A timid sheep and Momotaro’s story are portrayed in a junior high school drama.

- Lyrics - Even though there’s no destination, as if to connect, do it again You’re still a thousand miles away Let’s meet here, even if it means nothing I don’t need an answer right away As if to connect, do it again As if to connect, as if to connect Even though I want to say it, as if to shut it away, do it again You’re already a thousand miles away Let’s meet on the moon, if you’re alone too I don’t need an answer right away As if to connect, do it again ×3 As if to connect, as if to connect 1234… As if to connect, as if to connect As if to connect, do it As if to connect, do it again As if to connect, as if embracing right now

Theme: “From Emptiness to Shedding”. The aim was to depict, through collage, a nocturnal inner landscape that begins to reveal a strange beauty within its seemingly plain appearance. I set up the following plot, and this work is meant to visualize only the middle section of it. “After a recent heartbreak, the room and my state of mind feel empty, like an empty box. After that, I wander from place to place in a daze. Everything I see looks hollow. Even when something is moving, it is blurry and hard to make out. I can’t even keep up with it visually. The world appears as an empty box, a meaningless, flavorless void, yet it is accompanied by a suffocating feeling, as if being underwater. But little by little, all of this begins to shimmer. My heart is filled with euphoria, and the inner landscape is completely transformed.”

This work was created through the first collaboration between Kohei Kadowaki and Takaya Kawasaki. It incorporates real-life experiences from Kawasaki’s childhood, and also features photos taken by Kawasaki himself in his hometown and at his home, as well as timelapse footage of the sky shot by Director Kadowaki. The result is a fresh, innovative visual work that seamlessly blends live action and animation. Told as a fantasy-tinged story beginning with the encounter between a boy who has come from the future in a time machine and an elderly man, it delicately portrays the two characters’ memories, bond, and eventual parting through gentle, warm animation.