Haze Haseru Haterumade

The music video for “Haze Haseru Haterumade” by the “music unit”—or musical collaboration—ZUTOMAYO. Matched with an energetic, high-pitched voice and thrilling musical sound, the video is a retrospective of a girl who bids her friends and past farewell and takes to the stars alone. She changes from her everyday attire to something like a space suit. From there, the animation matches the lyrics and melody and has her singing into a microphone, zooming through outer space on a surf board, drinking juice and watching monitors on a starship, and dancing to the rhythm of the music. Amid all this pop imagery, the video cuts to bizarre creatures and ruins, and the occasional use of a font with an ancient touch suggests a decadent world. Viewers are also compelled to wonder about the mysterious figure under a black-and-white striped hood and who it might be to our heroine. Rather than following a single story, the video prioritizes the music and aims to enhance its charm with evocative imagery.

A music video must convey the song’s intent even on mute, and this production built up the song’s world with images alone. Proof of this lies in my viewing the music video with no sound initially and finding, upon another viewing with the sound on, that the song was similar to what I had imagined. The award is intended to invigorate and lend hope to aspiring videographers and fans of the band, to whom younger generations look up. The animator’s works, created on a per-project basis, are frame after frame that scream “I want to draw this!” Compare this to the frames in commercial works that drone “I was told to draw this.” This award is for those generations. May it serve as a rallying cry. (MIZUSAKI Jumpei)