Actor 3 x Creator 6 x Theater Company Rafu A nine-day serial work in which Orihime and Hikoboshi repeatedly reincarnate until they can meet again on Tanabata. Responsible for the animation for the YouTube-released musical “The Seventh Time’s the Charm on July 7th.”

3 actors × 6 creators × Theater Company Laf A serialized work in which, over the 9 days leading up to Tanabata, Orihime and Hikoboshi repeatedly reincarnate until they meet again. Responsible for the animation for the musical “The Seventh Time’s the Charm on July 7,” which was released on YouTube.

As a second-year junior high school student, 14 years old, I suddenly awakened to “maternal instinct” one morning on my way to school. Ten years later, after being consumed by this maternal instinct that had awakened as if I had been struck by lightning, a friend told me it was similar to the Virgin Mary’s immaculate conception, and I began to question my own maternal instinct once again. From there, I conducted interviews about pregnancy and childbirth, and unraveled my own memories from the past ten years, pursuing the awakening of my maternal instinct… Virgin birth, genes, trying to conceive… I explore motherhood by journeying through memories from ten years ago to the present. Starting from my personal feeling of wanting a baby, which I had held from adolescence to the present, I expanded the idea to consider whose motherhood it is. Although the word “motherhood” contains “mother,” I wondered whether it is not necessarily an emotion only women have, and whether it is different from paternal instinct as well. So I ultimately sought to express a world in which, regardless of whether one is female, male, or transgender, one can encounter one’s own “baby.” From my personal feelings, I hope this becomes an opportunity for others to think about encountering and cherishing a baby in whatever form that may take. To reach that conclusion, the work incorporates memories related to motherhood that occurred during my own ten years, as well as interviews about motherhood. I then translated these into the work through different modes of expression. Although the work brings together ten years of events into a single piece, it is not depicted in a correct chronological order, and not everything comes solely from within myself. Because I created it by collaging fragments together, both the modes of expression and the chronology are all mixed up.

One day, as I was heading home from school, I ran into the man I liked with his girlfriend. The shock was so overwhelming that I couldn’t just go straight home, so I decided to walk home on foot, even though it would take more than an hour, while drinking alcohol I had bought at the supermarket. This self-documentary animation follows me wandering through Tokyo, a wonderland, as I am swallowed up by alcohol and the city, fusing the rakugo technique of “dōchū-zuke” with pop culture. This work is a simple story about nothing more than walking through the streets of Tokyo in a staggered drunken state. I created it by focusing on how well this theme suited the rakugo technique known as “dōchū-zuke.” Dōchū-zuke is a method of describing, in a lively and continuous manner, the journey from point A to point B. I repeatedly walked the same route I had actually taken and built my own version of rakugo from it. To express the state of intoxication, I combined digital animation with 3D animation and live-action footage in some scenes, creating a chaotic world.