Tonight, I saw Voices of a Distant Star, a single episode OAV that Jason recommended. I decided to show a portion of it during SPAMM social hour tonight, too.
I did indeed like it quite a bit. Voices shows the struggle of a loving couple through their ever growing distant relationship. Mikako (I think that's the girl's name) is in the space military which is traveling to the ends of our galaxy fighting off some alien race. Noboru, the guy, is on Earth.
The entire 30-minute OAV encompasses their entire relationship. From the begining as they fall in love in middle school, she is then shipped off to space to fight these aliens because she's an elite pilot or something. They keep in contact through phone mail, and as the military edges closer to the ends of our galaxy, the response time between mail grows from days to months to a year. And then, as the space fleet warps off to the opposing alien galaxy, the response time grows to 8.6 years.
On Earth, Noboru deals with his love for Mikako and the wait. He wonders about his role as a lover and his role in his own life. At age 15, Mikako sends him a mail as the war begins and ends on the alien home world, 8.6 light years away. At age 24, Noboru is a distant person. He has kept his away from most social attachments, in the back of his mind waiting for Mikako's words, but also being realistic to himself and taking up his life in the military as well.
As he leaves for his life in the military, he receives the mail from Mikako, which is basically just a hello, along with audio from her fighting the alien race, and thinking outloud about love and life, and then her victory on the alien world. Noboru smiles and agrees... and then the episode is over.
Earlier, I thought that it would have ended better with her dying in space, leaving Noboru with the immortal words of her love. But now, I think I realize her life a little better. It wouldn't matter whether she was alive or dead. Noboru already accepts the fact that he will probably never see her again. And he also accepts the fact that she is the only for him. She means so much to him that no other social attachments matter. In his mind, she'll never disappear.
If she died, he wouldn't detach himself anymore than he already has, nor would he in his life to come. All his joy belongs to her and without her the joy is gone. Though, even if she returned some day to him. His joy would never return to what they had as children.
In the end, their joy depletes equally with each other, so if they were to meet and live together again, they'd understand each other's pain. They'd know and they would be fine with that, even if they couldn't see each other smile on the outside. Their hearts would brighten if even the slightest, and then continue to warm for the rest of their lives.
The concept of cheating life with light speed travel, and then the social relationships that are ripped and stretched because of it, is something that really grabbed my interest in the classic Gainax series Gunbuster. After the main character finishes high school, she is sent in some mission playing around with light speed. Then as she returns to earth, she is still 18, but 10 or 20 years have passed since that date. All of her friends have grown up, married with kids. She finds one of her high school friends, and they chat and catch up.
It's interesting. Her friend would probably feel nostalgic, but at the same time envious. She is older. She has aged. Yet, it seems as if her friend, the main character, almost gets a second chance at life. A second chance that she can't experience.
Anyways, I've found that pure long distance relationships do end up taking away a lot of external emotions. When you speak to them through AIM or email, your emotions are expressed internally as you think of what to write. You become more introverted. You can't do any social activities with them, so you spend your time communicating, rather than "living."
or perhaps this happens to people who truly seriously pour all their emotions into their relationship because it means so much to them.