It is a portrayal of love conveyed through scenes of everyday life.

This music video is for “Tomadoi Telepathy,” a tie-in song for NTT Docomo’s next-generation communications standard, 5G, sung by the virtual singer KAFU. To interpret next-generation communications standard “5G” as a metaphor for high-speed internet, we proposed the concept of “KAFU taking part in a VR racing game.” With future-forward art direction reminiscent of WipeOut and RedOut, and the extreme racing action unique to anti-gravity racing games, the video expresses an image of the internet space of the future. Two perspectives were deliberately depicted in this MV. One is KAFU’s first-person perspective as she immerses herself in a racing game as a metaphor for the future internet space; the other is a third-person perspective, composed like manga panel layouts using graphics modeled after desktop browser windows. An MV can sometimes feel awkward when a manga-like panel structure does not align with the music’s tone, but by styling the panels after browser windows, the direction more strongly reinforces the internet-space theme that is the subject of the MV. The racing scenes using VR goggles serve as a metaphor for the next-generation internet space, while also representing a first-person perspective immersed in that space. The visuals of the racing scenes draw inspiration from WipeOut, whose art direction was handled by Designers Republic, but turning the parody of a specific title into the concept itself could never rival an MV made in MAD style. So while retaining the futuristic feel, we used a vividly primary-color palette reminiscent of web 1.0, and forcibly arranged backgrounds made from 2D graphics and photo collages into a 3D space to create the image of the internet as a circuit course. The racing craft were also designed in an avatar-like style by making the racer visible on a Mario Kart-like vehicle, and by unifying the characters’ base forms into silhouettes that resemble the figure eight. The avatar designs drew on icons symbolizing net culture—such as Mona from 2channel ASCII art, vaporwave-style plaster busts, and emoji motifs—to depict lively racing scenes. In the racing scenes, motion blur was applied to the backgrounds to express an overwhelming sense of speed. If standard After Effects motion blur is used, it tends to suggest the subject itself is blurred due to the lens shutter speed. To evoke a digital space made of accumulated bitmaps, the render settings were set to “Draft” so that the output would not use anti-aliasing. For the blur effect, we used a Displacement Map effect, which is often employed to simulate datamosh. By assigning a striped graphic as the map layer, the motif silhouettes are distorted as if with speed lines, and together with the camera work, a pseudo-motion blur can be created.

A lavish track by Hakushi Hasegawa × TOKYO SKA PARADISE ORCHESTRA. Hakushi Hasegawa says, “I want to see you again like a ghost,” and then appears as an anime character, or disappears into an afterimage. I hope the people who see it can meet there. Though the form doesn’t resemble him, the movements and gestures of the red afterimage, the “feeling” itself, were Hakushi Hasegawa—that is what I think the meeting of anima and anima is. As a tribute to Sophie’s song “It’s Okay To Cry,” who passed away just before this song was made, there is also a moment where Hakushi Hasegawa’s animated character briefly strikes the pose from the thumbnail of that music video. Whether because of COVID or being unable to meet, we are waiting for the other side of the wormhole, like Zoom, to connect again; or, if you watch this MV, I hope our eyes can meet.

Sound producer SKYTOPIA, also a member of KOMONO LAKE and Coldhot, and graphic designer Ikuho Tamura have released their fourth collaborative single, “FLUTERRA.” Based on UK garage and trap beats, this work—whose title combines a word for flute with a coined term meaning earth—was completed through the parallel production of both the music and the visuals. Its simple vector art, composed of limited areas of color, expresses a dynamic yet fanciful ecosystem.