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Description
To what distance would you go for your one true love? In the midst of a war with an alien race, Mikako joins the resistance, leaving behind the one young man she loves. As she goes deeper into space, Mikako's only connection with her boyfriend is through cell-phone text messages. The war rages on and years pass, but Mikako barely ages in the timelessness of space while Noboru grows old. How can the love of two people, torn apart by war, survive?
Type
Manga
Related Series
N/A
Associated Names
Голос далёкой звезды (rus) ほしのこえ 星之聲 The Voices of a Distant Star
i remember hearing a whole bunch of good stuff about the movie, but when i finally got to watch it, i was left a bit underwhelmed. i didn't feel the characters were constructed that great in the movie and the drama felt forced and laid on too thickly.
i wanted to give this manga a try, though, since i love sahara mizu's works. i ended up enjoying this much more than the movie since we get to see more of the characters and have more insight into their personalities and motivations. art is also gorgeous, as usual.
the soft art conjure a wistful image of their world adding on the overall impression of the story. the plot goes slowly with multiple flashback with the pacing very appropriate to the tone. though the characters are just 2 dimensional, the dimension that we see is enough where fleshing out more will be unnecessary.
One of the first animes I came contact with (my dad always watched it when I was little and I always remember glimpses from memory). It took me 10 years since my first encounter with this to actually wathc the whole of it. One of the mecha stories that I managed to go through and actually cry at the end. The music and everythign was just soo...anyway, the manga's ending was a bit different and showed less tragedy than the anime, and gave the reader more hope than the watchers.
Spoiler (mouse over to view)
the manga ends suggesting that Noboru is going to save Mikako(stuck somewhere in space) while the anime made it seem that Mikako has died entirely. Personally, I liked the anime's ending better because the manga's loong story was cramped into a short one shot and even the ending was not that good.
Why is this sad? Some people complain about the ending being ambiguous, but its pretty clear what happened and what's going to happen. Obviously don't read this if you're not into very "heavy" atmosphere stories...
Spoiler (highlight to view)
Noboru is about to go on the rescue mission to save Mikako and since he will be in space he won't really age either. The expected outcome is that the rescue is a success and they reach the mothership thing, so it'll be a 25 year old Noboru and a 16-17 year old Mikako. That is if the Aliens don't come back and kill off the mothership, but from what the ending text reads, the intended "after" story would be the one I just described.
that was me the entire time maybe it was because i was already reading a sad manga before i started reading this but whatever the caused i cried every chapter and my girlfriend thought there was something wrong with me. This is probably the best romance manga i;ve ever read and probably will stay the best
Like the movie, the Manga does not fail to disappoint. In fact, I like how the Manga fleshes out the characters much more than the movie does. Reading this, I came to understand more about the central characters and how they deal with their respective lives out in space and on Earth. Sahara Mizu's artwork is simply amazing and perfectly suits this bittersweet and melancholic love story of star-crossed lovers. My only problem was...
Spoiler (highlight to view)
The cliffhanger at the end of the story that--even though it gave the two lovers hope--left a somewhat unsatisfied feeling in the "happy-ending-love-story" side of me. However, I feel that it is a sort of ending that leaves (if not forces) to you ponder the the themes of the story and the story itself.
I would prefer this over the movie but since it came after, I would recommend watching the movie first before reading this. However, if you've read this already then you should still give the movie a try. A great masterpiece created by a jobless man and his wife on his Macintosh.
I've watched all of Shinkai Makoto's films and loved them all. Hence when i first saw Hoshi no Koe in a bookstore, i immediately snapped it up.
Sahara Mizu's art is gorgeous and has a whimsical charm that matches with the fleeting and intangible feelings as shown in the story. A heartwrenching love that transcends time and space. The manga provides a much happier closure for the tale with an ending that gives us some hope.
Shinkai Makoto and Sahara Mizu, are they enough reason to make one read on ?
Beautifully drawn & the story has lots of potential. But it's too long for a short story, and has too many loose ends for a single volume manga. Felt unsatisfying incomplete.
This manga is awesome, it shows us what love is in such a way that all those thousands of useless shoujos could never show. It allows us those of us who have not fallen in love to understand what love could be. It is sadness, happiness and as shown by the end hope. The art seemed like it was just made for this manga, so awesome. Honestly everyone should read this.
I adore Sahara Mizu's works, so when I found out that she'd done a manga adaption of one of Makoto Shinkai's films, I was ecstatic to read it. And as always, I wasn't disappointed with what she'd laid out.
There's something about the simplicity of her art that I find lovely, which helped the manga work. I love how she presents the characters emotions in a silent manner. Their words, thoughts, everything is conveyed rather nicely despite the lack of interaction between the main leads.
I wouldn't call it the best romance story I've ever read/watched, but it is good, and heart-breaking at that with a somewhat sweet after taste that leaves you barely satisfied.
All-in-all, if you're a romance junkie, then this one volume manga is definitely for you.
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