This new work by HIFANA, “TEJIME,” their first in nine years, was released on the first day of the Reiwa era and was inspired by “tejime,” a traditional Japanese celebratory ritual, in order to grandly celebrate the beginning of a new era. HIFANA is, after all, a pioneer of anime music videos in Japan. Animation synchronized with music. Strange and humorous characters. I wanted to portray each element in an extreme way. Using cel shading, a technology that was uniquely developed in Japan, this is a full CG animation created entirely by a single person.

This new work by HIFANA, “TEJIME,” released after a nine-year hiatus, was unveiled on the first day of the Reiwa era and was created with the Japanese traditional celebratory ritual of “tejime” as its inspiration, in order to grandly celebrate a new era. When it comes to HIFANA, they are pioneers of Japanese anime music videos. Animation synchronized with music. Strange and humorous characters. We wanted to present each element in an extreme style. Using cel shading, a technology uniquely developed in Japan, this is a fully CG animated work created entirely by one person.

At YouTube Space Tokyo in Mori Tower, Roppongi, a live stream of a special performance from the party “SpookyHouse,” held on Friday, 10/31, featuring a collaboration between “Daito Manabe / Rhizomatiks” and the breakbeat unit “HIFANA.” With the concept of a real-time music video, this new type of live visual work fused motion capture, AR, and other technologies with musical performance and visual expression at a high level, and drew a major response from YouTube’s global network.