It’s hard to say exactly why we took this approach. It’s probably because, for Shugorei, music and storytelling is inextricably intertwined. I (Tom) was commissioned by Australian Youth Orchestra to write a new symphonic work for the 2026 Summer Music Festival; they asked for it to be about anime. Needless to say, I was won over by this concept right from the start.
That is understating it, actually. All Shugorei’s music is a manifestation of our finding fantasy and magic in everyday life, and in fact our music goes well past mere recordings or concert events. With Nozomi’s Japanese background and equal enthusiasm for anime, I decided to invest fully in the possibility of music inspired by anime. But it was not immediately clear how one might stem from the other.
We decided that if the anime were imaginary – an animated TV show that doesn’t exist – it could inspire a symphonic work equally as well as anything else.
I like to relate this to Tolkien, who showed fiction writers that the intricate building of a world which surrounds a central narrative serves to make that narrative all the more compelling and real. But in this case, rather than a narrative, there is a symphonic piece, and the world-building has served that central element. Writing syphonic music to fantasy themes is highly rewarding and not new, but I’m delighted to give it a shot with anime, and perhaps this prceise thing has never been done before.
Noz and I created a constellation of elements which we hope might each be explored in their own right, and each have helped underpin the meaning of the symphonic music. These include:
- The imaginary TV show’s synopsis (I’m tantalised by the notion of a fiction within a fiction);
- A (real) J-pop-style production of the show’s opening theme (currently not publicly released), including song lyrics which relate to the synopsis;
- Both these elements are presented in English and Japanese;
- The first several chapters of a novelisation (we will publish this gradually);
- And, most impressively, concept artwork by the inspirational Ginko Kiyotani Eris.
It is that last element which we are delighted to feature here on this blog. Her carefully conceived and crafted illustrations will be featured one-by-one, and we hope you can enjoy some of the fine detail in these works.
Ginko’s work reminds us of anime of the late 70s or early 80s – I think of 宇宙戦艦ヤマト (Space Battleship Yamato),
. . . マッハGoGoGo (Speed Racer),
. . . as well as 科学忍者隊ガッチャマン (Science Ninja Team Gatchaman).
That tradition is clearly observable in Ginko’s work, who would have been as enthrawled by the Japanese manga and anime of the 1970s and 1980s as many Australian kids of the time, like me.
Ginko’s technique involves creating a series of sketches, so as well as demonstrating the final products, we can show you her process. Here is an early sketch for one of the concepts. This image is of one of the story’s two central characters: Raikō.
It’s amazing to see the progress of these images; you will notice that in the following image, the black wolf will improve significantly between this and the final version; Ginko herself seems to note this, indicating “learn more” on the sketch!
Memories of Stars Synopsis:
We created this overview in both Japanese and English (and it went on to serve as the foundation for the J-pop theme’s lyrics).
Since the dawn of time, two primordial forces have been reborn again and again, destined to circle each other through the ages. One is a boy blazing with incandescent energy, lightning dancing across his skin. The other is a girl cloaked in the velvet stillness of night, her power deep and quiet like the stars. Unaware of their shared past, they cross paths in their latest lives and instinctively give chase—racing through the vastness of space at breathtaking speed, each believing the other might be their enemy.
The boy can summon his true power by transforming into a magnificent lightning tiger, a creature of raw speed and brilliance. The girl, in turn, can become a graceful black wolf, a shadow moving effortlessly through darkness. When their energies finally collide, something extraordinary happens: rather than destroying each other, they merge into a single, awe-inspiring dragon, a fusion of tiger and wolf, light and darkness. Together in this combined form, they discover they can change the world—solving crises, protecting life, and unraveling mysteries that span centuries. Their adventures lead them not only across the stars, but deep into the hidden layers of their own history, as they uncover the truth of their intertwined destinies and the roles they are meant to play on Earth.
太古の昔より、二つの原初の力は幾度となく生まれ変わり、永劫の時をかけて互いを巡り続けてきた。
一方は、肌の上を稲妻が踊るように、まばゆい光をまとった少年。
もう一方は、夜の帳に包まれ、星々のように深く静かな力を秘めた少女。
互いの記憶を失ったまま、現世で再び出会った二人は、本能に突き動かされるように空へと駆け出し、宇宙の果てへと疾走する。互いを宿敵と信じ、眩い閃光と漆黒の影が、息を呑むような速度で交錯する。
少年は、真の力を解き放つことで、雷鳴をまとった壮麗な“雷虎”へと姿を変える。
少女もまた、闇を自在に駆ける優美な“黒狼”へと変身することができる。
やがて二人の力が激しくぶつかり合うと、想像を超える奇跡が起きる。
破壊ではなく、融合——。光と闇、虎と狼、そのすべてが一体となり、畏怖と美を兼ね備えた“竜”が誕生するのだ。
融合したその姿で、二人は自らが世界を変え得る存在であることを知る。
災厄を鎮め、命を守り、時代を超える謎を解き明かしていく。
彼らの冒険は星々を巡る旅となり、同時に、自らの魂の奥深くに刻まれた記憶をたどる旅でもある。
数多の転生の果てに結ばれた宿命——二人は、地上における真の使命と向き合っていく。
The lyrics to the opening theme:
Tooi mukashi yori
From a distant past
Hikari wa hashiru yo
Light runs through (him / the air)
Yoru o matou kage
A shadow cloaked in night
Shirazu ima sora e
Unaware, now they race to the sky
Inazuma ga tomoru
Lightning lights within
Tsuki no hitomi yobu
Moon-like eyes call
Unmei ga hiku yo
Fate pulls them close
Raikō yo hoero yo
Raikō — roar!
Kokurō yo sakeyo
Kokurō — rend the night!
Butsukaru setsuna ni
At the instant they collide
Ima ryū to nare
Now become a dragon
Ikazuchi yo, kuro yo, hibike yo
Thunder, dark — resound
Shizuka na tokoro de
In a quiet place,
Kokoro wa mada moeru
My heart still burns within,
Kako mo mirai mo
Past and future both
Hitotsu ni tokeru
Melt into one again.
Kurayami o koe
Beyond the darkness,
Hikari no naka o
Through the light I go,
Toki o koenagara
Crossing time itself,
Ima tobu yo Now I take flight.
Ginko used the synopsis and the subsequent song lyrics as inspiration for her drafts:
And so, it was our great pleasure to witness Ginko’s artwork resolve into fully detailed, fully coloured renditions of concept art for Memories of Stars (click on the images for enhanced detail).
As you enjoy the artwork, note the details. For example, the transparency of the dragon’s wings and its subtle allusion to the Yin and Yang, whose symbolism within our story Ginko easily picked up on.
Ginko has been a fashion illustrator, and this comes through in her anime style. She alone decided what our characters should wear. Here are Kokurō and Raikō, outfitted by Ginko, based on the few cues she took from our writing.
You might ask, quite fairly, how does all this turn into a symphonic work? The answer is a personal one. I write music not merely to make pretty sounds. For me, music is a manifestation of what it means to be a human being. On occasion, this means breathing, motion and physiology (take, for instance, The Sounds of Chow Gar). In this case, it has been about story telling, which is another basic part of what it means to be a human. As me and Noz worked on creating the world, a story emerged (indeed, we will post about this story in future). The words for an “opening theme” (my “fiction within a fiction”) allowed me to compose that theme. Its melody I have taken and it has become the core of the symphonic work – as if I created a symphonic arrangement of a popular anime theme – yet that anime never existed. It’s slightly bittersweet: all of our endeavours in life are, in the end, perhaps, a fantasy. And yet, fantasy, imagination, story-telling and wonder give our lives deep and joyous meaning.
Shugorei 