“Electric Girl” is an animated work depicting the everyday life of the protagonist with her anthropomorphized refrigerator at home. In the ending animation, to express the idea that quiet happiness can be found in the small events of everyday life, motifs were borrowed from the poem, “In spring, there are flowers; in autumn, the moon; in summer, cool breezes; in winter, snow. If there are no trivial matters weighing on one’s mind, then these are the best times in life,” and the changing seasons were portrayed. In addition, alongside the use of ink and watercolor in the artwork, imagery of stickers and stamps often used when collaging a planner was incorporated, in an attempt to convey the feeling that “precious days were carefully recorded.”

“Life is...” Introverted, extroverted—life and death repeated unconsciously in everyday life. On the timeline from the birth of the universe to the present, the lifespan of every living being is astonishingly fleeting. It expresses the strength and beauty of life, which resists various events and continues to live on through a chain of memories. All living beings, including humans, are unaware of the phenomena taking place within their own bodies, such as the life and death of cells. For example, if planets or the universe were a single organism and living being, endlessly repeating life and death across an eternally long span of time, perhaps we too are like the cells that support their life processes.

We aimed to create a visual style that blends mechanical animation, making full use of patterns, with traditional hand-drawn animation. Even without facial expressions, a person’s fashion can convey emotion and energy. Clothes chosen by a person of their own free will are not mere decorations; they become part of the body, and there is a sense in which the boundary between fashion and the person becomes increasingly blurred. Fashion, including clothing, accessories, cosmetic surgery, and makeup, seems to lose its boundary with the wearer’s body and mind the more they enjoy wearing it, until it feels like they become that person themselves. We tried to express these ideas through animation.

This work was created when I participated in a social media lettering project by designer JEFF99 (@nesspaula99), in which participants freely designed and presented the Japanese numerals from “one” to “ten.” By adding movement to familiar shapes, I composed the piece so that small discoveries and moments of surprise could be seen throughout. Main production tools: Adobe After Effects, Premiere, and Autodesk 3ds Max Music used: Ian Post, “Variation 1” from Artlist https://artlist.io/royalty-free-music/song/variation-1/88071