Synopsis
In 2039, an expeditionary force on Mars attacked by the Tarsians, an alien race who once inhabited that planet. Using technology adapted from the Tarsians, including instantaneous-drive starships and fighting mechas known as Tracers, the UN strikes back.
15-year-old Mikako always fantasized about flying, and her test scores enable her to become a Tracer pilot. That means leaving behind her best friend, Noboru, a boy she cares for deeply. She takes her cell phone with her and sends him text messages whenever she has a chance. But as her ship jumps further and further away from Earth, her messages take longer to reach Noboru—first hours, then months, then years.
Impressions
I’ve read hundreds of sci-fi books that deal with time dialation due to space ships travelling at near-relativistic speeds, how the distances in space are measured not in kilometers but years. Only one novel has ever successfully conveyed that immense gulf to me both intellectually and vicerally: Joe Haldeman’s The Forever War. Haldeman’s book relates a tale of two friends turned lovers who are torn apart by a battle with a far-flung alien race.
The longing and emptiness that Haldeman crafts over 250 pages is managed by director Shinkai Makoto in 25 minutes. He does this largely with simple animation, camera pans over static scenes, with voice-overs and conversations between Mikako and Noboru.
The power of this short anime lies in its singular intensity. Even though the backdrop is of an intergalactic war, with massive fleets of starships engaging each other, we see only Mikako and Noboru, how separation expands their relationship from friendship to something more over the expanse of space, and how a blinking mail notification icon on a cell phone becomes the most important thing in the world.
Random Thoughts
Hoshi no Koe is essentially the work of one man. Shinkai created it on his Mac over the course of seven months. But you probably knew that already.
- 2005-12-27 15:41 -