Ending animation for Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury Season 2, broadcast from April to July 2023. To weave the story of Season 2 together through symbolic visuals, the main keywords were “synesthesia” and “dreamlike theater,” and the animation was created to move between the hearts of the protagonist Suletta (the red-haired girl) and Miorine (the white-haired girl). In the story, the two protagonists’ hearts continue to miss each other, and this was symbolically expressed by showing Suletta standing on a theater stage and Miorine projected from a film projector, physically passing by one another, representing their relationship. Within the main story, there are references reminiscent of Shakespeare’s play The Tempest, and the ED animation also begins with an opening shot inspired by stage drama. It was created with the image of characters who operate behind the scenes, as if making the two protagonists dance on the stage set called the school. On the other hand, by giving it a strong film-grain look, the animation symbolically expresses how the protagonists struggle against the story burned into film as “the curse of Gundam.”

This work was inspired by the simple question I once had while playing Pokémon: “What happens to the Pokémon that got away?” Created as a juvenile story together with novelist Yusaku Kitano, it depicts the beginnings of research encountered through play in a secret-base-like setting, with the goal of conveying to children the message that curiosity and a spirit of inquiry are what drive us to open up the world.