COLORs

Sometimes, a single look and a chance encounter are all that it takes to form an intense fascination. For a girl with black hair (who I’ll call Kuro since she doesn’t actually have a name), she sees a girl with pink hair (who I’ll call Pinku, because again they have no name in-text and their pink hair is one of their defining physical features) out by the train station. For a fleeting moment before the train goes by, they make eye contact. That expression that Kuro saw matches that of the boy who just recently joined their class. A thought occurs to her as she ... lies on her bed and turns over – “Is this the same person?”

As time passes, Kuro cannot directly get an answer to her question. But as to why? Well, it’s certainly not for the lack of opportunity. After all, if this boy and Pinku are the same person and they happen to be in Kuro’s class, then wouldn’t walking up to them and just bluntly asking be the most-sensible thing to do? The problem though is that asking about such a private matter is, needless to say, horribly unwarranted. For someone who has such an intensely personal way of being, particularly because of something relating to sex or gender, that’s not the kind of thing that Kuro, both by politeness and her own shyness, is able to just ask about, no matter how innocent the intent. But Kuro actually asking that ultimate question is, ultimately, not the point – rather, the *COLORs* MV is a rumination on an answer always being just slightly out of reach, either in terms of its literal or metaphorical meaning.

And it’s because she never gets a proper answer that Kuro is dogged by the thought in numerous ways. We as audience members know the truth through numerous audiovisual clues, yet Kuro, the one who is not in the know, constantly finds her curiosity and intuition thwarted by circumstance or her own inability to muster her courage. Director Araki Tetsurou (*Bubble,* the Studio WIT seasons of *Attack on Titan,* and *Death Note,* among others) built every almost-encounter to touch on the possibility of “what if,” before beautifully backing down and letting the unfortunateness of the moment set in. Kuro passes by a café where Pinku is drinking something (which opposites a portion of the second verse), but decides to catch up with the people she’s walking with instead. She spots Pinku at a festival, but before she decides to go find and talk to them, Pinku has had plenty of time to move somewhere else, not knowing that Kuro was even there. All Kuro can do throughout the animation is observe Pinku from a distance, captivated by the glorious array of color and light from the fireworks that surround them.

The image of Pinku, rather than the boy from class, is what dominates the MV. So, as the MV’s story gradually unfolds, we learn that it is Pinku’s impression on her, more than the boy, that is likewise what dominates Kuro’s imagination. We can only guess just how many nights Kuro spent wondering about them. And every time that they just miss one another in some way, and the end of the MV hits with its perhaps exaggerated but non-literal climax, there’s always the underlying thought that how would what we see transpire if they did, in fact, meet early? Would their destinies have changed, or would they just drift apart again?

Yet maybe that’s a fool’s errand because Kuro’s question is far too simple. We are also privy to seeing the Pinku that Kuro is not able to see, as we spend time with Pinku talking with figures whose faces are obscured. Pinku’s double-life as an idol is itself a double of what Pinku really does, showing that, in a truly nuanced fashion pertaining to sexuality, there is always more than simply what a clean label would insinuate. The beauty of *COLORs* is how it combines its themes of doubles and surface-level questions about sexuality to show the multifaceted complexity of a person. When the ending arrives, it’s a foregone conclusion that Kuro never could have averted because her understanding of Pinku would have been dominated by only one impression of one half of who they were. For as much as Kuro fascinated (or idolized, to use a more textually-applicable term) and developed a complex about Pinku, distance would always be kept no matter how close they got. It therefore becomes less that “she could have asked” but also “she wouldn’t **truly** have found out,” nor that she should have to. Pinku, both as an individual and in the power dynamic between them and Kuro, owes the world nothing.

All the while, Sawano Hiroyuki and Hata Morihito’s music plays with its beautiful swirl of electronic sounds. Even from the first time that Kuro sees Pinku, the gradual descent of the bass fades in and out, as though it itself is as uncertain as Kuro. The verses stay relatively low and are melodically constrained, with few disjunct motions and often accompanied by descending motions. It’s rather unassuming, as though mirroring the image of the boy that Kuro saw on that fateful day when he joined their class. But as we realized, there is something behind that visage, and the chorus is what happens when you pull back the curtain. Structurally, it acts in much of the same way as the verses, but in raising the overall register of the vocals, it allows the piece to adopt a more exclamatory air. The jumps are also more frequent and starker, powerful statements of presence. The voices, which double and harmonize to encapsulate Pinku’s double-life, are also allowed to trail off and slightly down-pitch at the ends of certain phrases, emulating a musical sigh as though Pinku themselves was breathing a sigh of relief that they can now don the pink hair and clothes that they wear with such poised confidence.

That confidence, and the wider breadth of expression retained with all the characters, is vital to making *COLORs* work, especially since sex, gender, and performativity are so integral to the overarching metaphor. Yoneyama Mai, whose previous efforts include the visually-lush “YOKU” MV by Eve, manages to accomplish precisely that through her phenomenally-delicate character designs, as do the numerous animators who brought these creations to life. At times seemingly gliding and at others creating powerful bursts of physicality and emotiveness, Pinku is always caught in a sensuous whirlwind (sometimes the wind is more literal) that visually highlights their double-life. Particularly during the brief dance sequence, the presence of blue, white, and pink allude to the colors of the transgender flag, and coupled with the burst of exertion and the use of close-ups, mediums, and distant shots, shows that Pinku is at their most physically and emotionally liberated when in this state of dress and performance. Animated by osumin, it is a dance of celebratory self-actualization.

*COLORs* is beautiful. Delicately put together, the story told within is aided by such a mouth-wateringly beautiful aesthetic and manages to come across both as heartfelt and large in scope despite the brief runtime. Always striking and always succeeding in its resonance, it has entered a realm of musical entertainment that I am always searching for – unbridled creative expressions of depth and poise where each viewing shows me something new.

I JUST WANNA GET HIGH WITH MY LOVERRRR kiss kis
I just wanna ride, get high in the moonlight


Story: couldnt understand a thing
art : beautiful
character : gender Bender
situation : goes pew pew on a short note
reccomended

... to make up for 105 word minimum
"Colors" is a captivating short anime that delicately explores the transformative journey of its protagonist. Through a magical twist, viewers follow the emotional and physical evolution of a young boy into a confident and self-assured woman. The animation is beautifully expressive, capturing the nuances of the character's evolution. The story's focus on self-discovery and acceptance makes it a heartwarming and thought-provoking watch. Despite its brevity, "Boy to Woman" leaves a lasting impression, offering a unique take on identity and self-acceptance within the anime genre. ( doesnt mind this review, its written from chatgpt )

Last March, I came across a YouTube Short titled “This is NOT Actually an Anime Series” by Kito Senpai. The video introduced it as a music video animated by TOHO Animation and Wit Studio with the music composed by Hiroyuki Sawano and sung my Motohiro Hata. The YouTuber went on to praise the video for its gorgeous animation and soundtrack. Curious, I decided to look it up and found its entry on both AniDB and MyAnimeList. I then found the video on YouTube and gave it a watch to see what’s it about.
COLORs is a 3 minute long music video which was released on TOHO ... Animation’s 10th anniversary along with 4 other shorts:-
1) Tentai Kansoku (Astronomical Observation)
2) Himitsu no Hana no Niwa (Nana’s Secret Garden)
3) Neko to Wakai se na (Don’t Reconcile with Cats)
4) Detarame na Sekai no Melodrama (The Melodrama of a Trashy World)

STORY:
The story is about a girl who falls in love with a guy who happens to be a cross-dresser and a part-time idol. The first half of the story is a slice-of-life which revolves around her trying to understand her feelings and trying to find ways to get closer to the guy, but starts to get increasingly disheartened as the guy drifts further away due to his double life. The second half of the story sees a tonal shift away from the first half’s slice-of-life and the guy’s role in the story is further expanded.
I’m honestly conflicted about what I have watched. While the first half of the video had a fairly decent premise and reminded me of many animated music videos I have seen in the past, the second half felt like a confusing and a convoluted mess and left me with way too many questions, with absolutely none of them being addressed throughout the whole course of the video (somewhat justifiable due to the short runtime). Also, the lack of dialogue leaves most of the interactions up to interpretation.
I’m hoping this video was just a preview and that we would be given either a proper anime series or a feature-length movie which would answer my questions, as well as give us some backstory about how the girl figures out the guy is a cross-dresser and that what motivated him to do so. At the very least, make the progress of the story more fleshed out and coherent! The video’s sudden genre shifts are something that do not go well in a 3-minute short.

CHARACTERS:
As far as the characters are concerned, I find the male lead to be pretty interesting, mainly due to the reasons why he began to cross-dress and become an idol as well as his roles later in the story. The female lead, on the other hand, felt kind of bland and lacked the quirks the guy had. Honestly, it felt like if you cut her out of the picture, the progression of the story would’ve been left unchanged.

ANIMATION:
The video’s strongest points are its music and its animation. The studio behind COLORs is Wit Studio, the same guys behind animating the first 3 seasons of Attack on Titan, the first season of Vinland Saga, Seraph of the End, Ousama Ranking, Vivy, Spy x Family, and many more. The animation is fluid and crisp and just really pleasing to look at and is synchronised quite well with the song.

MUSIC:
The music of the video (also called Colours) is composed by Hiroyuki Sawano, a veteran composer in the anime industry who is well-known for working on the songs on many anime (OPs, EDs, and OSTs) such as Blue Exorcist, 86, Attack on Titan, Kingdom, Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Die Neue These, and so on. The singer is Motohiro Hata who has also sung for Naruto Shippuden and Teasing Master Takagi-san. The song itself is pretty good and catchy, but not ground-breaking.

VERDICT:
4/10 (Below Average, But Not Bad)
I’ll be blunt, the animation and music of the video are its biggest saving graces. The story, especially the second half, were difficult to wrap my head around. As I said before, the story would have been far better had this video been either a proper anime series or a feature-length film. 3 minutes is way too little time to shove so many plot points into. Superb animation and music can only take you so far with a confusing story. Rather, the effort feels wasted.

Likes: The animation and the music.
Dislikes: The second half of the story and the lack of explanation to what’s going on.