Voices of a Distant Star is a short Japanese animation film, don't be fooled by the short length of only 25 mins long, it tells a surprisingly deep and emotional story. The core premise is that a pair of close childhood friends, Nobura and Mikako are separated when Mikako is selected for a space mission against the aliens Tarsians. Mikako travels to outer space and eventually, outside the Solar System. The pair still exchange mails and taking into account of the distance, each mail takes longer and longer to arrive. By the end of the film, putting yourself in their shoes, it's hard to comprehend the psychological impact it has on you and the enormity of the situation when you realize that you're currently 15, you send a message and it will arrive 8 years later when the receiver is 24, but you would have been living on your life for those 8 years. It is an impressive concept that's handled well here. There were some odder moments including the whole alien concept, then being combated using mecha in space, and then the fact that the same phone was used for those many years. As it was a small scale project, the animation is slightly lower quality but impressive when you put into perspective that only one person was working on it. Either way, the ending is a bittersweet one and each of the 25 mins was so engaging and thought-provoking that Voices of a Distant Star is definitely one to watch.
