Warning: mild spoilers within.
Hoshi no koe is a short (25 min) but sensationally beautiful work. Set against backgrounds of modern Japan, space, and alien worlds, it is a story of love and separation and hope played out between young mecha pilot Mikako Nagamine and her boyfriend Noboru Terau.
The art is spellbinding. Rainy sunsets on earth, mecha battles in space, and the sun breaking through the clouds after a rainstorm on another planet are all rendered so exquisitely that they capture your imagination. While much of the animation consists of slow pans over stills, the effect only serves to emphasize the quiet beauty of the world that surrounds the lovers. The mech designs are fantastic, but the mecha combat is kept in the background lest it interfere with the main love story.
The dialog is minimal, but well-chosen and effective. As the separation between Mikako and Noboru increases, every line delivers heart-wrenching emotional impact.
What makes all of this even more impressive, though, is that Makoto Shinkai animated all of it on his personal computer without the help of an animation studio. The DVD version of this film even carries an original version where Mr. Shinkai and his fiancée voice acted Noboru and Mikako.
This film stands alone as a great example of an independent short. After seeing this, I'll be waiting on tenterhooks for Mr. Shinkai's Kumo no mukou, yakusoko no basho.
Hoshi no koe is a short (25 min) but sensationally beautiful work. Set against backgrounds of modern Japan, space, and alien worlds, it is a story of love and separation and hope played out between young mecha pilot Mikako Nagamine and her boyfriend Noboru Terau.
The art is spellbinding. Rainy sunsets on earth, mecha battles in space, and the sun breaking through the clouds after a rainstorm on another planet are all rendered so exquisitely that they capture your imagination. While much of the animation consists of slow pans over stills, the effect only serves to emphasize the quiet beauty of the world that surrounds the lovers. The mech designs are fantastic, but the mecha combat is kept in the background lest it interfere with the main love story.
The dialog is minimal, but well-chosen and effective. As the separation between Mikako and Noboru increases, every line delivers heart-wrenching emotional impact.
What makes all of this even more impressive, though, is that Makoto Shinkai animated all of it on his personal computer without the help of an animation studio. The DVD version of this film even carries an original version where Mr. Shinkai and his fiancée voice acted Noboru and Mikako.
This film stands alone as a great example of an independent short. After seeing this, I'll be waiting on tenterhooks for Mr. Shinkai's Kumo no mukou, yakusoko no basho.