Watching 'Shelter'

"Shelter" is a song by Porter Robinson and Madeon, and the music video is an anime produced and licenced by A-1 Pictures and Crunchyroll respectively. The story for the music video itself as conveyed by the animation was brought by Porter Robinson himself, while the animation was directed by Akai Tishifumi (Assistant Director—Darling in the FranXX), with the animation director being Kuono Megumi (Key Animation—Kill la Kill), the music video also stars Misawa Sachika (Accel World) as Rin. The song and music video was released in the fall of 2016.

Starting Off

Despite the video being only five to six minutes long, there is a lot of visual metaphor crammed into every frame. What's more is that these metaphors are incredibly interpretive and dependant upon the personal experiences of those who watches it that I argue no two readings would be the same. Despite the short length, I found that the animation touches on loneliness, love, parenthood, isolation, creativity, existentialism, and imagination. Accompanying these themes is a thick layer of earnestness, fueled by pure emotion, driven by passion, and held together by a strong narrative.

Narrative

The story that is conveyed through the visuals is quite interesting and well put together. Rin is living inside of a simulation where she creates without any limits. After a certain length of time her memories returned to her and she is made aware of the situation that she is in and how she got there. As a result of the heavy science fiction ideas that are present, it is impressive that the narrative did not get muddled. The fact that the short ends ambiguously is a strength, despite personally not liking them as a whole a majority of the time. This allows you to feel the emotion that you feel is appropriate and look at the story in a way that is personal to you.

Characters

There are only two characters in the short. Rin at various stages of her life, and her father. The interaction and the narrative that follows the two of them is the emotional core. It goes so far as to really emphasis the love between a parent and a child and the lengths one would go to protect a child. While they are glimpses into the past we get a true sense of their relationship, and as a result while you know exactly what is to come, the short manages to get an emotional response from you.

Visuals

The visuals are beyond stunning. As is typical of A-1, the presentation is pristine, and refined. While at some points this is a detriment as much of A-1 anime has a very similar aesthetic, for the concept that they were putting across it really fit. The colour palette is incredibly vibrant making every frame a visual treat, and the movement is fantastic as it is really engaging to watch what it happening. The character designs are interestingly quite different from typical A-1 and the lighting makes it seem more like a Kyoto Animation production. As such it is great to see that A-1 is capable of something so different.

Music

What makes this piece different from all of my previous writings is that this is ultimately a music video, and as such the music is just as important, if not more so than the visuals. When listening to the song the first thing it reminds me of is Owl City, with its distinct upbeat melody that never fails to put a smile on the face, and the autotune feel to the vocals. It's not the type of music that I typically listen to, and at no point will I skip it if it ever came on a playlist. The lyrics compliment the video incredibly well and echoes the themes that is put across in the visuals. Both the song and the visuals work together to elevate each other to the peak to make it as good as possible.

In Closing

I find this to be a wonderful creative synthesis between music and animation. As such it is one I encourage you to watch. It is available on Crunchyroll and YouTube.