Rating: 
Summary: An epic love story, in under 30 minutes....
Review: If you were ever looking for an anime that could be used as an introduction to the world of Japanese animation, look no further than Voices of a Distant Star. I will not give away too much of the story other than the basic plot of the movie. First off, if you are looking or a big mech fighting melee, look somewhere else. Not to say that there isn't any of that, it is primarily a love story about two people torn apart by war. This film has just the right amount of mech fighting to balance the whole thing out. The story is told entirely through the two main characters, one from the soldier traveling light years through space, and one from the man that she left behind back on earth. Now, enough of the story, now onto the details of the film: The DVD Menus:
This is one of the cleanest DVDs I've seen in a while, no excess junk on any of the menus. I'm a firm believer in the whole "less is more" concept, and this DVD adheres wonderfully to that. From the minute I put the disc in, I found my self hunting through the menus so I could listen to the music clips that were on each one. The Music:
From the music on the title screen, you will be hooked on the perfectly fitting piano score selected for this story. Throughout the entire film the music changes to help with the emotional direction of the story. Even the battle theme managed to turn a soft piano song into a believable fight song. I found myself scouring the internet trying to find the music for download. The animation:
The animation on this DVD is mostly computer generated. The character designs look a little choppy compared to the 3D rendered mechs, buildings, and spacecraft scattered throughout the feature. Still, they don't look out of place at all. A lot of complaints I've seen were about the lack of actual animation and the excessive use of still images. There is still a lot of animation, and the still images in no way take away from the film. In most cases, I believe it just adds to the story, it also gives you time to sit and stare at the awesome use of color. If only the real world looked as nice as this. :) The voice acting:
This is one of the few Animes where I can honestly say that the English voices are WAY better than the original Japanese tracks. The voice actors hired for this did a top notch job and really brought forth the emotional impact to this film that I felt was missing on the Japanese track. You can truly hear the pain in the voices on the English track. Even though I don't understand any Japanese other than "hello", it just seemed to be lacking any emotion. DVD Extras:
There are quite a few extras on this disc that will keep you from feeling that you wasted [$$] on a 30 minute DVD. There is another feature by the creator called "She and Her Cat" and an interview with the creator. Japanese trailers for Voices of a Distant Star, and a few other trailers of other releases from ADV Films. After watching this DVD once, it has towered over all of my other Anime movies by far. Do not hesitate to add this to your collection.
Rating: 
Summary: Simply Wonderful
Review: I picked up this short film (~25 minutes) at an anime convention. The art is simply beautiful. About 5 minutes into watching it, I was really annoyed with the subtitles moving too fast and taking up a third of the screen; so I switched to the English dub. To my surprise, the English language track was well done. It was nicely acted and the voices matched the characters properly. This is mostly an art film. A short story about lovers separated by space and time. It reminded me a bit of Orson Scott Card's "Speaker for the Dead" (or Einstein's theory of space travel if you want to split hairs). The girl travels far out in space aging days, while her love back home ages years. The further out she travels, the longer her messages take to get back home. The pain of these two aching lovers is real and sad, and at the same time beautiful. As usual, ADV charges a lot more than they should for this movie. The "Girl and Cat" short 5 minute story was nice little supplement, though. So even though the price may seem a little steep, I think it's worth it for this lovely piece of art.
Rating:
Summary: A Message From A (Broken) Heart.
Review: I'm not that emotional, but this, along with Asuka's breakdown in Eva brings tears to my eyes.
While suffering from a few minor flaws, this is a superb independently produced work of art.
Two scenes stand out. "Happy 24th Birthday from your 15 year old Girlfriend." and the cry at the end.
Watch this with your Girl/Boy friend, and see who cries first.
Rating:
Summary: Love can transend time and space.
Review: I really enjoyed "Voices..." It was a superb piece of art, and the story telling coupled with the meloncholy soundtracks is unrivled. However I (and maybe everyone who has watched "Voices...") wished that it was a bit longer ( 30 minutes is a bit short for character development or anything else for that matter) however Makoto Shinkai did a superb job especially since it was done mostly by himself and it is his first time creating a 30 minute movie. I really recommend this to anyone who enjoyes anime (however the ending just might piss you off a little...)I really hope that this isn't the last time we see the star crossed and space seperated lovers.
Rating: 
Summary: ???
Review: I picked this up at my local hastings store thinking it was one of those intergalactic war things like Gundam. Now I really can't judge a book (or anime DVD) by its cover. I am sorry for what is coming up in this review, for the people that like this. This is a 30 minute story revolving around to middle school lovers...with an 8 light year gap in between. They only have text messaging to communicate, which it takes 8 flippin' years just to receive a blasted text message, for crying out loud. There you have it folks. That is numero uno of only about three things that make up the plot of this. I am deeply sorry, but i just don't care much for these DEEP, over my head romance things. dub-I'm not even going to start. animation-this is pretty much the main thing that caught my attention. It is great. The icons on the phones almost look real. music-words cannot describe the beautiful background music. Overall rating-3 out of 5. People get crushes all the time in middle school. It isn't like they ever see them again after college, if it is just a little crush. The people in this thing haven't seen each other for 8 years. I believe it is time to GET OVER IT. When Noburo said "I have moved on with my life" I just sat and said "DING DING DING! WE HAVE A WINNER!" Plus, this is way to serious of a relationship for two people at just 15 years of age. Though it might be good for the people that are new to anime, it just isn't for me. Sorry.
Rating:
Summary: deeply moving
Review: I've had the pleasure of seeing this little piece of animated art on the big screen during an Anime convention. I knew it was the project of 1 man and that it had won an award . I therefor expected an artsy kind of story. But what I didn't expect was a look that would resemble a big budget movie.
I was amazed. Yet only for a minute since by then I was drawn into one of the most tragic love stories I had ever seen... by the time it ended I felt tears in my eyes. Do yourself a favor, see this. I may be short but it's beautiful... Sad yes but with a hint of hope...
Rating:
Summary: Affecting, but why?
Review: When I picked this movie up from the shelf at blockbuster, I did so without any particular bias for or against this movie. It just sounded interesting, interesting enough to hold my attention for an evening. So. What this basically means is that I have approached this movie from an objective standpoint, and from an objective standpoint, I have this to say: The movie was very moving in the first 9/10's, but... the last tenth just didn't make sense. The abrupt ending interefered with the story somewhat... maybe it was just the translation, but the emotions during the finale just didn't seem appropriate given the circumstances, and the final line was more cryptic than I could stand... "I'm here." So, overall ratings: Video: 1/1 Very nicely done, though the space scenes are a little... well, I'll just say that the focus of the movie is not on combat. Sound: 1/1 The music was soft and pretty... appropriate for this type of movie. Translation/dialogue: 0/1 This must be what threw me off... the words were definitely not thoughtfully selected. Plot: 1/2 out of 1... It was a very moving story, but because of the translation, the plot became harder to understand at the end. Value: 1/2 out of 1... for all of the above reasons, and the fact that the movie is only half an hour long, the movie gets .5/1. The cat thingy was cute, though, but not enough to increase the value rating.
Rating:
Summary: Dramatic and a story of true love!
Review: Voices of a Distant Star is a DVD about love being seperated from far away. Mikako, the main character, must go into battle against aliens in the year 2046. The man she loves Noboru, is still on earth. Years past for Mikako if ever she can reach her love. Their only connection is e-mail from Mikako's cell-phone. Noboru has to wait years for her e-mails to come to him. This DVD is beatifully drawn and has a fantastic story. One DVD extra is She and Her Cat. This is a short story about a women and her life told by her cat. RATED 13UP FOR VERY SAD/DEPRESSINDG SCENES.
Rating: 
Summary: And of her Cat....
Review: The only reason this dvd shouldn't be panned completely, is because of the shorter short film. While not exactly the most interesting piece of anime ever created, it is honest enough in it's depiction of a human's ideas on a cat's method of thinking (?) that it deserves viewing. As for the title short film, well, about the only thing that I can say to it's benefit is that it moves along at a deliberate enough pace so as not to really break stride. And that's not much of a compliment. I picked this dvd up for $20 canadian. I was foolish enough to not check the length before purchasing it. While some reviewers might take solace in the fact that it is comparable to other truly groundbreaking pieces of science-fiction, I find that to be a detriment. The theory is based upon Einsteins' theory. It does resemble the works of Orson Scott Card (Speaker for the Dead), and Joe Haldeman (The Forever War). The aliens that Noboru fights against are almost identical to the lesser shadow vessels from Babylon 5. Each of these aforementioned titles are all Hugo award winners. When a story can attribute so much of it's substance to other sources, it no longer becomes relevant. It is simply derivitive. And for those that are unfamiliar with the above titles, start there. Don't rely on material such as this when there truly is a wealth of spectacularly written, directed, acted, and animated material to discover. Pass this one over.
Rating:
Summary: Love can transend time and space.
Review: I really enjoyed "Voices..." It was a superb piece of art, and the story telling coupled with the meloncholy soundtracks is unrivled. However I (and maybe everyone who has watched "Voices...") wished that it was a bit longer ( 30 minutes is a bit short for character development or anything else for that matter) however Makoto Shinkai did a superb job especially since it was done mostly by himself and it is his first time creating a 30 minute movie. I really recommend this to anyone who enjoyes anime (however the ending just might piss you off a little...)I really hope that this isn't the last time we see the star crossed and space seperated lovers.
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