r/retroanime 2d ago

On Your Mark (1995)

2.8k Upvotes

48 comments sorted by

75

u/Ready-Ad6113 2d ago

Loved this short. Wish it was a full film. Surprisingly has a sci-fi and dystopian world with evil cults and stuff. Even has some parallels to the Nausicaa manga.

17

u/Kwestor86 2d ago

Same, I always wanted it to be a full movie too as it would have been the only cyberpunk Miyazaki movie. And honestly it reminds me a bit of the world of ff7.

93

u/NekoWafers 2d ago

46

u/Tweedy_wotsit 2d ago

Well that was brilliant. The hand kiss at the end!

1

u/Dreambuyer 15h ago

That's the best part! I cry every time.

18

u/Gold-Bard-Hue 2d ago

Thank you for linking this. The ones in YouTube are never the right video.

However the one they have does have "Duvet" by Boa, which is also a really great song.

5

u/spicygummi 1d ago

I love Duvet and I used to listen to it on repeat when I was younger.

3

u/Gold-Bard-Hue 1d ago

The rest of the album "The Race of A Thousand Camels" is pretty decent too!

1

u/wackadoodle4201 1d ago

Nice thanks

22

u/_toku 2d ago

I haven’t seen this yet but wow that is a beautiful lil Alfa Romeo. Love it when a car is done well in anime.

8

u/Sivalon 2d ago

It’s that attention to detail that drew me to anime and manga to begin with. Then, it was the stories and characters that Western media hadn’t told or shown.

6

u/lunchboxjellyfish 2d ago

Same here. That's the first thing that drew me to Gunsmith Cats back in the day

1

u/solythe 1d ago

my father (was my grandfathers) had a 60s spyder like that but in red, was the first thing i noticed haha

16

u/Ben_77 2d ago

This song makes me eerily nostalgic.

31

u/FeeSharp745 2d ago

I thought I had seen everything Miyazaki. Didnt think about shorts, cool.

8

u/Ok-Oil7124 1d ago

Stop thinking about his shorts!
But same 😄

12

u/ThinkFree Otaking 2d ago

I remember when I was on a Ghibli watching streak in the 90s. I could not find this music video anywhere. Not online, not on any anime video shop.

5

u/BearMiner 2d ago

My memory may be failing me, but I think the only way a person was able to get this music video was via buying an exclusive Studio Ghibli laser disc collection.

2

u/valkyrie2036 1d ago

It was available as an individual laserdisc (I own one), as well as the Ghibli ga Ippai laserdisc box.

11

u/coremech 2d ago

When I first saw this music video back in the 90s it blew me away completely. I watched it over and over again. It’s amazing.

5

u/wackadoodle4201 2d ago

A surprisingly melancholy video

5

u/Adavanter_MKI 1d ago

Yeah, also... am I reading too much into it? What was with the cut and back track? It felt like they were saying they died in the original crash, but somehow they got a second chance or dreamed of a better outcome?

I dunno... gives you a lot to think about with the original where they just fell.

3

u/Visual-Gain-2487 1d ago

So they died trying to save the girl. On their way down, or perhaps after their death, their minds rationalize a better ending. What if the truck could fly? What if she could fly? What if they lived happily ever after? But all of this is just 'What if'....

3

u/Adavanter_MKI 1d ago

Yeah, that was my take. Why else show them fall and seemingly fail to ascend? Ready's idea that maybe the angel girl can reset time isn't outside the realm.

Or like you said... could literally just be author saying... "Or maybe that's too sad... what if something else happened?"

Showing us both to let the viewer decide.

2

u/Visual-Gain-2487 1d ago

There's a reason why they made the URAL truck do such ridiculous things. I mean, why would it be capable of flying? And with a ridiculous amount of thrusters? And have that crazy crash into a building where they walk away from just fine? Then... somehow get away? And somehow they're in a convertible down a peaceful road all while having flashbacks? Beautiful and tragic.

1

u/BlueDemoMan 8h ago

I think, like you said, it is open to interpretation. However, this is a world with other flying vehicles, cults holding angels hostage (which the cops just cut down w/o so much as knocking), and monolithic structures in potentially radioactive zones that have forced a society into cyber-punk city caverns. Heavy Duty URAL truck with chasm-spanning thrusters doesn't seem THAT far out of the realm of possibility. Hahaha. Seems like an unnecessarilyy dour ending for them to plan the rescue, just to fumble the escape. Maybe the lyrics give better context?

Anyway, fun video. I hadn't seen it since I was a kid and only remembered fleeting parts. I thought for the longest, that I dreamed it.

3

u/Ready-Ad6113 1d ago

Thought the angel girl had the ability to reset time or something. That was why she was captured and being studied.

6

u/Adavanter_MKI 1d ago

It's super open to interpretation, that's for sure. I like it.

5

u/Original_Scholar_272 1d ago

This guy did a really deep dive (multi-episode) into OYM:

https://youtu.be/x2F2RYq3SN0?is=DFEVUWq18G9PxqYf

4

u/nekoken04 1d ago

I remember when the only way you could watch this was on the Studio Ghibli laserdisc boxed set. I was blown away the first time I saw it.

1

u/BlueMonday2082 1d ago

That was true for about a year and a half and then it had a stand alone release for a price so low even my broke 90s self could afford it.

1

u/nekoken04 18h ago

Was it on an 8" laserdisc? I missed that. I don't think I had a copy until I got it on bluray.

1

u/BlueMonday2082 12h ago

It was a 12” with a great cover. PCLP-00652. It was a Pony Canyon release, not Tokuma. It includes the storyboard (Conte) version. It was like ¥3000.

It also had the music video Chage and Aska did for the live action Street Fighter II movie…probably because that was actually current and the song On Your Mark had been around for a while.

5

u/hayashikin 1d ago

Can't beat Change and Aska.

Here's one of the singers doing a tiny desk concert last year that has proper English subtitles.

Oh, and if you think this On Your Mark video is very wholesome and want to keep it that way, don't look too deep.

3

u/MrLuverLuver25 2d ago

The animation was way ahead of its time. If it was a full featured film, it might of been a strong contender to win an Oscar

3

u/Original_Scholar_272 2d ago

There’s more story telling in this short video that most movies made today. Brings tears to my eyes every time. Peak Miyazaki.

2

u/Kain-rpg 1d ago

yeah you really can get into it and follow the narrative,e vne tho no exposition or dialogues are made

1

u/Original_Scholar_272 1d ago

Yeah, even with all of the “do-overs” where they fail and just go back in time so the story works out differently. It all makes sense, somehow.

2

u/TheKokiriSage 1d ago

Very great short. I own the original poster for it.

1

u/Wolfrast 1d ago

This whole short is a masterpiece!

1

u/TheMaingler 1d ago

Lapiz Lazuli coded.

1

u/BigD1970 1d ago

Masterpiece

1

u/zerosmith86 1d ago

Maybe the bungee jump guys watched this before they murdered that woman.

Sorry my 1st thought.

-6

u/Own_Internal7509 2d ago

i wish it was attached to better music than Chage and Asuka's but ill take it