Official video from Pokémon Kids TV, the kids’ YouTube channel for Pokémon. This freshly completed anime MV was released at the end of February 2024. Fuecoco? No—this is Sprigatito, the Pokémon with a whimsical personality. The story depicts the adorable everyday life of a girl and her Sprigatito, who just won’t quite warm up to her. Sprigatito, the cat-themed Pokémon, trusts its owner while still keeping its distance—just like a real cat. It’s sure to be a video that really resonates with cat lovers, too. Directed and written by Takehito Shinkai, who has extensive directing experience on ETV; animated by Imomushi, an artist active on shows like Shinapushu; and sung by chill musician kiki vivi lily. The carefully chosen team of specialists further enhances the work’s irresistibly cute appeal.

“Drifting in a Dream” is a video work that portrays the comfort and light of drifting through a dream. It was created with the aim of freeing the viewer’s mind and offering a moment to be enveloped in a quiet, beautiful dream world. By surrendering to the soft light and sound, I hope it brings back a sense of pure happiness that may have been forgotten. For the production, I used Blender, the 3DCG software I have relied on for many years. I chose Cycles for rendering and devoted meticulous attention to expressing the texture of light and atmosphere. In particular, for the lighting, I repeatedly refined the settings, making full use of softly diffused light and volumetric effects so that viewers could feel a sense of calm. For the music, I commissioned cokiyu, an artist known for creating many fantastical, dreamy pieces and for contributing music to the film Confessions, directed by Tetsuya Nakashima. She delicately expressed the concept of “comfort and light in a dream,” and the visuals and music come together to create an ethereal experience.

This music video portrays the protagonist’s struggle and recovery as a “choral member who has lost the joy of singing,” layering it with motifs of flowers and butterflies. The shifting color of the soothing herbal tea “butterfly pea,” which changes from blue to purple, symbolizes the members’ bond and the trigger for renewal, while the overlap between center Yunana Shibata’s member color and Nogizaka46’s signature color reflects a gradient of the heart moving from tension toward release. Butterflies resting their wings before taking flight once more. Inspired by that motif, flower petals rendered in CG drift upward from below to above, symbolically coloring the dance scenes. By singing together with companions, the work delicately depicts the rising emotions that break free from confinement and the shared energy that fills a single space.

A showreel compiling Hidetoshi Hirai’s works up to 2020.