It’s undeniable that anime has only grown in popularity over the last decade in various regions worldwide. Its presence in popular culture is indisputable, especially in lo-fi hip-hop, where sleepy and chill beats mesh with visuals reminiscent of Studio Ghibli’s visual style. Therefore, it was no surprise to me that The Maker, a close collaborator of mine and an anime enthusiast, would go out of his way to create a laidback and relaxing cover of Sesshomaru, the classic second outro of the Japanese anime Inuyasha, and release it for his listeners and the lo-fi hip-hop community at large.
Hailing from Seattle, USA, Maker is a lo-fi hip-hop producer with a knack for writing dense, jazzy arrangements, a skill that he applies beautifully in his releases. His steady output of lofi bops has been inspiring to say the least, with this one being one of his most laidback tunes. Despite being a relatively new producer in the scene, he has a lot of potential to become an integral part of it sooner than later.
The artwork for this song, provided by Maker himself on behalf of fellow artist Slimeomon, is inspired by one of the opening shots of the second Inuyasha outro, which features the eponymous character standing on a rock, overlooking a rocky landscape under a purple and blue sky. Above him is a red moon, surrounded by clouds with a texture reminiscent of woodblock prints from 19th-century tranquillity ukiyo-e paintings.
To capture the sentiment of flow and tranquillity of this instrumental track, I maintained a slow pacing in my animation of the visualizer: no sudden movements, no distorted imagery. I reinforced this idea of tranquillity by adding small details to the canvas, such as wave warping on the tips of the clouds, puppet animation on Inuyasha’s pink (scarf?) to make it look like it’s gently floating in the wind, and a subtle parallax effect between the foreground elements (Inuyasha on the rock) and the background elements (the sky, the clouds and the red moon).
The result is a visual product that enhances the contemplative vibe of the track. And thanks to Slime’s art style, this visual comes off as calm and cozy as the song itself. Overall, I enjoyed making this visualizer and am looking forward to working on more projects with Maker in the near future.
thisisNOMA 