Scene 06 Sequence 02

This is the Taiko Drummers second performance and my favourite scene so far. Not necessarily for the looks, but because it is overloaded with details and things which I personally have seen or experienced when I went to Tanabata festival; and which I either found really weird or impressive:

• After leaving the drumming performance, me and my friends stepped into a side street where several groups of young girls, probably between 10-15 years presented a Hip-Hop choreography. It was kind of weird coming from a really traditional to very modern show. The girls' performance was really stunning, highly skilled and advanced. My Orihime (the weaver princess of the legend) already does traditional dance. Yet, as this Hip-Hop dance if seen impressed me so much I let Hikoboshi (the cowherd of the legend) do some Hip-Hop moves. This scene is actually the Taiko drummers' show, in which Hikoboshi kind of sneaks in trying to keep up with the camera to steal the show. He also does two "funny" looking moves, in which his serious face suddenly changes to a smile or cheeky grin. He is purposely looking stupid, to pull the show out of a "too serious" light and convey that's its mostly about being fun and entertaining.

• Another part of this scene, something which I have first seen in Japan, are "balloons in balloons" randomly flying past. They have no reason in particular; when I have seen them, I just found them slightly over the top, so I thought they have to appear in the animation. There are a couple of rabbit balloons and some with little squashy-girls in them.

•  For this scene I have also designed more decoration gates. There is one with the "lotus-baby". When I've seen this, I didn't really know what to think about it, as the baby which appeared when the flower opened looked kind of like a blow up doll, so it seemed kind "wrong" or inappropriate.

• A further detail in this scene is the convenience store in the background. In Japan there are convenies everywhere and you will notice how handy they actually are when you are in Japan, especially when going out or being stranded. Open 24 hours a day and always with a rest room.

So in this scene the whole festival turns a little bit more crazy, just before the new weird side characters, Cow Demon and Baka Cow, who turn the festival to an even more surreal event.