Music video for Vaundy's “life hack.” Created around the theme of the distance in love.

Ayumu Imazu - LIVE IT UP! (feat. Furui Riho) [Music Video]

Conceptualized around LGBT, I made it with a slightly detached perspective so as not to intrude too much into their world. To avoid the theme coming across too strongly, I created it as a music video that follows the process in a watchful, observant way.

I directed animation for the first time after having only ever made independent animations before. In independent production, data management is much looser, there’s no need to separate in-between drawings from key drawings, and there’s no need to give instructions to anyone, but commercial animation doesn’t work that way, so it was tough. There were at least three major accidents, and I ended up drawing a huge amount of layout, key animation, in-between animation, and backgrounds. In the end, I got heavily involved in every stage except the photography, and for the month leading up to the deadline—34 days—I worked every day for 13 hours while talking on the phone with the art director, making it feel like the three of us, including the photography director, were producing an independent animation. Because my memories of my first time as director were like this, it has become a trauma.