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Hideaki Anno Directs Music Video for Hikaru Utada's 'One Last Kiss'
posted on by Kim Morrissy
The music video for Hikaru Utada's "One Last Kiss," the theme song for Evangelion: 3.0+1.0: Thrice Upon A Time (Shin Evangelion Gekijō-ban :||), premiered on the singer's YouTube channel on Tuesday. The music video was personally directed by the film's chief director Hideaki Anno.
According to the video's description on YouTube, Anno readily consented to the offer from Hikaru Utada's side to create a music video. He proposed to create a video in a manner that is possible in the current state of the world. He did not direct the video in person; instead, the singer filmed herself and sent the materials to Anno, who then cut and arranged them to create the final work. Anno sent minimalistic directions regarding the camera, lip-synching, etc. through emails. Utada then carried out the filming with a small number of staff in a London suburb while taking diligent countermeasures against spreading the coronavirus. From there, Anno edited the footage in Japan, including clips taken from a smartphone, in order to create a video filled with "the bittersweet feeling of chasing the precious recollections of a private past."
The song was originally slated to launch digitally on January 24, before its EP release ships on January 27, but it will instead launch on March 10. Utada performed theme songs for all three previous films in the series.
The film opened on Monday in Japan, after being delayed twice due to COVID-19.
