English pop star Dua Lipa has a released a new music video for her song "Levitating," which takes obvious inspiration from the classic Sailor Moon shojo manga and anime series.
The video was released on Sept. 13 and was produced by retro animation troupe Nostalook, which has garnered a substantial social media following through its artwork and animation inspired by classic anime from the '80s and '90s. The video was directed by Yu Tsubaki, with art direction and writing by Kenta Orisaka, and Yuta Oeno serving as the video's producer. The song "Levitating" is off of Dua Lipa's 2020 album Future Nostalgia, which was released in 2020. The album made it onto multiple music publications' "Best of 2020" lists, including The AV Club, Pitchfork, NME and Rolling Stone.
? "Levitating" DUA LIPA ?
— NOSTALOOK (@nostalook7090) September 13, 2021
We, "NOSTALOOK" have produced an animation MV for Dua Lipa's song "Levitating"!
We did our best to create a retro and cute atmosphere like the 80's anime ??
Hope you guys enjoy the MV?
Thank you for your valuable time！ https://t.co/VsQUfnG2lZ
The music video sees an animated version of Lipa driving into space in a pink convertible, and features constant references to the iconography, characters, and events seen in the classic Sailor Moon franchise.
Sailor Moon was created by Naoko Takeuchi and was first published in Japan in 1991. The series received an anime adaptation in 1992, which later became one of the first shojo anime to be localized and broadcast in the West during the mid '90s. After developing a cult following in syndication, Sailor Moon joined Dragon Ball Z as one of the first anime series to be featured in Cartoon Network's Toonami programming block. The manga has since been localized into 50 different countries and has over 35 million copies in circulation around the world. The series has been credited with revitalizing the "magical girl" genre and if often cited as one of the most influential anime and manga series of all time for its colorful art, feminist themes, and memorable cast of characters.
The series tells the story of Usagi Tsukino, a lazy middle-school student whose life changes forever after she meets Luna, a talking cat. Luna entrusts Usagi with a magical brooch that enables her to transform into the hero known as Sailor Moon, a magical soldier who is tasked with protecting the Earth from threats from outer space and other dimensions. Over the course of her adventure, Usagi meets other Sailor Scouts, including the fiery Rei and the booksmart Ami, who are also capable of transforming into sailor-uniformed heroes with magic powers.
Fans looking for more classic Sailor Moon animation can stream the original 1992 anime series on Hulu. The anime series was rebooted in 2014 with Sailor Moon Crystal, which is a more faithful adaptation of Takeuchi's original manga. Crystal is available for streaming on Netflix and Crunchyroll.
Source: YouTube
