People have evolved by running. Endless plains, mountains and waters teeming with life, and silver snow-capped ridges— No matter how harsh the field may be, if we can imagine a course there, we can surely run it to the end. Imagination will light the way to paths yet unseen, and illuminate the direction humanity should take.

When I was entrusted with the ending for the new anime adaptation of Yasuhiro Nightow’s TRIGUN, by the hugely popular manga artist behind series such as Blood Blockade Battlefront, I looked through a great deal of reference material and felt the poignancy and pain born from the love and sacrifice between two brothers who keep missing each other, as well as the strength to keep asking those questions despite everything. In addition, the quiet celebration and joy evoked by the star in the ending theme “Hoshi no Kuzu α” (Salyu × haruka) seemed to coexist with a certain sorrow—the ache of being unable to reach the stars. From these impressions, I chose to center the work on Knives’ perspective and the theme of stars, and rather than depicting stars as random lights or movements, I wanted to treat them as something with form and meaning, incorporating the myth of Gemini as one of the zodiac signs into the visual background. I also felt that the image of stars disappearing by morning and reappearing at night was closely tied to the relationship between the protagonists, Vash and Knives.

The video starts as a morning routine video of a woman, but then takes a turn, introducing a woman who, despite feeling physically and mentally unwell, quietly pushes herself to endure. It portrays a morning scene that many women can relate to. Even the woman who had been going to work as usual, trying to keep going as she always had, suddenly pauses to reflect on herself. It conveys the message, “Sometimes, consider alternatives to hidden endurance, such as taking a break.”