March 9, 2007

Production I.G and Victor Entertainment have teamed up to produce a fully animated music clip for the song Universe, performed by popular Japanese singer Maaya Sakamoto and included in the artist's forthcoming album, 30minutes night flight, to be released in Japan on March 21, 2007. The video clip will be made available on DVD format in the limited double-disc edition of the album.

The beautiful and bittersweet animation of Universe, that unfolds like a watercolor-painted picture book, is the creative result of a promising duo called Gekidan INU Curry, who designed the characters and directed the film produced at Production I.G's Studio 4 under the supervision of line producer Hidekazu Terakawa (Jin-Roh, IGPX).

About Maaya Sakamoto
Born on March 31, 1980, Maaya Sakamoto started her professional career as a singer at 15, when her talent was discovered by world-famous composer and music producer Yoko Kanno. At that time, she performed the opening song Yakusoku wa Iranai (I Don't Need Promises) for the animated TV series The Vision of Escaflowne (1996) while giving her voice to the main character in the same series, Hitomi Kanzaki. Her career as voice actor and singer continued in both animation and live action productions, her credits including Nathalie Portman / Queen Amidala in the Star Wars saga, Jessica Alba / Max in Dark Angel, and Reika Mishima in RahXephone. She has also been playing the role of Eponine for 5 years in the Japanese version of the musical Les Miserables. So far she released 9 albums (the second one, Dive, was voted Best Japanese Pop Album by Music Magazine) and 13 singles.

Her 10th and latest album, 30minutes night flight is a concept work that the artist herself describes as "a 30-minute night flight dedicated to all the people who experienced at least one sleepless night."

Maaya Sakamoto official website (Japanese only):
http://www.jvcmusic.co.jp/maaya/

© Gekidan INU Curry · Production I.G / Victor Entertainment