View source for On Your Mark

{{Short description|1995 music video directed by Hayao Miyazaki}}
{{other uses|On Your Mark (disambiguation)}}
{{Unreliable sources|date=June 2024}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = On Your Mark
| image          = On Your Mark (Music video).jpg
| caption        = The two men set the angel free and she flies off into the sky
| director       = [[Hayao Miyazaki]]
| writer         = Hayao Miyazaki
| starring       = 
| music          = [[Chage and Aska]] ("[[On Your Mark (song)|On Your Mark]]")
| producer       = [[Toshio Suzuki (producer)|Toshio Suzuki]]
| editing        = [[Takeshi Seyama]]
| cinematography = Atsushi Okui
| studio         = [[Studio Ghibli]]
| distributor    = [[Toho]]
| released       = {{film date|1995|7|15}} <!-- Do not add the US release date here, please; see [[WP:FILMRELEASE]]. --> (with ''[[Whisper of the Heart]]'')
| runtime        = 7 minutes
| country        = Japan
| language       = Japanese<br />English
| budget         = 
| gross          = 
}}

'''''Ghibli Experimental Theater On Your Mark''''' ([[Japanese language|Japanese]]: ジブリ実験劇場 On Your Mark, <!--|ジブリじっけんげきじょう オン・ユア・マーク--> [[Hepburn romanization|Hepburn]]: ''Jiburi Jikkengekijō On Yua Māku'') is an animated [[music video]] created by [[Studio Ghibli]] for the song "[[On Your Mark (song)|On Your Mark]]" (also released in English as "Castles in the Air") by the Japanese [[rock music|rock]] duo [[Chage and 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 side-project after having [[writer's block]] with ''[[Princess Mononoke]]''. The [[anime]] music video is [[non-linear]], 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. He made the video cryptic to evoke creative interpretations among viewers.

The music video follows two policemen who raid and massacre a religious cult and find an angelic being, only to have her taken away and confined to a secure laboratory. Haunted by the fate of the angel, the two men formulate a plan and break into the laboratory. Fleeing in an armored truck, the three plummet into an abyss after trying to force past a police aircraft along a narrow, suspended roadway. After a montage of the previous scenes, the armored truck suddenly rockets into an apartment complex, allowing their escape. The three escape to the surface, ignoring the radiation and danger signs, emerging near an encased [[nuclear reactor]]. The two men set the angel free and she flies off into the sky.

The music video was well-received and praised for its animation and attention to detail. It premiered as a short before Studio Ghibli's ''[[Whisper of the Heart]]'' and has since been released on [[Laserdisc]] and DVD as part of the ''All Things Ghibli Special Short Short'' (''Ghibli ga Ippai Special Short Short'') compilation.

==Synopsis==
The video begins with shots of a vacant [[village]], overgrown with weeds, and the concrete sarcophagus of a covered-over [[nuclear reactor]] in the background. As the music begins, the scene changes to a [[Science fiction|sci-fi-style]] nighttime military-style police raid on a cult. Futuristic flying troop transports crash through the windows of a tower topped by gigantic neon-lit eyes and occupied by armed defenders. The [[policemen]] exchange gunfire and [[grenades]] with cultists whose hoods depict an enormous eye. As 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 (750/101)|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.

The scene changes back to the discovery of the girl in the tower, and the identity of the two policemen is revealed to be the same from the previous sequence. They carefully carry her out and offer her something to drink. A team of scientists wearing [[Hazmat suit|radiation suits]] arrive and quickly take the girl away.

The two men are haunted by the girl's fate and formulate a plan to rescue her. They break into the [[laboratory]] and free her from confinement, but the lab's alarms are triggered. The three escape in an [[Armored car (valuables)|armored truck]] and drive along a narrow suspended roadway over a [[domed city]] built in a crater. Police hovercraft are in pursuit, and one of them comes very low to the roadway to block the fugitives' truck. The roadway collapses when the protagonists try to force their way through, sending the truck plummeting. The winged girl refuses to let go of the hands of her rescuers, and the three fall into the abyss.

A brief montage of previous shots follows: the discovery of the girl, the girl flying through a blue sky, the two men rescuing the girl from the laboratory and stealing the truck, the truck plummeting amidst the wreckage of the roadway. But this time, the truck fires stabilizing thrusters and makes a short flight into the side of an apartment building. After their escape, the three are riding an old Alfa Romeo Giulietta Spider passo corto through a dark [[tunnel]] underneath signs which bear [[radiation]] symbols and read (in [[kanji]]) "Beware Of Sunlight" and "Survival Not Guaranteed". As they emerge into daylight, they drive past nuclear [[cooling tower]]s and a sign which reads "Extreme Danger" and continue down the road.

One of the men helps the girl up, she spreads her wings and gives them a grateful smile; he kisses her hand, and the other winks in farewell. Soon, she is drifting upward into the sky. Briefly, a major urban cityscape is seen beyond the trees. The car veers off the road and slows to a stop in the grass.

==Production==
The production of the music video began because Miyazaki was suffering from [[writer's block]] on ''[[Princess Mononoke]]'' and needed another project to distract him.<ref name="hm">{{cite book | title=Hayao Miyazaki Master of Japanese Animation | publisher=Stone Bridge Press | author=McCarthy, Helen | year=1999 | pages=211–214 | isbn=1880656418}}</ref> Miyazaki wrote and directed the music video for "On Your Mark", although the song was previously released in 1994 as part of the single "Heart".<ref name="hm" /> Despite the popularity of the work, [[Toshio Suzuki (producer)|Toshio Suzuki]] told [[Helen McCarthy]], the British author of numerous anime reference books, that [[Studio Ghibli]] had not given "100 percent" focus to the music video.<ref name="hm" />

In the production of the music video, Miyazaki experimented with using computer animation to supplement [[Traditional animation|traditional hand drawn cel-animation]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Sondhi|first=Jason|title=On Your Mark|url=http://www.shortoftheweek.com/2007/11/11/on-your-mark/|publisher=Short of the Week|access-date=12 January 2014|date=November 11, 2007}}</ref> At the time Studio Ghibli did not have its own computer department and the work was outsourced to CG Production Company Links, under supervision of Hideki Nakano, [[Silicon Graphics]], [[Softimage 3D]], and [[Alias Research]]. Techniques learned in the experimentation for ''On Your Mark'' were later adopted for the creation of ''Princess Mononoke''. [[Animation director]] was [[Masashi Ando|Masashi Andō]]. Long time Miyazaki collaborator [[Michiyo Yasuda]] was in charge of colour selection. Backgrounds were created by [[Kazuo Oga]]. [[Yōji Takeshige]] made his debut as [[art director]].<ref name="Kano(2006)">{{cite book |last=Kanō |first=Seiji |author-link=Seiji Kanō |date=2007 | orig-year=2006 | chapter=ジブリ実験劇場 ON YOUR MARK|trans-chapter=Ghibli Experimental Theater On Your Mark | script-title=ja:宮崎駿全書 |trans-title=The Complete Miyazaki Hayao | language=ja |location=Tokyo |publisher=Film Art Inc. |edition=2nd | pages=180–185 | isbn=978-4-8459-0687-1}}</ref> There is no dialogue in the music video and the two policemen are loosely modeled after Chage and Aska.{{Cn|date=June 2024}}

==Analysis==
Miyazaki offered an interpretation of the angel as "Hope" and to protect hope could paradoxically mean "to let it go where no-one can touch it".{{Cn|date=June 2024}} Miyazaki said that in the music video's setting, humans live in an underground city after the surface of the Earth has been contaminated with radiation, creating a sanctuary for nature.<ref name=":1" /> Miyazaki did not find this believable, though, as humanity would suffer on the surface instead.<ref name=":1" /> Miyazaki intentionally misinterpreted the lyrics to reflect upon the vision of a world filled with disease and radiation and people's reactions to that world.<ref name=":1" /> He implied the two policemen might not be able to return to their old life, but offered no reason as to why.<ref name=":1">{{Citation | format=plain text | url=http://www.nausicaa.net/miyazaki/oym/interview_oym.txt | title=Miyazaki interview about On Your Mark | date=September 1995 | work=Animage}}</ref>

Miyazaki referred to the angelic creature as "tori no hito" or "a bird's person" which is the nickname of [[Nausicaä (Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind)|Nausicaä]] from his [[Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (manga)|''Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind'' manga]] and [[Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (film)|film]].{{Cn|date=June 2024}} 

During their April 1999 lecture series on [[manga]], [[anime]] and the works of Miyazaki at the [[University of Dallas]], Pamela Gossin, Professor of Arts and Humanities, and guest instructor Marc Hairston, research scientist in the William B. Hanson Center for Space Sciences, discussed ''On Your Mark'' in their lecture, "In the ''Coda On Your Mark and Nausicaa'', and drew parallels to the ''Nausicaä'' story, its titular character and its conclusion. Gossin and Hairston interpreted the release of the winged girl at the end of the video as Miyazaki setting free his character in a manner reminiscent of [[William Shakespeare]]'s symbolic liberation of his characters, through [[Prospero]]'s release of his servant [[Ariel (The Tempest)|Ariel]] in his play [[The Tempest]].<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.utdallas.edu/research/spacesciences/hairston/ah3300.html | title=Material and information about Miyazaki, Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind, and anime for the Spring 1999 A&H 3300 class "Natural Wonders" at the University of Texas at Dallas | publisher=University of Dallas | date=April 1999 | access-date=January 5, 2014 | archive-date=September 22, 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200922180259/https://www.utdallas.edu/research/spacesciences/hairston/ah3300.html | url-status=dead }}</ref> The final volume of the ''Nausicaä'' manga was released in January 1995. Miyazaki started creating ''On Your Mark'' that same month.<ref name="Kano(2006)"/>

McCarthy highlighted similarities to different works and real life found throughout the film, remarking that the opening city sequence could be an homage to ''[[Akira (1988 film)|Akira]]'' or ''[[Blade Runner]]'' and the attack on the religious cult could be a reflection of the [[Aum Shinrikyo]] movement.<ref name=hm /> [[Nausicaa.net]] stated the production occurred prior to the police raid following the [[Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway]] in March 1995.<ref name=linearity1>{{cite web|title=On Your Mark: Frequently Asked Questions|url=http://www.nausicaa.net/miyazaki/oym/faq.html|publisher=Nausicaa.net|access-date=30 December 2013|author=Toyama, Ryoko}}</ref> McCarthy also noted that the film's scientists' decontamination gear look like the hero of ''[[Porco Rosso]]'' and the rescue scene is reminiscent of [[Princess Leia]] in [[Star Wars]].<ref name=hm /> The encased or "box" structure in the film is an homage to the [[Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant]] which was entombed in concrete following the [[Chernobyl disaster]].<ref name=hm />

The animation scholar [[Seiji Kanō]] observed that the urban settings have a ''China Town style'' and resemble the cityscapes of [[Mamoru Oshii]]'s ''[[Ghost in the Shell]]'' animated film adaptation, in production at the time. While Miyazaki has been non-committal about the nature of his winged entity in ''On your Mark'', Kanō noted that the manga ''[[Seraphim 266613336Wings]]'', an unfinished collaborative effort by Oshii and [[Satoshi Kon]], with its ''Angel Disease'' theme, was still serialized in [[Animage]] at the time Miyazaki was creating ''On Your Mark'' in 1995.<ref name="Kano(2006)"/>

==Reception==
The music video was well received. Dr. Patrick Collins, a science writer, called it "the most perfect short science fantasy film I've ever seen."<ref name=hm /> McCarter of ''EX Magazine'' praised the film's attention to detail that brought the world to life.{{Cn|date=June 2024}} ''THEM Anime'' praised the music video and said that it alone was worth the price of ''Ghibli ga Ippai Special Short Short''.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.themanime.org/viewreview.php?id=1130 | title=THEM Reviews 4.0 - Ghibli ga Ippai Special Short Short | publisher=THEM Anime Reviews | access-date=29 August 2013 | author=Høgset, Stig | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160410230713/http://themanime.org/viewreview.php?id=1130 | archive-date=10 April 2016 | url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Releases==
The music video was released theatrically with ''[[Whisper of the Heart]]'' on July 15, 1995.{{Cn|date=June 2024}} Chage and Aska also used the film in concerts.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.nausicaa.net/miyazaki/oym/faq.html#cg | title=FAQ // On Your Mark | publisher=Nausicaa.net | access-date=29 August 2013}}</ref> The first official screening took place at their fan club concert, held at the [[Makuhari Messe]] in [[Chiba, Chiba|Chiba]], on June 29, 1995. Beginning July 5, 1995, the video was shown for the performance of the song during the ''Super Best 3 Mission Impossible'' tour.<ref name="Kano(2006)"/> Featuring the same melody but different lyrics than "On Your Mark", "Castles in the Air" was included on the English-language album ''One Voice: The Songs of Chage & Aska''.

On April 10, 1996, during an airing on [[Channel 4]] as part of [[Four-Mations]].

The music video was later released on [[VHS]] and [[Laserdisc]] by [[Pony Canyon]] on July 25, 1997, due to popular demand.<ref name="Kano(2006)"/><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.themanime.org/viewreview.php?id=544 | title=THEM Anime Reviews 4.0 - On Your Mark | publisher=THEM Anime | access-date=29 August 2013 | author=Høgset, Stig}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.lddb.com/laserdisc/11197/PCLP-00652/On-Your-Mark-%281995%29 | title=On Your Mark (1995) [PCLP-00652] | publisher=Laser Disc Database | access-date=3 January 2014}}</ref>

On November 15, 2005, it was included on [[Buena Vista Home Entertainment]]'s "Ghibli ga Ippai Special Short Short" DVD, where it can be played with either the original "On Your Mark" or "Castles in the Air" songs.<ref>{{cite AV media | title=日本語イトル: ジブリがいっぱいSPECIAL ショート ショート/ アニメ (Ghibli ga Ippai Special Short Short ) | publisher=Buena Vista Home Entertainment | date=16 November 2005 | medium=DVD}}</ref>

It was planned to be included on the "Hayao Miyazaki Collection", but after [[Aska (singer)|Aska]] (Shigeaki Miyazaki) of the musical duo Chage and Aska was arrested for drug possession, [[Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment|Walt Disney Studios Japan]] removed ''On Your Mark'' from the upcoming DVD/Blu-ray box set containing Hayao Miyazaki's works, delayed the release by two weeks in order to remove the video and ceased shipments of ''Ghibli ga Ippai Special Short Short''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2014-05-21/on-your-mark-pulled-from-miyazaki-box-sets-after-aska-drug-arrest/.74734|title='On Your Mark' Pulled from Miyazaki Box Sets After Aska's Drug Arrest|date=21 May 2014|publisher=[[Anime News Network]]|access-date=21 May 2014}}</ref>

On October 27, 2014, Studio Ghibli's [[Toshio Suzuki]] announced on the company's web page that they and Disney had re-considered the situation and would be sending out Blu-ray discs to purchasers of the Hayao Miyazaki box set, as long as they could provide [[proof of purchase]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ghibli.jp/10info/009665.html|title='「On Your Mark」特別ディスクを配布します。|date=27 October 2014|publisher=[[Studio Ghibli]]|access-date=27 October 2014}}</ref> These standalone releases were self-distributed by Studio Ghibli for this reason.

On April 10, 2019, [[Walt Disney Japan]] announced the Blu-ray and DVD release of ''Ghibli ga Ippai Special Short Short 1992-2016'', an expanded edition of ''Ghibli ga Ippai Special Short Short'' that includes titles released after 2005. ''On Your Mark'' is on the disc, and it was released on July 17, 2019.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Alex |first1=Mateo |title=Ghibli Offers Expanded Collection of Shorts on Blu-ray Disc |url=https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2019-04-10/ghibli-offers-expanded-collection-of-shorts-on-blu-ray-disc/.145534 |date=4 April 2019 |access-date=1 August 2020}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb title|id=0114038|title=On Your Mark}}
* {{anime News Network|anime|id=879|title=On Your Mark}}

{{Hayao Miyazaki}}
{{Studio Ghibli Films}}
{{Authority control}}
{{Good article}}

[[Category:1995 films]]
[[Category:1995 animated short films]]
[[Category:1995 anime OVAs]]
[[Category:Animated music videos]]
[[Category:Films directed by Hayao Miyazaki]]
[[Category:Science fiction anime and manga]]
[[Category:Studio Ghibli animated films]]
[[Category:Films produced by Toshio Suzuki (producer)]]
[[Category:Anime short films]]