Voices of a Distant Star and The Garden of words

Dr. Shige (C. J.) Suzuki of Baruch College of the City University of New York, visited Ringling College for our manga and anime seminar class. He asked that we watch Voices of a Distant Star, and in Class we would watch Garden of Words. If you want to watch either of the works I'm talking about, click on their picture and you'll be able to watch it.

Now the first thing I want to talk about is Voices of a Distant Star.  At first when I looked at it from an anime lovers perspective I wasn't all that impressed with the art style nor how the characters moved in the scene. However, upon further investigation this anime movie (even though it's only 24 mins) was made by a Husband and wife duo. Meaning that they were the only ones that worked on it and voice acted the whole thing out, Now THAT'S impressive. Getting into the story line bit of it, it's pretty wholesome. Two people in middle school like each other but never really say anything about it til one day the girl tells him she's leaving on a mission. What's sad about this is that the further she goes off into space, the harder it is to contact because even though she's 15, traveling light years away means that her crush is getting much older than here and that it'll be harder to contact due to the year(s) it'll take to receive a message. Despite that, their love for each other remains pure, the frustrating part in my opinion is the ending, I won't spoil it but . . . geez you'll just have to see it!

Now onward to the Garden of Words. Now I've seen some visually appealing anime, but this one just blows my mind. I have to rewatch it 3 to 4 times because i keep getting distracted by the art work and beauty of this anime . . verses what they're actually saying. Don't get me wrong though it's not only beautiful but it has a good story arc to it as well. I won't spoil this one with extreme detailing because . . . it's too pretty for that!! Go see it! It's worth looking at over and over again without fail!