|
Digital
|
|
Wednesday, 08 February 2012 12:07 |
 Another of the one-off shorts that Sentai & Anime Network seem to be so taken by, Hoshizora Kiseki finds love blossoming between a young girl with an interest in astronomy, and a boy who may just have come from the stars...
Kozue, a young girl who loves astronomy, encounters Ginga, a boy with a mysterious ability to understand the stars that is being exploited by others, and who is forced to live his life inside a protective suit. As her friendship with Ginga grows, Kozue realizes that she must help him learn to make his own decisions, but that do that, he must remove his suit...
That's the short official description, in case you hadn't worked it out, but it doesn't really capture the charm of the film. Kozue will go anywhere, anytime, for a good look at the stars - abandoned planetariums, off-limits military land, you name it - with bike and portable telescope, she's ready to go. It's on one of these excursions that she meets Ginga - clearly not a normal boy, as given away by his suit and the small army of Men In Black that travel with him. Naturally, they're not at all keen on the two meeting, but curiosity will often find a way...
Ginga has some unusual abilities that are being tapped by the MIB in an effort to contact alien life (or at least, that's how it seems) - and they fear that exposure to Earth's natural environment will degrade his abilities to the point where he's no longer of use to them. Hence the suit. Kozue, though, believes that Ginga deserves the chance to live a normal life, breath the air, smell the rain, all the things that come as perks to being alive and that his suit stops him from doing. No prizes for guessing which life is ultimately more appealing to Ginga.
It's a simple film, it's short (half-an-hour), and if you think about it for more than a few minutes there are plenty of holes you could pick through the premise. But that would be missing the point - the charm comes from the two main characters, Kozue's positive outlook on life versus Ginga's controlled existence, and seeing them bounce off each other when they come together, and on that level I really enjoyed it. Not perhaps something I'd rush out and buy (it's available in a double-bill DVD release from Sentai, along with Coffee Samurai, if you're so inclined), but if you're an Anime Network subscriber there's really no reason not to check it out.
|
Reviews Archive 
