Produced by Comics Wave Film Animator Maho Takagi's first directorial short animation “The Smell of First Love” will be released on YouTube on Monday, May 20th in collaboration with Sakura Fujiwara's new song!

“Your name is. Comics Wave Film (CWF), the animation studio behind works such as “The Sparrow'' and “The Sparrow's Door Shut,'' has participated in many popular animation works.Up-and-coming animator Maho Takagi has produced the short animation “The Smell of First Love”, which is her first directorial role.. A bittersweet story of first love that the smell of a muffler reminds you of.I drew it on a new song written by Sakura Fujiwara for this work.This work isReleased on Sakura Fujiwara's official YouTube channel from 0:00 on Monday, May 20thwill be done.

The project began with the theme of perfectly expressing through animation the coquettish charm of women portrayed by director Takagi: fresh yet shocking facial expressions and gestures.

The story depicts a simple story about a girl who finds herself overlapping memories of her first love in the nostalgic smells that everyone suddenly feels in their daily lives. Since it was essential for this story to have a life-sized song that would be close to the girl, Director Takagi offered her ideal singing voice to Sakura Fujiwara, who she was a fan of, to create the song, and the collaboration was realized. Based on director Takagi's concept of “the image of a girl who has lost her love, crying, and then bursting into tears all of a sudden,'' and “the unique freshness of Sakura's singing voice,'' the two parties had many meetings. I continued to refine the visuals and music over time.

In terms of production, we were particular about creating animation that is unique to CWF, such as adopting an independent production method that does not stick to a section system with a small number of elite people. Please take a look at this ambitious work where you can smell the passion of the people in the field in every frame.

◆Animation overview

Director: Maho Takagi

Song “First Love Smell”: Sakura Fujiwara (lyrics and music)

Animation production: Comics Wave Film

Delivery URL:

(Premiered on Sakura Fujiwara's official YouTube channel at 0:00 on Monday, May 20, 2024)

Comment from director Maho Takagi

I have always wanted to portray Sakura's ephemeral yet moody and core singing voice in my work someday. Thanks to this song, which incorporates all of Sakura's good qualities, I was able to make both the video and music dazzling beyond my expectations. I would be happy if the video could soothe your heart with Sakura's singing voice.

Comment from Sakura Fujiwara

I wanted to gently and gently hug Maho-san's adorable girl whose expressions change every time. I would be happy if you could feel the smell and warmth of your first love together, which makes your heart tingle when you remember it, but makes you want to touch it again.

◆Creator introduction

Maho Takagi

Born in Aichi Prefecture. animator.

Major participating works include “Doraemon the Movie: Nobita's Treasure Island'' and “Weathering with You'' (both original drawings). In addition to the original drawings for “The Sparrow's Door Shut,'' he was active in a wide range of fields, including the prop settings, and he served as the character designer and chief animation director for the Pokemon WCS 2023 anime commercial “I Met You!''.

Maho Takagi

Sakura Fujiwara

Born in Fukuoka Prefecture. Born in 1995. She is a singer-songwriter.

He is not only a singer-songwriter, but also a radio DJ and actor. Her natural smoky singing voice is unique among female singers, and draws the ears of those who listen to her.

Sakura Fujiwara official site

Fujiwara Sakura X

Comics Wave Film Homepage: