On Your Mark

Ghibli Experimental Theater On Your Mark On Your Mark ? , Jiburi Jikkengekij On Yua Mku is an animated music video created by Studio Ghibli for the song On Your Mark by the Japanese rock duo Chage amp Aska. The song was released in 1994 as part of the single Heart. In 1995, Hayao Miyazaki wrote and directed the short film for the song as a sideproject after having writers block with Princess Mononoke. The anime music video is nonlinear, 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. Miyazaki purposely made the video cryptic to evoke creative interpretations among viewers.

The video begins with shots of a vacant village, overgrown with weeds, and the concrete sarcophagus of a coveredover nuclear reactor in the background. As the music begins, the scene changes to a scifistyle nighttime militarystyle police raid on a cult. Futuristic flying troop transports crash through the windows of a tower topped by gigantic neonlit eyes and occupied by armed defenders. The policemen exchange gunfire and grenades with cultists whose hoods depict an enormous eye. 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. ........

Source: Wikipedia