it out...

Looked for it at Best Buy, but I couldn't remember the name

Sounds like it's one I'm definately going to have to get, though I may wait till next month, had to bail my dog out of "puppy prision" today ($55 bucks, but he's "chipped" now so they'll know him even if he's naked ).

PHIL

just googled it
I need to get this anime now.

How long has it been around?

> At least in the mall you get free shipping, right?

That's usually the way I like to look at it, myself!

Thanks for the tips, I'll check it out on my day off.

Watched it last night...it is pretty good.

I'm guessing from what I read and a lack of mention of the differences that some of you only watched in the Voices of a Distant Star in the dub or only in the sub? Would you mind posting your opinions of the subtitles? I heard that the subtitles of Voices of a Distant Star are VERY different from the dub. Steve Foster was the ADR director for the dub of Voices of a Distant Star and he is notorius for making unnecessary changes, usually to the point where the dub is completely different from the subtitles.

Well if you buy the dvd there's a good chance you will get both the sub and the dub on the same disc

djnoz wrote:Well if you buy the dvd there's a good chance you will get both the sub and the dub on the same disc

Which is exactly why I would like to see some subtitle impressions and dub comparisons here. Just becuase I want to know what the subtitles are like doesn't mean I don't know that they are included on the same DVD as the dub. *sheesh*

I would also like to mention that I heard that Steve Foster does a good job with direction and some people I talked to said that some of his dubs are very good when judged by their own merits, despite the dialog being completely different from the subtitles. So I'm wondering, how is Voices of a Distant Star in subtitles and how does the dub compare to the original? Does it stand on it's own right or fall flat?

Here's an example of the differences from Anime News Network:

The subtitle track:

Noboru: Those Tarsians, I wonder where they came from...
Mikako: Yeah...
Noboru: Nagamine, you're not interested?
Mikako: Kinda...

And Foster's "interpretation:"

Noboru: Hey, do you remember what it was like before the war?
Mikako: No.
Noboru: I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said anything.
Mikako: No.


I'm not even sure if there is a VHS version of Voices of a Distant Star, but the DVD just came out recently. Alot of anime is direct to DVD these days. I'm sorry I assumed that you guys only watched the dub, but I got that impression from some similarities in the discription of the anime and the lack of mention of the differences. I decided to rent Voices of a Distant Star from Netflix, so I should be seeing it shortly.

Note: I don't want this to turn into a debate. I don't want to see any more uninformed posts that assume that all dubs are accurate to the original Japanese version with subtitles. There is a such thing as poor translation (which can unfortunetly hit subtitles too) and artistic lincense, you know.

its basically the same its just been changed so its understandable

BrianC wrote:I'm guessing from what I read and a lack of mention of the differences that some of you only watched in the Voices of a Distant Star in the dub or only in the sub? Would you mind posting your opinions of the subtitles? I heard that the subtitles of Voices of a Distant Star are VERY different from the dub. Steve Foster was the ADR director for the dub of Voices of a Distant Star and he is notorius for making unnecessary changes, usually to the point where the dub is completely different from the subtitles.

I only watched the dub, then lent it out, so .... (shrugs)

I am the vile pig that has Gypys copy....well...no I just gave it to Lightbringer...mwa hahaaha its like monkey in the middle...*toss* ....uh..kidding....grin...um...she will forgive me...she is getting to watch my Bebop movie after all. :wink:

Ok, I watched the sub version tonight. Soooooo much better. IMO, the characters are more in-depth, more in-character (i.e. they actually have emotions, not just all the same tone). Their personalities changed...[spoiler="like Mikako, for example"] went from arrogant, "and I used to *beep* about kendo" to more suprised and accepting "I m still a select member, so you know my grades are pretty good. Still..."[/spoiler].
It was much cleaner too; that one word is completely gone. And as cited above in that transcript excerpt, it actually makes quite a bit more sense now.

Overall, I really recommend the sub version over the dub. Tomorrow I'll try to find some exact dialogue quotes to compare.

Thanks for the info. It sounds cool. It sounds like you guys are having fun with that movie. I'll post my impressions on it after I rent it from Netflix. The sub sounds much better than the dub, but I'll probably watch the dub anyway just to compare (I'll definatly watch the sub first, though). Maybe, just for fun, I'll watch the dub with the subtitles on for a good laugh. Then again, those changes made to the dub do sound pretty bad.

Also of note, I don't know how your DVD players work, but make sure you have the secondary sub-titles on (the ones that translate the text on-screen)... I had to pause a few screens to read them, but it was still interesting.

Honestly, I understand why people are so ape over sub versions vs dub versions.... I agree with Ashley, the dub makes the whole thing better.

Excellent, excellent movie.

PHIL

I heard that the first pressing of Voices of a Distant Star has some glitches. Here is a summary of the glitches from the animeondvd forums:

Quick summary:
Major glitches:

Director's Cut vocals missing
English with song subtitles missing

minor glitches:

Animatic should not have the option for English language or any English subtitles.

None of the "She and Her Cat" shorts, the Interview, or the trailers should have the option for English language or second English subtitles.

At 5:33 of the feature, the translation says "Of course, I went to the Trasian Ruins too." Trasian should be translated Tarsian.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

The Director's Cut vocals are supposed to be an alternate version of the Japanese dialog with the director and his fiancee doing the voices, but it was excluded by mistake.

Here is a post from someone at ADV (Janice Williams) from animeondvd that says what you should do if you have a glitched disc:

We have identified and corrected the problem with the alternate Japanese track on the Voices of a Distant Star release. If you have a Voices of a Distant Star disc you would like to replace, follow these instructions.

Email ADV Customer Service at returns@advfilms.com. Use of this email address, rather than the normal Customer Service email address, will speed your claim. Include your name, email and shipping address.

You will be sent a form letter to complete and a pre-addressed, pre-paid shipping envelope via UPS.

Complete the form letter; put the form letter and your Voices of a Distant Star disc in the envelope; and drop it in the nearest UPS shipping box.

As soon as ADV receives the old disc, a corrected disc will be shipped to you.

Please be sure to complete the form fully, carefully and legibly to hasten the return process.

--------------------
Janice Williams
A.D.Vision, Inc.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

well after reading the review i went out and rented it so i will be watching the movie tonight it sounds like a good movie and i will have to checkout the sub and dubed version

wow. This movie is excellent. It only has two/three voices in it, but it is very beautiful and touching. I liked the subtitles better, but the dub is good, despite being different IMO. However, it's hard to recommend the dub because of the added cursing (not much, but there is no cursing in the subtitles) and liberties taken.

I didnt see this post and started my own on the other borad but ill say it here to

I rented this thinking Love/War so I thought it would be pretty good.....punch in the face I was horribily ( I spell that right)miss lead I was feeling sick. Now yes it was a good film about the ULTIMATE long distance "relationship" but it sold it self as an action as well I mean no one looks at a cover seeing giant robots with guns and the back talking about why there are giant robots with guns yes it did talk about the relatinship but not as much as the war.Well after seeing it I said "it was a good film but I think ive been miss lead". Luckly I rent NEON GENESIS EVANGELION and had already watched it in fact ive givin my review of that too. So after I complained to myself why I paid to watch V.O.A.D.S.
I watched a real action N.G.E. then notice what was wrong with that film.

And the coolest thing of all is that he did it just with his personal macintosh G4/400 computer. (I'm a big mac fan and I think they are the best tools for innovative word like movie editing and that kind of stuff).

Sounds interesting. I'll have to give it a shot one of these days.

Around here Best Buy has anime the cheapest or GameStop. They are much cheaper than Suncoast. My daughter loved "Voices of a Distant Star" and keeps bugging me to buy it. I may cave in now.

In the CAA review database it says suitable for ages 21 and up? What's up with that?