is an animated

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...

created by

Studio Ghibli is a Japanese animation studio headquartered in Koganei, Tokyo."Studio Ghibli Collection - Madman Entertainment". ''Studio Ghibli Collection - Madman Entertainment''. Retrieved 2020-12-14. It is best known for its animated feature films, and h ...

for the song " On Your Mark" by the Japanese

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

duo Chage & Aska. The song was released in 1994 as part of the single "Heart". In 1995,

Hayao Miyazaki is a Japanese animator, director, producer, screenwriter, author, and manga artist. A co-founder of Studio Ghibli, he has attained international acclaim as a masterful storyteller and creator of Japanese animated feature films, and is widel ...

wrote and directed the short film for the song as a side-project after having

writer's block Writer's block is a condition, primarily associated with writing, in which an author is either unable to produce new work or experiences a creative slowdown. Mike Rose found that this creative stall is not a result of commitment problems or th ...

with ''

Princess Mononoke is a 1997 Japanese animated epic historical fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki and animated by Studio Ghibli for Tokuma Shoten, Nippon Television Network and Dentsu. The film stars the voices of Yōji Matsuda, Yuriko Ishida ...

''. The

anime is hand-drawn and computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japanese, (a term derived from a shortening of ...

music video is non-linear, providing multiple reiterations and alternate scenes to depict the events. The music video added sound effects to the audio track, but contains no dialogue. Miyazaki purposely misinterpreted the lyrics to present his vision of a world where the surface becomes inhospitable and humans live in an underground city. He made the video cryptic to evoke creative interpretations among viewers. The music video follows two policemen who raid and massacre a religious cult and find an angelic being, only to have her taken away and confined to a secure laboratory. Haunted by the fate of the "angel", the two men formulate a plan and break into the laboratory. Fleeing in an armored truck, the three plummet into an abyss after trying to force past a police aircraft along a narrow, suspended roadway. After a montage of the previous scenes, the armored truck suddenly rockets into an apartment complex, allowing their escape. The three escape to the surface, ignoring the radiation and danger signs, emerging near an encased

nuclear reactor A nuclear reactor is a device used to initiate and control a fission nuclear chain reaction or nuclear fusion reactions. Nuclear reactors are used at nuclear power plants for electricity generation and in nuclear marine propulsion. Heat fr ...

. The two men set the "angel" free and she flies off into the sky. The music video was well-received and praised for its animation and attention to detail. It premiered as a short before Studio Ghibli's ''

Whisper of the Heart is a 1995 Japanese Anime, animated romantic drama film directed by Yoshifumi Kondō and written by Hayao Miyazaki based on the #Background, 1989 manga of the same name by Aoi Hiiragi. It was animated by Studio Ghibli for Tokuma Shoten, Nippon T ...

'' and has since been released on Laserdisc and DVD as part of the ''All Things Ghibli Special Short Short'' compilation.

Synopsis

The video begins with shots of a vacant

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred ...

, overgrown with weeds, and the concrete sarcophagus of a covered-over

in the background. As the music begins, the scene changes to a sci-fi-style nighttime military-style police raid on a cult. Futuristic flying troop transports crash through the windows of a tower topped by gigantic neon-lit eyes and occupied by armed defenders. The policemen exchange gunfire and

grenades A grenade is an explosive weapon typically thrown by hand (also called hand grenade), but can also refer to a shell (explosive projectile) shot from the muzzle of a rifle (as a rifle grenade) or a grenade launcher. A modern hand grenade gene ...

with cultists whose hoods depict an enormous eye. As the victorious police begin to sort through the bodies of the cultists, two policemen find what appears to be a girl, lying unconscious, with large feathered wings on her back. The scene changes again, now to bright daylight and blue sky. Two men are driving an old Alfa Romeo Giulietta Spider passo corto down an empty road. As one of the men helps the girl up, she spreads her wings and he holds her hands while she gains confidence. With a nudge she is airborne, but she seems hesitant and afraid as he lets go. The scene changes back to the discovery of the girl in the tower, and the identity of the two policemen is revealed to be the same from the previous sequence. They carefully carry her out and offer her something to drink. A team of scientists wearing radiation suits arrive and quickly take the girl away. The two men are haunted by the girl's fate and formulate a plan to rescue her. They break into the

laboratory A laboratory (; ; colloquially lab) is a facility that provides controlled conditions in which scientific or technological research, experiments, and measurement may be performed. Laboratory services are provided in a variety of settings: physic ...

and free her from confinement, but the lab's alarms are triggered. The three escape in an

armored truck An armored vehicle (also known as an armored cash transport car, security van, or armored truck) is an armored van or truck used to transport valuables, such as large quantities of money or other valuables, especially for banks or retail c ...

and drive along a narrow suspended roadway over a

domed city A domed city is a hypothetical structure that encloses a large urban area under a single roof. In most descriptions, the dome is airtight and pressurized, creating a habitat that can be controlled for air temperature, composition and quality, ty ...

built in a crater. Police hovercraft are in pursuit, and one of them comes very low to the roadway to block the fugitives' truck. The roadway collapses when the protagonists try to force their way through, sending the truck plummeting. The winged girl refuses to let go of the hands of her rescuers, and the three fall into the abyss. A brief montage of previous shots follows: the discovery of the girl, the girl flying through a blue sky, the two men rescuing the girl from the laboratory and stealing the truck, the truck plummeting amidst the wreckage of the roadway. But this time, the truck fires stabilizing thrusters and makes a short flight into the side of an apartment building. After their escape, the three are riding an old Alfa Romeo Giulietta Spider passo corto through a dark

tunnel A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube cons ...

underneath signs which bear radiation symbols and read (in

kanji are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese ...

) "Beware Of Sunlight" and "Survival Not Guaranteed". As they emerge into daylight, they drive past nuclear

cooling tower A cooling tower is a device that rejects waste heat to the atmosphere through the cooling of a coolant stream, usually a water stream to a lower temperature. Cooling towers may either use the evaporation of water to remove process heat an ...

s and a sign which reads "Extreme Danger" and continue down the road. One of the men helps the girl up, she spreads her wings and gives them a grateful smile; he kisses her hand, and the other winks in farewell. Soon, she is drifting upward into the sky. Briefly, a major urban cityscape is seen beyond the trees. The car veers off the road and slows to a stop in the grass.

Production

The production of the music video began because Miyazaki was suffering from

on ''

'' and needed another project to distract him. Miyazaki wrote and directed the music video for "On Your Mark", although the song was previously released in 1994 as part of the single "Heart". Despite the popularity of the work, Toshio Suzuki told

Helen McCarthy Helen McCarthy (born 27 February 1951) is the British author of such anime reference books as ''500 Manga Heroes and Villains'', ''Anime!'', ''The Anime Movie Guide'' and '' Hayao Miyazaki: Master of Japanese Animation''. She is the co-author o ...

, the British author of numerous anime reference books, that

had not given "100 percent" focus to the music video. In the production of the music video, Miyazaki experimented with using computer animation to supplement traditional hand drawn cell-animation. At the time Studio Ghibli did not have its own computer department and the work was outsourced to CG Production Company Links, under supervision of Hideki Nakano,

Silicon Graphics Silicon Graphics, Inc. (stylized as SiliconGraphics before 1999, later rebranded SGI, historically known as Silicon Graphics Computer Systems or SGCS) was an American high-performance computing manufacturer, producing computer hardware and sof ...

, Softimage 3D, and Alias Research. Techniques learned in the experimentation for ''On Your Mark'' were later adopted for the creation of ''Princess Mononoke''.

Animation director An animation director is either the director in charge of all aspects of the animation process during the production of an animated film or television, and animated segment for a live action film or television show, or the animator in charge of co ...

was Masashi Andō. Long time Miyazaki collaborator Michiyo Yasuda was in charge of colour selection. Backgrounds were created by Kazuo Oga. Yōji Takeshige made his debut as art director. There is no dialogue in the music video and the two policemen are loosely modeled after Chage and Aska.

Analysis

The deliberately non-linear, enigmatic and cryptic style of the music video was intended to stimulate the imaginations of its viewers and their interpretations of the music video." Miyazaki offered an interpretation of the angel as "Hope" and to protect hope could paradoxically mean "to let it go where no-one can touch it". Dani Cavallaro, an author of books related to anime, reflected on this by proposing that hope retains its purity and authenticity when it is ephemeral, evanescent and elusive. Hope may cause exertion and possibly pain, but denying hope is to deny the feasibility or and vision it provides. Miyazaki said that in the music video's setting, humans live in an underground city after the surface of the Earth has been contaminated with radiation, creating a sanctuary for nature. Miyazaki did not find this believable, though, as humanity would suffer on the surface instead. Miyazaki intentionally misinterpreted the lyrics to reflect upon the vision of a world filled with disease and radiation and people's reactions to that world. He implied the two policemen might not be able to return to their old life, but offered no reason as to why. Cavallaro noted that the lyrics of the song include "ryuukou no kaze", which translates to "flu" and is also an idiom for "the flu of fashion." The author further interpreted it as "I always feel the urge to make a fresh start" suggesting this could be the "bleak acceptance of the ideological and economic codes that mold our lives in accordance with the imperative of planned obsolescence, or as a hopeful embracing of the genuine prospects of renewal and change." Cavallaro suggested that despite the feminine appearance of the "angel", it could be of a "preternatural order", making gender or sex distinctions irrelevant. Miyazaki referred to the angelic creature as "tori no hito" or "a bird's person" which is the nickname of Nausicaä from his ''Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind'' manga and film. Cavallaro noted another visual correspondence to '' Only Yesterday'' with the oppressive urban environment and the freedom of open spaces. During their April 1999 lecture series on manga,

and the works of Miyazaki at the

University of Dallas The University of Dallas is a private Catholic university in Irving, Texas. Established in 1956, it is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. The university comprises four academic units: the Braniff Graduate School ...

, Pamela Gossin, Professor of Arts and Humanities, and guest instructor Marc Hairston, research scientist in the William B. Hanson Center for Space Sciences, discussed ''On Your Mark'' in their lecture, "In the ''Coda On Your Mark and Nausicaa'', and drew parallels to the ''Nausicaä'' story, its titular character and its conclusion. Gossin and Hairston interpreted the release of the winged girl at the end of the video as Miyazaki setting free his character in a manner reminiscent of

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

's symbolic liberation of his characters, through

Prospero Prospero ( ) is a fictional character and the protagonist of William Shakespeare's play '' The Tempest''. Prospero is the rightful Duke of Milan, whose usurping brother, Antonio, had put him (with his three-year-old daughter, Miranda) to se ...

's release of his servant

Ariel Ariel may refer to: Film and television *Ariel Award, a Mexican Academy of Film award * ''Ariel'' (film), a 1988 Finnish film by Aki Kaurismäki * ''ARIEL Visual'' and ''ARIEL Deluxe'', 1989 and 1991 anime video series based on the novel series ...

in his play The Tempest. The final volume of the ''Nausicaä'' manga was released in January 1995. Miyazaki started creating ''On Your Mark'' that same month. McCarthy highlighted similarities to different works and real life found throughout the film, remarking that the opening city sequence could be an homage to '' Akira'' or ''

Blade Runner ''Blade Runner'' is a 1982 science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott, and written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples. Starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, and Edward James Olmos, it is an adaptation of Philip K. Dick' ...

'' and the attack on the religious cult could be a reflection of the

Aum Shinrikyo , formerly , is a Japanese doomsday cult founded by Shoko Asahara in 1987. It carried out the deadly Tokyo subway sarin attack in 1995 and was found to have been responsible for the Matsumoto sarin attack the previous year. The group says ...

movement. Nausicaa.net stated the production occurred prior to the police raid following the

Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway The was an act of domestic terrorism perpetrated on 20 March 1995, in Tokyo, Japan, by members of the cult movement Aum Shinrikyo. In five coordinated attacks, the perpetrators released sarin on three lines of the Tokyo Metro (then ''Teito Rapid ...

in March 1995. McCarthy also noted that the film's scientists' decontamination gear look like the hero of ''

Porco Rosso is a 1992 Japanese animated adventure-fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki. It is based on '' Hikōtei Jidai'' ("The Age of the Flying Boat"), a three-part 1989 watercolor manga by Miyazaki. It stars the voices of Shūichirō M ...

'' and the rescue scene is reminiscent of Princess Leia in Star Wars. The encased or "box" structure in the film is an homage to the

Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (ChNPP; ; ), is a nuclear power plant undergoing decommissioning. ChNPP is located near the abandoned city of Pripyat in northern Ukraine northwest of the city of Chernobyl, from the Belarus–Ukraine borde ...

which was entombed in concrete following the Chernobyl disaster. Miyazaki scholar observed that the urban settings have a ''China Town style'' and resemble the cityscapes of

Mamoru Oshii is a Japanese filmmaker, television director and writer. Famous for his philosophy-oriented storytelling, Oshii has directed a number of acclaimed anime films, including '' Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer'' (1984), ''Angel's Egg'' (1985), ...

's ''

Ghost in the Shell ''Ghost in the Shell'' is a Japanese cyberpunk media franchise based on the seinen manga series of the same name written and illustrated by Masamune Shirow. The manga, first serialized in 1989 under the subtitle of ''The Ghost in the Shell'' ...

'' animated film adaptation, in production at the time. While Miyazaki has been non-committal about the nature of his winged entity in ''On your Mark'', Kanō noted that the manga ', an unfinished collaborative effort by Oshii and

Satoshi Kon was a Japanese film director, animator, screenwriter and manga artist from Sapporo, Hokkaido and a member of the Japanese Animation Creators Association (JAniCA). He was a graduate of the Graphic Design department of the Musashino Art Univer ...

, with its ''Angel Disease'' theme, was still serialized in Animage at the time Miyazaki was creating ''On Your Mark'' in 1995.

Reception

The music video was well received. Dr. Patrick Collins, a science writer, called it "the most perfect short science fantasy film I've ever seen." McCarter of ''EX Magazine'' praised the film's attention to detail that brought the world to life. ''THEM Anime'' praised the music video and said that it alone was worth the price of ''Ghibli ga Ippai Special Short Short''.

Releases

The music video was released theatrically with ''

'' on July 15, 1995. Chage & Aska also used the film in concerts. The first official screening took place at their fan club concert, held at the

Makuhari Messe is a Japanese convention center outside Tokyo, located in the Mihama-ku ward of Chiba City, in the northwest corner of Chiba Prefecture. Designed by Fumihiko Maki, it is accessible by Tokyo's commuter rail system. ''Makuhari'' is the name of ...

in Chiba, on June 29, 1995. Beginning July 5, 1995, the video was shown for the performance of the song during the ''Super Best 3 Mission Impossible'' tour. Featuring the same melody but different lyrics than ''On Your Mark'', ''Castles in the Air'' was included on the English-language album ''One Voice: The Songs of Chage & Aska''. On April 10, 1996, during an airing on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

as part of

Four-Mations ''Four-Mations'' was a regular animation strand broadcast in the United Kingdom on Channel 4 in the 1990s. The series featured short animated films, tributes, and sometimes a documentary on animation. The series was notable for co-financing som ...

. The music video was later released on VHS and Laserdisc by

Pony Canyon , also known by the shorthand form , is a Japanese mass media publishing company founded on October 1, 1966. The company publishes mainly physical home media on compact discs, including music, films and TV shows and video games. It is affi ...

on July 25, 1997, due to popular demand. On November 15, 2005, it was included on Buena Vista Home Entertainment's "Ghibli ga Ippai SPECIAL Short Short" DVD, where it can be played with either the original "On Your Mark" or "Castles in the Air" songs. It was planned to be included on the "Hayao Miyazaki Collection", but after Aska (Shigeaki Miyazaki) of the musical duo Chage and Aska was arrested for drug possession, Walt Disney Studios Japan removed ''On Your Mark'' from the upcoming DVD/Blu-ray box set containing Hayao Miyazaki's works, delayed the release by two weeks in order to remove the video and ceased shipments of ''Ghibli ga Ippai SPECIAL Short Short''. On October 27, 2014, Studio Ghibli's Toshio Suzuki announced on the company's web page that they and Disney had re-considered the situation and would be sending out Blu-ray discs to purchasers of the Hayao Miyazaki box set, as long as they could provide proof of purchase. These standalone releases were self-distributed by Studio Ghibli for this reason. On April 10, 2019, Walt Disney Japan announced the Blu-ray and DVD release of ''Ghibli ga Ippai Special Short Short 1992-2016'', an expanded edition of ''Ghibli ga Ippai Special Short Short'' that includes titles released after 2005. ''On Your Mark'' is on the disc, and it was released on July 17, 2019.

References

External links

* * * {{Good article 1995 films 1995 short films 1995 anime OVAs Animated music videos Films directed by Hayao Miyazaki Music videos Science fiction anime and manga Studio Ghibli animated films