Shelter (Music)

This might be one of the worst things I have ever watched.

Let's get two things out of the way. Undeniably, this video looks good. It's well drawn, well animated, and is certainly eye catching with its colorful visuals and impressively imaginative landscapes. As music, this is not something that's suited to me, but I can at least understand people who think that Porter's music is palatable to them.

My problem with this piece is not related to the audiovisuals but rather with the idea that this should be taken as a story or a music video that is trying to be something more than just ... Porter's music meshed with beautifully animated sequences. I understand that these criticisms are often held back by the difficulties of critiquing something that isn't overtly concerned with story, but in a piece so unabashedly attempting to draw sympathy, there's fair ground here to levy some serious concerns.

Shelter exemplifies everything that is wrong with storytelling in anime, namely that rather attempting to tell a real story developed with content and meaningful emotion, it takes the most abusive shortcut by designing a cute character, throwing her into a position of bittersweet melancholy, and using that as a means of manipulating our basest emotions into believing there is something meaningful and tragic to be said.

People are praising the emotional resonance in the story and its ability to bring out the loneliness lost in the profundity of memory. Yet, consider a world where the main character is not a beautiful teenage girl, lost and confused in a world completely foreign to her. When you remove that physical appearance that makes us so inexplicably attracted to her stake in the story, there is ultimately no reason for us to feel sympathy. It is completely superficial.

One might say that it's only a six minute short, but the fact that Shelter goes out of its way to show for a split second the main character's letter from her father, to invoke the community to spend time and read it on a second watch, tells me that there is a serious intent to manifest some semblance of a meaningful story. However, that is undermined precisely by the video's own neglect of that story. Much like many other anime designed purely for cheap tears and easy pity, we are given not substance, but rather a montage of a young innocent girl cherishing sweet memories with someone we barely meet.

Sure it can be cute, but that does not preclude it from being utterly trite. Shelter offends its audience by presenting us with its fascinating visuals, the ostensible undertones of a post-apocalyptic world, the perceived loneliness of being potentially the last human in the universe, but gives us nothing more than the lowest common denominator of a story, one that galvanizes its sympathies out of the most mundane and pathetic tricks in the book, and half-expects us to take it seriously. I cannot in good conscience, recommend this music video to anyone.

Shelter is, basically, a condensate of every single element of tear-jerk shows, sad videos and others things like this.

That's not the main problem but it's still something that keep bothering me.
Some people tends to say that something very sad is a synonym to perfection.
Ok then, let me try something.
If Shelter wasn't a sad story about sad things in life, would you rate it this high ?
It seems like some people just doesn't want to face the reality, the fact that they love Shelter only for this sad side.
I'm not fond of this and yet enjoy sad productions.
I'm not fond of this because the ... only purpose of Shelter is to create an exaggerated feel of sadness, nothing else.
The story is cliché, the storytelling is utterly random and anarchic, characters are
b l a n d and the scenario is VERY predictable for a 6 minutes music video, where's my plot twist ?
But the story is mostly cliché because of this will to make a tearjerk, to dry your eyes.
For years, japanimation has been making this kind of content. Clannad, Shigatsu, those "sadsad" anime. They aren't horrible nor good, they're just frustrating because the only factor that people retain is "HOW SAD, I CRIED MY BLOOD".

And that's the same problem with Shelter, everything is made in order to make you c r y.
I can't even focus on the story because of this montage, those tears, this way to direct the movie.

And the music, god, the fudging music.
It's litteraly every-EDM/electro-track ever, nothing original, just the same sounds, the same tempo, the same rythm, the same drops, the same feeling of boredom when I listen to.

In the end, Shelter is bad, I mean it.
I wasn't expecting something great but the moment I understood it was about tearjerk, I almost screamed in my room, screams filled with despair.

"Shelter" is the music video/"short film" for the Porter Robinson and Madeon collaborative EDM track of the same name. Many media outlets were excitedly sharing the news of this groundbreaking piece of media, a western musician and a Japanese animation studio working together to create something (a concept people seem to forget is not new at all). I was initially excited too, being a fan of Porter Robinson's music. However, once I actually watched it, my hype slowly drained away and he obvious truths of the situation set in.
The "story", however minimal and uninspired it was, felt a lot like something you would see conceptualised ... by a self-proclaimed white "otaku" who exclusively watches entry level stuff-- oh wait, that's entirely what this is!
Shelter is, visually, pretty, but nothing all too special for something this short in this day in age. The visuals look like anything else Aniplex could have had a hand in creating, reminding me of more than just one or two A-1 Pictures series I've seen before. The sound was the big drawcard for this project, and my thoughts on the music remain the same as when the track debuted - a weak collaboration from two interesting producers who could have made something much less boring. The voice acting was just as minimal as my interest in the sound of this "short film", with a couple of lines book-ending the music video.
The characters were, well, not really a thing. We have "girl" and we have "man". Neither matter, at all, and neither have overly memorable character designs. Try to imagine some background character from Erased or SAO and you have your characters.
Overall, this was absolutely trite garbage that I regret investing my interest and the few moments of my time into. Pretentiously titled a "short film" despite being a music video with "uwaa~ flashy cgi visuals and anime style characters soo-goy desu desu~" and less story to it than something similar but far less condescending, Kanye West's "Good Morning" Japanese animated music video. I'm generously giving a 4/10 for "Shelter".

It's quite hard to review music videos, and in this case it's anime related and went viral instantly. Leading all the masses to watch it since It's only 6 minutes long.
So the problem with it going viral quick means It's going to get Perfect scores because of the following points:

a) It's from a known EDM artists known as Porter Robinson and Madeon
b) It's well animated and has quite a pretty artwork and a moe girl
c) It's short and viral so more people with lower standards are going to rate it high
d) "feels"

After going through these points I'm going to give my own opinion about ... the 6 minutes long music video.

First we are introduced with Rin and her virtual world, showing us all these beautiful landscapes and how she spends her ever lonely days in there. The art and animation are done by A-1 Pictures that are famous for series such as Anohana, Erased and Your lie in April. As you can expect, the work done by them is excellent. Though there were many still screens that were hidden with a layer of effects added into it.

But here comes the reasons that ruined the video for me.
Shelter tries to jam too much information and emotions into 6 minutes. Using all the easiest tropes that make you emotional inside, such as isolated childlike girl, no parents, flashbacks, humanity threatening catastrophe, after death message and last but not least ''the alone in space trope".

Suddenly It jumps into her childhood and memories of her father, vaguely showing us how she ended up in her pod. At the same time the generic EDM blasts in the background with vocals that try to be meaningful but don't really have that much context with the actual video. Even the animation doesn't add to the music and It's like they told A-1 Pictures to do their own thing and after that added the music on top of it.

Ultimately Shelter trips on it's own ambition trying too hard in making people feel for their character that we've literally known for 5 minutes. It feels forced and generic, maybe if it would have been a full feature movie It could be okay.

+Art and animation

-Music didn't sync with the video at all
-Tried to force feelings to the audience
-Too much stuff put in six minutes
-Bland character(s)
-No actual story, just the established setting for the "drama".
-More tropes than even the most generic series offer

Shelter is what couldve been a decent "short music animation/video" or whatever you'd call it since it's so unique in that sense. All judgement aside, I like that the creators made something different and weren't afraid to do so. BUT that doesn't make Shelter any better than it really is!
***I see this happen all the time on soundcloud, someone makes something unique but their song is shit. Yet they get so much commemoration just because they made something different.
I believe that it is far from a masterpiece, and its resemblance to hit song lyrics is frightening.

The music: The song is good, heck, I'm a fan ... of Porter Robinson and Madeon. There's good transitions and progression, though at times it can seem a bit repetitive. The song is pretty appropriate for the message the animation is trying to say, but not consistently (I'll talk about this later). One problem that really hit me hard watching this was that the music was so loud I could barely focus on either the animation or the song. The two were so disconnected, it was as if I were watching an anime while listening to an EDM song in the background.

The animation: Beautiful colors, so vibrant, action packed progression really immersing. Aside from this, the entire time I felt like A-1 was just showing off. I've gotta praise the creativity and aesthetic of each of the "dimensions" she created with her imagination. Still, the animation and art style simply did not fit the music half the time. If you're going to join music with animation the viewer has to experience a connection. This lacking of resonance destroys the potential of the work of art.

The story: The basic plot idea is generic. Heck, just one month ago when I was thinking of good ideas for making an animation of my own (in a club) I thought of the same exact thing. It felt to me like the whole idea of an apocalypse and isolation in space was added just to make it seem less generic. Heck, if this was longer than 6 minutes, this might've been fine. The problem lies in that the magnitude of the plot should coincide with the length of story telling and background information. The approach to making this really just feels like they put together a story that seems deep on the outside to have viewers fill in the gaps, BUT ITS STILL EMPTY. People are looking for something deeper in this and the fact is simply that nothing else exists.

Character/character development/emotions??: First of all, the character is the plainest most generic thing there is. Sure, there's limited time so they can't expand on her personality, but other creators have been able to overcome this problem through dialogue and mannerisms. So why should we care if is a character is generic? It's clearly just a means to make it RELATABLE. That's what infuriates me about this. People go nuts over it because they relate to it. It's just like crappy radio hits that make lyrics that fit everyone's life. But true art is unique, has personality, that's what art is about. Art is experiencing someone else's life and story to help you learn what you are and what you aren't.

I think Shelter is extremely empty and is only made to appear sophisticated. I truly pity people who have evoked feelings for this, but I guess people have just become walking robots due to "art" like this. It's sad how commercialized art makes people lose their identities, and all I want to do is have people break free from the brainwashing. You have to find yourself, not relate yourself to a generic situation as if it truly understands you.

I'm gonna look at this from beginning to end, so spoilers ahead. You can watch the whole 6 minute thing on Youtube for free.

We open to a girl with huge anime eyes, because we don't use stylized artstyles to set a tone and allow us to better express ideas (Kaiba's a good example of that) anymore but to pander to otakus. More enforced by the camera flashing around her short skirt. A1 pictures after all.

Next, if a story is going to focus on one perspective, we'd better be aware of what that character knows, unless there's a good in universe reason for it ... (Fightclub). Blabbering some vague nonsense is also getting old. Take a movie like Synecdoche, New York which starts with a little girl signing a song; it sets the location and foreshadows the plot, while not being incoherent for the viewer.

Afterwards, the music video portion is wasting time as it doesn't advance the narrative and gets into repetition. Not an expert to comment on the music itself, so if the composition was well made, let me know. For my part, the autotune was annoying the music so loud it started giving me a headache after multiple viewings. It's not as bad as I might make it out to be.

Ok, now logic time. If in whatever time or alternative earth this takes place, keeping people alive through the machines they plagiarized from The Matrix is a thing, as well as launching people into space, then why's just the girl getting away. Oh no, excuse me, if one person can manage to do all that, then how come humanity doesn't launch the equivalent of a space station, with enough people to reproduce the species and tie them to computers, which I guess also give you the nutriments to survive. But no, this plan is just an one-off. This is even worse when the whole thing ends up with a message about hope. What hope? Earth's presumably destroyed and she's the only one alive in a ship in the middle of nowhere. At that point I'd support assisted suicide. Can you image how living in complete solidarity, unable to die must feel?

That done, we're left with a few other things. There are no characters, but walking cliches with no depth. Girl is lonely, father's protective. That's about it. And I am aware this is a music video. That's no excuse, something as simple as a dish track, like Eminem's Warning, can present more complex characters.

I've already commented on the bad character design. The animation itself is good and the color scheme competent in its use of color theory and saturation.

This music video garnered traction because the anime community far too often decides to suspend their mental faculties and be swayed by emotional manipulation. Not worth the hassle.

Shelter, a six minutes music video that I think people are taking too seriously. While I understand that people like it, I don't have words to describe how wrong are people by saying it's deep and that you can relate or sympathise with the "characters". Now, don't get me wrong, as a music video, Shelter is on the better side, but as a story it is incredibly lacking.

Story: 5/10
So we have this ordinary 10 year old girl who ended up in a space cabin in a state of induced coma so that she is in a simulation program, and that's the way she has been ... for 7 years (the 2700 and something days she has been without messages) since. We get glimpses of her past, with her father being, as I understood it, a scientist. My problem with the story is that this is both a synopsis and the whole story, it doesn't go beyond this. We have glimpses of a beginning and a problem, but not a single second of resolution. The only moment of story development that we get is when she recieves a message from her father, which means he sent his daughter to outer space and has her location, but is not willing or able to get her for some reason. That's it. If this was a first episode, it would have been actually great, but as a whole story, as I've said, it lacks.


Characters: 2/10
We meet two characters in this story: the girl and her father.

The girl is just a face. She half explains her situation and has an unrealisticly cheerful personality for, you know, being tapped for 7 years alone since she was a child. Very deep of a character, no?

Second, is the father. He is supposedly the one who built the shelter and that's pretty much it. We just get that, we don't even get the reason as to why he put his daughter in that situation.


Music: 6/10

It's not the kind of music I listen to on a regular bases, but I did enjoy it. I mean, it's not Yuki Kajiura or anything, but it was good, overall.


Art: 6/10
The style of drawing is, well, average. It's nothing really original. The fluidity was ok-ish as well. The only thing that stands out is the color selection and how well it can adjust to the story and it's different scenes.


Enjoyment: 6/10
As I've said, Shelter is on the better side for music videos, but here on myanimelist it's part of the ranking, which means I have to put it on the same ground as any other anime TV series, movie, OVA, ONA or special that there is, and as such it doesn't stamd out at all, or at least it shouldn't in my opinion. If there was a ranking for animated music videos, though, Shelter would be pretty near the top.


Overall: 4/10
Thank you for reading.

I don't usually write reviews, but here the task is easy since the show lasts six minutes only.

First thing first: if you want a really good short sci-fi animation, go see Voices of a Distant Star by Makoto Shinkai. A hundred times deeper, a hundred times better. In Shelter, characters are not developed, the setting is poor and nothing really happens; the only thing you will remember are some visually nice backgrounds (still pretty mediocre though).
Since character(s) are poor, art is not exceptional, plot is not developed (six minutes is a strong handicap though), forced emotions and catchy design, just like many contemporary series, are ... put in to make you enjoy the show. However, in my opinion, a supposed seventeen-year-old girl, that seems to be seven, is probably not the best idea as the protagonist for a dramatic situation. Let's say "supposed dramatic situation", considering that half of the story is about cute drawings and cute outfit... well, that's exactly the point: focusing on a contrast between reality and ideas in terms of aesthetics, not even trying to develop the backstory or make the setting seems realistic, is just wrong on a narrative side. I know people prefer this kind of escapist shows nowadays, but stop considering them psychological masterpieces. Shelter is no exception.

If you want to see a well-written animated music video, check On Your Mark.


Since I don't usually write stuff in English, I apologize for any grammatical and/or syntactical error.

I’ll have to admit that the first time I watched Shelter, I was left with a feeling of confusion. At the time, I decided not to do too much in-depth research on the video since it was only six minutes long, but I did end up being exposed to multiple comments praising its depth and emotionality. I was quickly intrigued, but my curiosity only lead to me developing mixed feelings about this short after my first viewing. Originally, I had interpreted the plot of Shelter to be a metaphor for the pain and loneliness of growing up and letting go of prominent supportive figures, such ... as parents. However, when I went off to investigate further by reading the comments and discussions of other people who had seen the short, I was taken off guard by the fact that an overwhelming majority interpreted the plot literally. There were a lot of things left unexplained, so I figured that such exposition was left out purposely to promote a metaphor. Why is Rin the only person we know of being sent into space? Was she the only one? If so, why was she the only one? If Rin’s dad was capable of building an entire life-supporting space shuttle, did he share his knowledge with other scientists? If he didn’t, why not? Wouldn’t a lot more lives be saved that way? How did Rin stay alive for so long in the shuttle? Were other scientists building shuttles? Did anyone else besides Rin and her dad know that Rin was being sent off? What was the planet that was going to collide with Earth, and what caused it to do this? How long has humanity known that this was going to happen? Rin receives the email inside of the simulation, so does that mean she was only imagining making contact with her father? The more discussions I read and the more viewings of the video I had, the harder it became for me to justify Shelter as a metaphorical story.


This leads to one of my first problems with Shelter: too many aspects of the story are either overlooked or oversimplified. Of course, there’s only so much exposition a six minute music video can provide, but if that’s the case, then why include those kinds of details in the first place? Why base a plot off of a complex idea, such as the extinction of humankind due to a specific condition, if you don’t have enough time to properly develop this idea? Shelter tries its hardest to focus on a cute, simplistic story that doesn’t require a ton of explanation; however, it bites off more than it can chew when it shows the viewer several details that hint at a complicated backstory. Even worse, these details are only shown fleetingly in a short compilation, probably so the viewer’s attention will be directed to the video’s main course: Rin’s desolate, sadfic life.


From the very beginning of the video, which shows a scene of Rin drowning and sitting alone in bed while talking about how she isn’t lonely, it’s painfully obvious this video wants to convey a specific mood: depressing. Since it’s quite obvious this is a foreshadowing technique, the effect of the contrast between Rin’s adventures in the simulation and her heartbreaking memory sequence is weakened. If the video had a happier start, the impact of the memory sequence would’ve hit much harder.


The video goes on to Rin prancing around and having fun in her little tablet world, all while showing off some colorful visuals. These worlds don’t contain much meaning, and they are basically just pretty landscapes. It brings up the question of how this girl, who has lived in a space shuttle for seven years, is capable of creating such detailed scenery. The thing that really baffles me is why this goes on for half the video. It wouldn’t have bothered me so much if the different worlds actually reflected Rin’s past life, or if some of the worlds resembled the ones in her memories, but they’re all just random, painting-esque locations. The fact that these shallow events could’ve been replaced with meaningful, reflective scenes, and weren’t, makes it harder for me to take this video seriously.


Eventually, a bit of change occurs when Rin touches the swing, and we get a brief shot of a man looking at her. She continues her adventures, except she now wears a more downhearted expression. This is honestly my favorite part of the video, as the worlds shown have more depth to them. Their colors are a bit faded out, and there is less movement, setting a more melancholic tone. This creates a decent amount of buildup for the scenes to come, which I really appreciate. The biggest flaw with this section is the swing itself: it is not explained how it got there. We are shown that Rin draws every aspect of the landscapes on her tablet, but we do not see her draw the swing. It randomly appears one day, and touching it triggers a pinprick of remembrance. It appears out of pure convenience instead out of Rin’s influence. If Rin herself had drawn the swing into existence, we would see that her subconscious has some influence over her creations, which provides some interesting food for thought: how much of her worlds are influenced by memories? Would there have been a little more meaning behind the worlds at the beginning?


Finally, we arrive at the part where the story is arguably the most important aspect. Unfortunately, this is also the most poorly-presented part of the video. Rin’s life story is rammed down the viewer’s throat in a string of cherry-picked memories. Each memory only lasts a few seconds, and they all revolve around Rin and her father. Sure, they are bittersweet and provoke a keen sense of loneliness, but what’s the point? Why do we need to see so many of them? It’s not like any of them are particularly special, impactful, or have influenced the plot/setting, with the exception of space shuttle and colliding planet memories. Even so, the expositional memories don’t add much, as they appear for a very brief amount of time before they are quickly put aside for some more unmemorable father-daughter interactions. The thing is, most of these memories are banal, and they only reinforce the idea that Rin used to live a happy, normal life with her father over and over again. There is nothing unique about their relationship other than the fact that they’re experiencing the apocalypse together; even so, there is no depth or development that comes about from this event. We don’t see them struggling with the realization that the world is ending. We don’t see them finding strength in one another, giving them the resolve to accept their situation and to adapt accordingly. All we are given is a generic assortment of cheerful memories that could be seen in any parent-child relationship.


Instead of forcing in as many inconsequential, conventional memories as possible, why not focus on a few memories, develop them, make them relevant to the plot, and have them establish a firm connection between the two characters all at once? Not only would their relationship be more special, but it would also leave more room for exposition and character development.


It’s difficult for me to see Rin’s father as a meaningful character. His entire point seems to be less about being a human being and more of an emotional crutch for Rin. His only defining trait is that he loves his daughter so much that he builds an entire life-supporting space shuttle for her. He is never seen reacting to the end of the world on his own accord, and all his emotions are tied to Rin. He wears the same empty smile throughout every single one of his appearances. While his treatment is somewhat understandable in the sense that the story is told from Rin’s point of view, it’s hard to deny that he only exists to disappear so Rin can be sad and lonely.






Rin herself is just as unremarkable as her dad. Her emotional reactions are basic and predictable as it would be in any random person: she has a good childhood, she has plenty of fun in the simulation, she’s depressed because she’s alone. Loneliness is a universal experience that results from a lack of sufficient social connections; as such, it is easy to relate to. Excuse me for the blatant stereotyping, but loneliness is pretty common in the anime community; it’s not hard to find an otaku that finds meaning in favoring their shows over social interaction. Rin also does not develop as a character that much. Her inner thoughts are not explored very deeply, and as such, there is little evidence that suggests she is capable of resembling the individuality of a real human. I believe that this is why she appeals to so many people: since she is interchangeable with any nameless, faceless depressed child, it’s very easy to compare one’s own feelings with hers. An interesting note about the nature of compassion is that we need to be similar to someone in some way to understand how they feel, and Shelter utilizes this by presenting an undistinguished character built around a powerful, commonplace desire for acceptance. It kind of resembles the way people subconsciously self-insert themselves into the position of a generic male protagonist of a harem anime, except with the goal of social rather than sexual fulfillment.


Several reviewers have brought up a point which I find very interesting, but also easily misunderstood: Rin is especially appealing because she is a cute girl. These reviewers aren’t saying that it’s bad to include cute characters. It’s more like watching a puppy being stomped to death or a commercial about starving African children. Puppies and children are similar in the sense that they exhibit traits that tend to provoke associations with cuteness: large eyes, big heads, and smallness. It’s no coincidence that the designs of many anime characters happen to reflect these traits as well. Attractive character designs is an essential part of making a show sell well, because just like in real life, people make judgments based on appearance. However, because Rin is such a run-of-the-mill character, it can be said that her cuteness is her primary charm. That puppy and those African children aren’t particularly unique and could be replaced with any other puppy or starving child, but it pains us to see them in unfortunate situations because we associate them with fond feelings. We probably wouldn’t be as offended if it were a giant cockroach being stomped on, and harming adults generally doesn’t have the same effect as harming kids. Because Rin is so cute, and since humans tend to associate attractiveness with likeable characteristics, we feel more inclined to invest emotional resources into her. The bulk of those reviewers’ arguments revolve around the idea that Rin’s attractive design makes her flat, empty personality harder to notice. As such, this causes her to be a “shallow” character. Would people be as strongly affected if Rin were a fat, balding, middle-age man?


The execution of Shelter’s story fails to give it merit. The tales of humans experiencing the apocalypse and a parent demonstrating unconditional love for their child are far from original. However, due to the limits of human creativity, the originality of a story is dependent on the way ideas are presented rather than the ideas themselves. As illustrated beforehand, there is nothing unique or truly substantial in the relationship between Rin and her dad, and the apocalypse subplot is barely given any attention, leaving Shelter with an overall very bland, uninspired feel.


If there’s one thing people like to praise in this video, it’s the art and animation. It’s not difficult to comprehend why. In the anime community, there seems to be a very pervasive bias which promotes the belief that bright colors=good art. Since humans are visual creatures, we tend to make emotional judgments based on color. Bright colors are highly marketable and popular because they stand out more, making a work seem more intense or emotional. Because its use of colors is based on a standard marketing tactic, I can’t really find any reason to call Shelter’s art “good”. “Visually-appealing” is a more accurate term. I feel that the bright artwork only flows well with the first half of the video, as bright colors are often associated with an optimistic mood. The character design is also rather uninventive, using the generic anime girl look and the generic everyday guy design. Neither of these configurations grant a sense of individuality to the art style, nor do they properly reflect the depth of the plot or thematic elements very well, letting Shelter easily blend in with every other aesthetically-unimaginative anime out there.


I have mixed feelings about the animation. While I appreciate all the detail put into every frame, the creative presentation of the different simulation environments, and the decent usage of CGI, what really irks me is the execution. The animation itself is really choppy, making it feel like some frames are being skipped, and the body movements seem somewhat exaggerated. While such movements can make a scene feel more emotional, they can ruin the fluidity and total smoothness of the art. Admittedly, these aren’t massive problems, it’s just that I feel they could use some technical improvement.


Since Shelter is a music video, it stands to reason that the music would prove to play an indispensable role in the video’s production. But Shelter functions as a storytelling video as well as a music video, therefore placing a larger burden on the creators to produce both a musically and narratively sound piece. The song lyrics were okay, as they managed to reflect a recurrent theme of loneliness and longing that was fitting for the story, but they were a bit repetitive in their writing style, and the word choices used felt quite simplistic. This helps form a specific atmosphere of a driveling universe in which one finds comfort in monotony. While one could argue that Rin has the power to draw up a new, exciting world every day, these worlds undoubtedly lack substance beyond their physical appearances. As such, the insistent nature of the song coupled with opposing lyrics that suggest sentimental depth provokes a haunting sense of desolation, even during the upbeat segments. However, the composition itself is lacking due to this usage of repeatedness. Its lively feel, which was built up by vivacious singing, confident and exciting beats, and the application of a major scale, carried over to the somber bits of the video. This absence of mood change causes the melodrama of the video to fall flat, effectively destroying any chance for the music to compensate for the emotional intensity the story failed to account for.


Shelter suggests the implementation of many themes from its narrative, but it doesn’t present any of them in a cogent manner. The most obvious theme is the notion of deriving strength from memories, as it is directly mentioned by Rin towards the end. The idea itself had plenty of potential; it is said that the entire basis for identity, and perhaps even the entire human reality, is elaborated by memories. The human brain works in a manner that maximizes efficiency, and information is stored through simplification, rote learning, and emotional significance. Undoubtedly, even the most minor of memories leave a sizeable footprint on our behavioral routines, especially traumatic ones, as revealed by several years of research in mental illness. Shelter’s use of the memory in which Rin’s father sends her into space is a highly important plot point, and seeing Rin reflect on her past offers a good amount of support for the thematic climax. Despite all this buildup, the climax is represented with Rin claiming that her pain and suffering allows her to become “stronger” as she sits and cries in some simulated grass. Her statements are all well and good, but as they say, easier said than done, right? We are never shown any footage of Rin actively being strengthened, nor do we see her method of converting trauma into tenacity. Instead, we get a short scene of her real body cooped up in the shuttle. She is apparently in a coma.


My initial reaction to this was dealt with bewilderment: is this some kind of joke? The impact of Rin’s conviction were suddenly downplayed by the imagery of her lying helplessly unconscious in the vacuum that is the real world. It’s likely that this scene was made with the intention of summoning sympathy, but it came off more as a ridicule of Rin’s words. I’m not opposed to cynical themes, but this scene ultimately takes away from the uplifting message the video was trying to depict.


It’s difficult for me to call Shelter “good” in an artistic context. It’s definitely a good product; the bright visuals, peppy EDM track, and the emotional appeals make it very marketable. As such, its reasons for becoming so popular are not complicated, so it’s safe to say that it will provide an enjoyable experience for those who don’t think about it too much. To be honest, I didn’t have a bad time while watching it; rather, I found myself easily entertained by the quick scenes and active animation. I couldn’t help but feel disappointed by its attempts at storytelling, though. I wasn’t engaged in the relationship between the characters, so I certainly wasn’t moved by the big reveal.


I’ve seen many people bring up the argument that Shelter’s length requires reviewers to ease up on its story and characters. It’s only 6 minutes long, so why make such a big deal out of it?


Exactly. Shelter is only six minutes long, and it was unable to develop any sort of caliber in its characters or story within this timeframe. So why make such a big deal out of it? What’s the point of granting so much positive attention to it by describing it with terms such as “masterpiece” and “beautiful”? Why is this argument only brought up in response to negative reviews? Why not go tell all those Shelter lovers to spend their time on a longer, more efficient show instead of wasting it on a mere attempt at meaningfulness?


The truth is, the strength of art is not limited to length. Any good writer knows how long their story needs to be, and six minutes wasn’t enough for Shelter’s agenda. What could’ve been a simple tale about the power of familial love was bogged down by a sci-fi setup and a lack of focus. It replaces these basic artistic elements with common marketing tactics and the illusion of a pertinent story. It fails to utilize what little moments of integrity it has to full effect, leaving the rest to decay into hollowness. This isn’t to say that music videos can’t tell decent stories or portray powerful themes. Airy Me, Kanamewo, MeMeMe, and Furiko are prominent examples that come to mind. The real question is why Shelter did not draw upon the successes of these works to improve itself. Hopefully, I provided a comprehensible answer in this review.


TOTALS:
Story-1.5/5
Originality-⅕
Characters-⅕
Art-2.5/5
Animation-⅗
Sound-2.5/5
Thematic Exploration-⅖
Enjoyment-⅗
FINAL SCORE: 0.4125 = 4/10

I cried watching Shelter, emotional big fat tears. So why am I only give it a 4/10?
When I first approached it, I had a slight bias to a 1/10 review I saw a few days ago. Then when it popped up on my recommended I was like, maybe it's not bad? So I found it and sat there, then I cried. After a cup of tea, however, I re-watched it. As that kettle boiled the steam rose then vanished, much like any lingering emotions I had attached to the story. So upon this re-watch I focused. I didn't let myself get caught in recalling those ... emotions, instead I sat down and watched and I thought.
These are my results:
Story (No spoilers)
The story follows Rin, a young girl living in a world that she creates around her from her room/ box. That's the Shelter of the title. Through the story, to the music, she creates the worlds and explores these colourful creations to the music whilst waiting for a message. At the start she hasn't received a message in 2,539 days- that's about 6.98 years. Then she begins to experience glitches in the system as her memories outside the Shelter begin to flicker back.
Now this is a nice concept, they've taken the lyrics and made a cute story (or maybe vice-versa). But when I was re-watching it all felt so... done before? Like, I'd seen this story a hundred times and had been given the chance to actually, you know, get to know the characters? Not great, I'm going to have to give it a 2, I know that's harsh but there isn't a story, just things to make you sad.
Art and sound (Lumping them together)
Very well done, if there's anything to say about the length, it's that it flies by when you're distracted by the stunning visuals and the really pretty dope music. The art and sound dragged this up from a 2 in my opinion. I'll very likely download this song on iTunes, Spotify, or wherever, and listen to it without the lame generic story dragging behind. Truthfully, I wish I could take the artwork from some of the scenes and put them on the walls to liven up my house so that it balances out the Yuri on Ice posters. But without joking, the art style is amazing for the backgrounds of the worlds she creates, and if those concepts were put into a full series I would likely just watch for the art style haha.
Character
Like, what can I say. I wasn't expecting a full blown character or character arc from a six minute music video. But it would have been nice if she had some uniqueness to her design, perhaps less of the generic unique sparkle. Imagine, after watching it, if you will, that her design had some link to her past. Some memory in her appearance that a second watch through makes you appreciate. Also the second character, not spoiling here dw, had a super generic design for an anime character who did the same things as him. Like come onnnnn I get that you don't want some exaggerated neko with purple hair to appear, but give the guy a colourful tie, or a keepsake, or I don't know... (SPOILER) Make the message he writes in advance to Rin not be the most generic thing that ruins all emotion because first you have to translate it the you find out its basically the book of "I love you, I'm doing this for your sake" buzzwords. (SPOILER END)
Enjoyment
I didn't enjoy the first time is the problem. I was so busy being emotionally manipulated by the weak story into crying that I didn't watch it and missed the song blowing my nose. The second time I watched it all I could think was, damn this music video is getting over hyped. Now I'm listening to the song without the video playing and all I can think is, yeah good song. There's multiple levels to enjoying something. I can enjoy the music but if it's being sold as a full package including the plot and characters then I'm going to judge it like that.

And while the song looks like a beautiful man (or woman), all I can see if the vomit stain of a contrived and forced plot down the jumper.

not even an anime. I can't believe Nico98_ even rated this. I'm shocked to discover that my favorite reviewer has even put in the time to rate something like this. I mean common man, I just follow your reviews for the anime, man. The music was OK everything by porter robinsin is mainstream and not cool as it was when it was underground and stuff. I really feel like adding an anime-like music video to something like this makes it even worse because this itself is not an anime so I cannot see someone review it as such. I don't mean to be biased but ... porter robinsin so aug 12 2014 goodbye to a world... Cant we like something more nuanced these days. Like one piece!

It's music videos like Porter Robinson and A1-Pictures' 'Shelter' that remind me that when it comes to profiteering, passionless entertainment thrown together shoddily, it's not the technical ability you have to examine, it's the cheap, tacky, disingenuous, and quite frankly offensive elements of it you have to judge.

Because it is quite absurd to me that so many people seem to hail Shelter as some revolutionary, influential piece of art when I fail to see anything Shelter has done different from other emotional shows. And to call it emotional is such a disservice to all the shows that invoke emotions using the well-structured plot and relatability. ... What has Shelter done differently from Clannad, AnoHana, and PlaMemo but be worse and almost condescending in nature?

I won't give it the usual structured review with Story: x, Art: x, Sound: x, Character: x, and Enjoyment: x.

The substance, while one could certainly say is there, has to be examined closely. Why do you feel for the heroine of the short? Is it because she is relatable? Is it because she is cute? Is it because her situation in of itself is just sad? Whatever the answer, for me, I come to the conclusion that I don't even feel for her. It's a character I was just introduced to whom I have no idea of her motivations, desires, or even personality. Then her whole conflict is that she has been separated from the rest of humanity, except we don't focus on the humanity part, we focus on her father. Another character who I really don't care for...

I don't even know what kind of situation her story is applicable in in real life. Is it the profound pain that we find in memory? Because if so, Shelter has not convinced me one bit. I see her pain and I understand her pain but I can't feel it. I can't feel it because of how abundantly clear it is to me that the character I'm seeing are inside of a screen, nothing more than artworks for my entertainment. With no humanization, I struggle to truly resonate with the plot and characters. Although I suppose if I at least did get a message out of it, Shelter did its job somewhat.

I don't care for the music that much. It's background noise to me and even when I do focus in on it, it's hard for me to praise it sonically for sounding above average or experimenting at all.

And we arrive at the most offensive part of the short. The 6-minute short is condescending. It may sound like a stretch, but it offends me how the show manages to be so lowest common denominator and yet suck it's own metaphorical penis for being so emotional and melodramatic. It's like they know that this animation was drawn for nothing more than cheap feels and money to pair with Porter's music while also knowing that fans who don't look for more will accept it as is. I can't look at this and say it did anything special worthy of it's mean score on MAL.

It's colorful, fluid, and bright. But underneath all that is something truly disturbing. A half-assed story masqueraded as an emotional rollercoaster that looks its nose down upon you and says "yeah, I just did that. I just made the most generic thing ever and you ate it right up." The precedent this sets is a little more than terrifying.

But if we manage to ignore all of that flagrant disregard and lack of appreciation for true storytelling, I guess Shelter surmises as a serviceable short that surprisingly delivers on its premise right until the very end. But personally, it's offensive and egregious and if I didn't feel guilty about it due to some strong suits it holds (namely art), I'd give it a 1/10.

Forgettable, melodramatic, generic, non-essential but still at the very least watchable.

Feeling a 2-3/10 on this.