Commentary: I’marine Project, a content line for younger audiences and otaku that spun off from Sanyo’s "Umi Monogatari." (Marin-chan and I’marine are not the same person.) A music video that portrays the world of I’marine and Ichikazeiro, characters set up to travel between virtual space and reality, in a multidimensional way while depicting their storyline and worldview through a variety of expressions. 3DCG, live action, hand-drawn animation, dot animation, motion graphics, craft-like animation, VR, and more—all the forms of expression I’ve ever directed, packed without omission or restraint into a single music video.

To celebrate his 30th debut anniversary, Ken Hirai will release and make available all of his music videos on November 19, 2025. The full version of the official music video for “ON AIR” (from his 9th album THE STILL LIFE), directed and animated by OTAMIRAMS, has also been released. - This music video for “ON AIR,” a heart-fluttering pop song full of ‘80s flair that Ken Hirai wrote as the 30th anniversary theme song for his hometown station FM Mie, captures the song’s retro charm. Although it had not yet been released, the track was performed at venues across the country during his nationwide hall tour marking the 20th anniversary of his debut, where it drew a strong response. Now, the up-and-coming creative team OTAMIRAMS has turned it into an addictive yet cute and fancy animated music video brimming with ‘80s style.

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Collaboration track “bootleg wonderland” by virtual singer Madobe Rika and TORIENA Planning and composition were handled by Toshitaka Shinoda. The video direction was divided among the three of them—Toshitaka Shinoda, Yonayona graphics, and Natsuki Tatematsu—each taking on different cuts. Shinoda conveyed the story concept to me, built around the imagery of Heisei-era internet horror and the deep web, connected with 9mm film footage shot in the mountains, and from there the cut concepts, imagery for each person’s assigned parts, and editing were all produced independently. For the cuts I was in charge of, I aimed to create sequences in which countless elements rush by like a flashback, drawing on the pleasant distortions and the layering of innumerable sounds that I felt in the music, as well as the project’s imagery. I also aimed to create cuts whose contrast with the live-action footage would remain as a sense of discomfort when placed side by side in the overall progression. Rather than delicate, detailed effective movement, I focused on inserting a variety of rough, miscellaneous effects, and I created the illustrations myself to add subcultural imagery to the material’s variety.