Mika Nakashima / Dear

The 11th installment of the stop-motion animation “Liv & Bell,” which has been broadcast for 12 years on NHK E-TV’s Petit Petit Anime.

Junto Nakatani × WOWOW Excite Match Official Collaboration Goods – Overall Design Production

The visual direction is by Natsuki Kida, a filmmaker known for dark fantasy. She depicts a mysterious night through a nostalgic video created with meticulous attention to artistic elements such as characters and background art. In bringing to life the enchanting and beautiful world woven by the song and Aimer’s vocals, I wanted to set the story in a “black forest” illuminated only by moonlight and the shimmer of stars, and portray the events of a mysterious night. A girl who descends from a castle in the sky to the forest below falls asleep. The figure of the girl dancing on in the forest also seems like another version of herself. Is this reality, or a dream the girl is seeing...? Only a polka-dotted beast wandering through the forest watched over the events of that one night. I researched every kind of dance form, including ballet and contemporary dance, and paid particular attention to the girl’s movements in order to create a mysterious presence. I hope that after watching the video, viewers will be left with a strange feeling, as if they have traveled beyond time and space. (Director: Natsuki Kida)