A schoolgirl named Mikako Nagamine (Mika Shinohara (original Japanese),[3] Sumi Muto (Japanese),[4] Cynthia Martinez (English)[4]) is recruited into the UN Space Army to fight in a war against a group of aliens called the Tarsians—named after the Tharsis region of Mars where they were first encountered.

As a Special Agent, Mikako pilots a giant robotic mecha called a Tracer as part of a fighting squadron attached to the spacecraft carrier Lysithea.

As the Lysithea travels deeper into space, messages take increasingly longer to reach Noboru on Earth, and the time-lag of their correspondence eventually spans years.

The room shown at the beginning of the animation is presented again; Mikako is squatting in the corner, sobbing and pleading with her doppelganger to let her see Noboru again so she can tell him she loves him.

I'm looking forward to more people doing things this way and seeing an emergence of independent animators, whether it's individuals or small groups.The ending theme to the OVA, "Through the Years and Far Away (Hello, Little Star)", was composed by Tenmon, with lyrics written by K. Juno and sung by Low.

[2] Yoshihiro Hagiwara produced the DVD release, and the voice actors were Chihiro Suzuki and Sumi Mutoh.

[16] In July 2002, ADV Films announced it had licensed Voices of a Distant Star for a North American release.

[18] On June 30, 2003, ADV recalled the North American DVDs because they failed to include the original Japanese tracks made by Shinkai and Shinohara.

[19] ADV Films UK also released a Shinkai Collection DVD set, containing Voices of a Distant Star and The Place Promised in Our Early Days, on September 3, 2007.

[22] The film was licensed in France by Kazé,[23] in Italy by D/visual,[24] in Russia by XLM Media,[25] in Taiwan by Proware Multimedia International.

[26] Crunchyroll streamed the film for free for 48 hours beginning on March 5, 2010, to celebrate Shinkai as director.

[39] Voices of A Distant Star has received the Special Prize at the 6th Japan Media Arts Festival.

He said, "Foster carelessly omits critical details, completely rewrites some scenes, misinterprets emotions, and even adds new dialogue where the original track had silence".

The character designs look uninspired, but paired with the animator's beautifully realized worlds, the generic appearance fades into the magnificence of the scene."

[14] DVD Verdict's Rob Lineberger commended the music, saying "the simple score infuses the animation with meaning.

But the real kicker here is the animation quality, which actually equals (and sometimes exceeds) that of excellent television series like Vandread and Full Metal Panic ... there is a remarkable amount of storyline; the plot is well-written and executed, and never gets a chance to be too drawn out.

And Shinkai gives equal time to the slick action sequences and the well-handled, genuinely touching romance".

Sparrow said, "While [the film] was visually one of the best pieces of eye-candy I have seen in a year or so, it's ultimately a voice track over a sequence of pretty pictures.

[10] Mania's Chris Beveridge commended ADV Films for obtaining the original computer files that were used to create it.

[18] DVDs Worth Watching's Johanna Draper Carlson said, "the character designs are familiar and uninspired, and the cross-cutting choppy".

[10] Anime News Network's Theron Martin said the manga has "strong storytelling which carries good emotional appeal, fleshes out the original anime" but said it "unnecessarily adds on to the ending", and that "character designs were not Shinkai's strong point, and Sahara's are only a slight improvement".

The art is nicely detailed and very expressive, and the panel layouts, including the placement and style of dialogue and narrative text, make the story visually interesting and easy to follow".

[49] Mania.com's Sakura Eries said, "there's not a lot of detail in the backgrounds, the mecha designs are dull, and the warp scenes, which were so spectacular in the anime, don't make much of an impact".