Singer Dua Lipa’s latest music video for the song Levitating is a joy to watch for fans of classic anime. The art style seems inspired by 80s and 90s anime while the content of the video itself seems to be influenced by Sailor Moon. The Moon is featured prominently. A locket with a crescent Moon on it is very similar to Sailor Moon’s first transformation broach. The crescent Moon frequently appears in the background. There’s even a short magical girl style transformation! You can watch the video on YouTube embedded below.
Though the Sailor Moon references are surely intentional the art style of the video itself doesn’t match Sailor Moon much. I would say that it more closely resembles 80s anime styles. Many have compared it to Creamy Mami, an anime series from 1983 which I am not personally familiar with. The colours and designs do appear to be similar. A friend of mine pointed out the similarity to Dirty Pair, from 1985, which I think could also be an inspiration. Creamy Mami can be streamed for free on Retrocrush.
The video’s animation was done by NOSTALOOK who specialize in making retro style anime. A full length music video done in traditional style animation certainly is impressive! I’m certainly looking forward to seeing what else this group makes. You can follow the group on Twitter, Instagram or YouTube.
Do you like the video? What elements do you think are inspired by Sailor Moon and which might be from other series?
Source: Crunchyroll
Homigod as if the song wasn’t already amazing enough, I can’t stop watching this
Nice video.
This musical genre is not my cup of tea but the song is cool and the clip is even more. Good work!
I love this!
Not sure if you have mentioned it in one of your other posts but you should also check out Doja Cat’s “Like That”. The animated sections are minimal but they are definitely Sailor Moon R/S inspired. I imagine a lot of Sailor Moon fans would probably hate what she has done but I think any nods to SM are great.
Very cool. Seems quite magical girl inspired! I can see the Sailor Moon influence.