" A distance that takes 8 years at the speed of light is no different than saying 'forever' "
Hoshi no Koe is a 25 minute movie/ova by Makoto Shinkai and Comix wave . The scarcity in budget can be traced not only from bad animations or character designs but also from the fact that except for music almost most of the staff work script,character design, animations, direction and production was done by Shinkai himself and the production team, even the VAs were very limited. But that doesn't stop it's heartfelt and very "realistic" story from touching viewer's emotions.
Story- 9.5/10
Hoshi no koe is set in future where space exploration is booming. People from all over the world are recruited for space expeditions and to fight against other alien like creatures from whom all these technologies are derived which led the human space technology in the state it is now. The story focuses on 2 junior high school students Noboru and Mikako who, as many others, fall in love with each other. But then after graduation Mikako is selected as to join the space expedition to Mars and if situation arises, to fend off aliens inhabiting the place. The story however isn't focused on these fights, explorations and aliens. It's complete focus is on the relationship of these two. Before Mikako leaves earth they decide to be in touch via mails and continue their long distance relationship. But as you might know, nothing can travel faster than speed of light and sadly, not even human emotions. As the distance between them grows, literally but not emotionally, they're faced with cruel reality as the only link connecting them glows dimmer. Earlier I used the word realistic because the concept is derived from something really plausible which makes the emotions even more spontaneous.
Characters- 8.5/10 There are just 2 characters. I mean not just 2 main characters but 2 characters overall in whole 25 minutes of the movie. But instead of having it exploited as it's weakness, Hoshi no koe uses it in it's advantage by giving great character development to these two. Both Mikako and Noboro go through a lot of changes through the years, but Noboru's character development is especially perceivable, he tries to suppress his emotions and hides his helplessness by pretending to an adult and trying to blend in the society but deep inside he knows himself that nothing can fill that empty void inside of him. Mikako too, as she goes to the places no human has ever went before, sees new places, sceneries so beautiful that can't be described in words but none of it seems to put her heart at ease as the simple rain in July after the school on earth with Noboru did.
Animations - 4/10 Here I wish that it had good animations. This is only part that lets it down. Character designs also are not good. Only good thing in animations are the sceneries( the one on earth specially). It uses Cgi for most of the space scenes in motion and that cgi is bad (still not as bad as berserk 2016).
Music - 8/10 There isn't much music, but where it is, it's executed perfectly. The inserted song at the ending melts perfectly with the ending and left me frozen momentarily.
Overall- 8/10 Even though it's quite short, 25 minutes, being the length of a single episode of an anime, it still manages to be better and convey much more emotions than many of the full length animes of this category. I highly recommend it. If you like the likes of Kimi no na wa then you'll probably love this too. Give it as try you won't regret it.
