SHELTER.

What if you were forced to live inside of a dream, where everything seen was a digital
creation of your own design and was used as a way to escape reality by hiding behind the world of technology?

This question is prodded in the newest creation and first-ever anime short film by DJ and music producer, Porter Robinson. Together with A-1 Pictures, the company who animated series such as Aldnoah Zero and Blue Exorcist, and Crunchyroll, Robinson’s newest track, “Shelter” is brought to life in the form of a 17-year-old girl named Rin who’s living inside of a virtual world that she controls through a tablet devise. The story takes place in a futuristic world as is shown in the first half of the video. Anything she imagines and creates becomes reality around her. The beginning of the video has Rin checking her tablet for any new e-mails. While she states she isn’t lonely, viewer can’t help but ask why she’s all by herself to begin with and why she has been for so long (2539 days to be precise). As the video continues on, however, we learn more about her, and are taken through an emotional roller coaster of heartache and understanding.

During the second half of the video, around 40 days after the first opening scene, we realize as we view her past alongside her, why she is in a virtual world to begin with. Little snippets of her childhood reveal that earth was to receive a devastating blow from another planet that was to destroy all of mankind. In order to save his daughter, her father built a ship that would save her from the rest of the world’s fate. Once her journey through her memories ends and she remembers her forgotten memories, she receives an e-mail from her deceased father. By the last scene, Rin is shown to be attached to multiple wires that have helped to keep her sustained and asleep all this time as she floats endlessly in space, revealing that everything seen thus far has been either a continuous dream or have been fragments of her memories.

SHELTER is a masterpiece that shows a possible future for human kind, and eludes its way to the depths of the human heart. The song this animation is based off of is beautiful, upbeat, and warm, with its colorful undertones that express the dual nature of this piece. The animation is spectacular and the visual backgrounds are just as ornate and detailed as any work expected from A-1 Pictures. Robinson’s intention for this futuristic piece is meant to represent how our lives today are heavily dependent on that of technology, and how it has become the shelter we now all hide under.

2579 Days

Fact to Think On:

One thing to note throughout this anime short is how we first see “No messages in 2539 days” and how it turns into “No messages in 2578 days” the last time her tablet is shown where she checks for any new messages. The scene jumps from what appears to be nighttime to the next day where her tablet recreates the first scene from her memory as a young girl and she remembers her past. In her father’s blueprint, Rin is said to be seven years old at the time he begins making the ship for her. In three years’ time, he finishes making the ship and sends her off into space. By this time, Rin is 10 years old. 2579 days equates to seven years, so Rin has been in space for this complete amount of time. Interestingly, the number seven can be an indicator for change and of positive renewal. This could indicate how Rin will awaken soon or will be found by survivors to start a new life. Whether this was an intentional piece of information meant to hint at Rin’s future or is just simply a coincidence, either way, it’s an interesting fact worth mentioning.

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More information regarding this short animated work can be found either on Crunchyroll or on Porter Robinson’s YouTube channel now.

©Porter Robinson & A-1 Pictures/ SHELTER PROJECT. All rights reserved.