The Shinkai Collection [U.K. Edition] [DVD5+DVD9] [2007]

This collection presents a double feature of films from popular anime director Makoto Shinkai: in VOICES OF A DISTANT STAR (2003), a young female pilot lives and fights in the far reaches of outer space while communicating with her earthbound lover via cell-phone text messages; and in THE PLACE PROMISED IN OUR EARLY DAYS (2004), three teenagers are challenged to support each other in a futuristic world that is rapidly changing, altering the kids' perceptions of time and space in beguiling ways.


Director Makoto Shinkai started out working for a game company by day, creating animation for their releases, while at night he worked on his own projects at home. All by himself he created She and Her Cat, a five minute short which went on to win some prestigious awards. Growing even more ambitious, his next project was the 25-minute feature Voices of a Distant Star, a gorgeous tale of two lovers separated by space and time. The amazing thing about this production was that, once again, he did everything by himself (except the music and the voice overs) on his Mac with off the shelf software. His next project was a full fledged movie, The Place Promised in Our Early Days. ADV had previously released these films, but now they have collected them into a very attractive boxed set and appropriately named it the Shinkai Collection.

Voices of a Distant Star (Hoshi no koe)

In Hoshi no Koe, the U.N. Army is recruiting crew in their battle against the Tarsians, a race of aliens. Middle school student Noboru is on the fringe of the battle because his nearly-girlfriend Nagamine Mikako, whom he hoped to attend high school with, has been chosen as a Special Agent by the U.N. Space Force to pilot a giant mecha as part of the crew of the Lysisthea, one of the space force's battleships. The ship launches with Mikako onboard, and as the army pursues and retreats from the Tarsians farther and farther into deep space, the cell phone text messages that are Mikako's only way to reach Noboru take increasingly long to reach Earth. Voices focuses on the bond between the two throughout their very-long-distance relationship, rather than on the space battles that Mikako must fight. It follows Mikako's journey and Noboru's life as he grows up apart from her.

DVD RELEASE: 3 Sep 2007
STUDIO: ADV Films
COUNTRY: U.K.
SYSTEM: PAL
SCREEN: 4:3
COLOR: Color
AUDIO: English Dolby Digital 5.1, Japanese Dolby Digital 5.1
SUBTITLES: English

Extras:

She and Her Cat (Short):
-Digest Version
-3 Minute Version
-5 Minute Version

Interview with the creator.
Director's Cut (with alternate vocals)
Original japanese trailers
ADV Previews











The Place Promised In Our Early Days (Kumo no mukô, yakusoku no basho)

In a world where Hokkaido separated from mainland Japan in the early '70s and formed and independent nation called The Union, middle school friends Hiroki and Takuya share two common interests: a girl named Sayuri and a plan to build a plane to fly to the mysterious tower they can see across the straits in Enzo (aka Hokkaido). Both pledge to fly there with Sayuri one day, but time and circumstances separate the trio before the plane can be finished. Years later, with war looming on the horizon, their paths cross again as the two boys learn that Sayuri has been asleep for years and cannot wake. Somehow her condition is connected to the mysterious tower and interaction with parallel universes, but in her dreams Sayuri awaits for an old promise to be fulfilled—and holds the key to the world's salvation.

DVD RELEASE: 3 Sep 2007
STUDIO: ADV Films
COUNTRY: U.K.
SYSTEM: PAL
SCREEN: 1.85:1
COLOR: Color
AUDIO: English Dolby Digital 5.1, Japanese Dolby Digital 5.1
SUBTITLES: English

Extras:

Interviews with the japanese cast and staff:
Hidetaka Yoshioka (Hiroki)
Masato Hagiwara (Takuya)
Yuuka Nanri (Sayuri)
Makoto Shinkai (Director)

Japanese Trailers:

Special Preview Trailers [3:16]
Full Lenght Trailer [2:18]
Web Trailer [1:37]
ADV Previews









EXTRACTION DVDs:
ENGINE: DVD Fab + Ultra ISO
DVD EXTRACTION: 2 Full DVDs
FILE EXTENSION: .ISO (Image)
FILE SIZE: DVD 1: 4.35 GBs / DVD 2: 7.35 GBs
SCANS: Full Art Scan
SCANS FILE SIZE: 18.1 MBs

INFO LINKS:

AMAZON

IMDB