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Mamoru Oshii, Kōji Morimoto Collaborate on Promo Anime Short For JVC Kenwood Headsets

Veteran anime directors Mamoru Oshii and Kōji Morimoto recently collaborated to produce a promotional animated video for the new "WS-A1" and "WS-A1G" smart headsets by audio equipment manufacturer JVC Kenwood.

The video is titled "CONNECTED..." and depicts a high-school girl having a close encounter (of the third kind) with an unknown alien lifeform emerging from a UFO, and the headphones she is wearing becomes the connection that brings together the alien, herself and other strangers from around the world. Mamoru Oshii produced the original draft and supervised the project, Kōji Morimoto was in charge of the direction and character design, and Hiroaki Takeuchi was the producer.

A key visual advertisement for the short was placed in the concourse outside the ticket gates of Shibuya Station on the Tokyu Den-en-toshi LINE from December 7 to 13, and early purchasers of the targeted products received a postcard (with replica signatures of Oshii and Morimoto) as a special gift.

Oshii and Morimoto both commented on the project and their experience in collaborating with each other, Oshii's comment reads:

I have been watching Morimoto's works since we last worked together, so it was fun to work with him again. I hope you enjoy watching this film, which is a perfect way to convey the appeal of the new device.

Morimoto's comment:

I've been wanting to draw "communication with aliens" for a long time, and this time I was able to do it. What will happen to people when they meet aliens? I hope you enjoy it. It's been a while since I worked with Oshii-san, so I had a lot of fun while making this film. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Producer Hiroaki Takeuchi also shared some interesting tidbits about the collaboration and the unique challenges that COVID-19 brought to the production process. He joked that it was risky entrusting the animation to director Morimoto since he was "famous for his slow production work". He further revealed that Oshii and Morimoto never met in person throughout the collaboration, and that 90% of the entire process was done remotely. Despite the extraordinary circumstances, production went smoothly and the film was completed on schedule thanks to the staff's flexibility and full use of digitization.

Mamoru Oshii is an acclaimed anime and live-action director best known for his work on the Ghost in the Shell and Patlabor anime films. He is currently working with Ichigo Animation on the new anime series Vladlove.

Kōji Morimoto is best known for his work on Akira and The Animatrix (Beyond), as well as being a co-founder of Studio 4°C with fellow animators Eiko Tanaka and Yoshiharu Satō.

Source: Kai-You