Onohana

A live-action music video themed around multiple timelines in outer space. It imagines different time axes drifting through memory, dreams, and the far reaches of the cosmos, each moving at its own speed. Animation evoking space is projected and filmed through reflections in mirrors and vinyl sheets. Using shots of the band members’ backs as key frames, the continuity of the live-action footage is fragmented and reconstructed. Footage of the same shot at different frame rates is prepared and placed into separate areas divided by boundaries created through animation. Separation and reunion repeat quietly.

An eyecatch video used during live broadcasts on J SPORTS, Japan’s largest sports channel. Selected from extensive athlete footage, it was created as a rotoscope full animation. It depicts power and muscle, explosive speed and the beauty of trajectories, including abstract nuances. In the perspective that picks up the beauty of athletes’ muscles and in the occasional bursts of color, we pursued what only hand-drawn animation can achieve. To accommodate the irregular scheduling of live broadcasts and be usable at random lengths, care was taken so that it would clearly read as a sports program no matter where it is cut. The visuals are precisely synchronized to the rhythm of the music, with movement designed to draw the viewer’s gaze in.

In the Taro district of Miyako City, Iwate Prefecture, which suffered devastating damage from the tsunami in the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011, we invited local residents to slowly share their memories from the time of the disaster. Based on their testimonies, we created an animated reenactment. Interwoven with interview footage, it looks back on the townscape and the people around them at the time, while also portraying the attitude of the staff of “Learn Disaster Preparedness,” who convey the lessons of disaster prevention as if passing them from hand to hand.

A collaborative work between animation artist Miku Mizue, who expresses vitality through microscopic cell characters, and composer Twoth (Shinichi Suda). The macro world of an abstract universe and the micro world of tiny cells collide on the screen.