Following a family over the course of a year, in step with a daily tear-off calendar.

This is an original video work created inspired by Roniit’s song “Purify.” Using CG, I expressed the themes of “life that is born and then fades away” and “a world that is magnificent and beautiful, yet somehow tinged with fragility and irrationality.” A single star is born in a sterile space. The life that emerges from it encounters other forms of life, collides with them, undergoes chemical reactions, and eventually disappears— this entire process is depicted abstractly from the perspective of an unemotional third party. While centering on my strengths in 3DCG and VFX, I also experimentally incorporated AI technology at certain points, blending them together in a subtle way. I made this video with pure feelings as a fan of Roniit, and I was truly delighted to receive a message from Roniit through social media, and even more so to have it shared by them. It has become a very precious work to me.

This work was released as a collaborative music video between YOASOBI and a Naoki Prize-winning author, and is an adaptation of “Yūrei” from Hajimete no (published by Suirinsha), a novel by author Mizuki Tsujimura. Built around YOASOBI’s brisk horn sound and lyrics based on a sentimental novel, this film is an audiovisual work that greatly expands upon the song. It was produced as a fully remote, fully digital animation project, led by director Asuka Toka, producer and assistant director Shiko. The concept of the film is to express the beautiful night seen by a teenage girl. The aim was to draw viewers into the world of the story by delivering a film that consistently maintains a high level of artistry, drama, and entertainment value. To capture the delicate imagery of the lyrics, and under director Asuka Toka’s vision of bringing the whole piece closer to the delicate texture of an illustration, the characters are drawn with many special line treatments not typically used in standard animation. This became a section that strongly reflects the production theme of maximizing the creative work of Asuka Toka, an animation creator and illustrator. This work also embodies Kiko, the animation studio’s statement of pursuing the freedom inherent in animation expression and delivering a piece that will remain in the heart.