SCANDAL’s long-running music career has seen the group rise to being one of the most recognizable girl groups both in Japan and around the world. Multiple of us here at Otaquest are big fans of the group and their music, making any new singles from the group an exciting moment for us here. It’s always interesting to hear what new thing the group are up to, and the latest single from SCANDAL has seen the group join forces with XFLAG for an action-packed CG-animated music video for their latest song, ‘SPICE’, as part of XFLAG’s XPICE anime project.
‘Find your spice. Live true to you,’ is the motto of this new music video that sees a multi-colored hero team named XPICE as they face off against evil forces attacking the city of ZEROGRAN. This action-packed short film music video follows tells a mostly simplistic tale of a pair of heroes where one takes the spotlight for their show-stopping antics while the other is left behind and low on confidence, before they get thrust into the spotlight and save the day after their partner gets into difficulties.
This short has been made as part of a cross-media project from XFlag and is directed by Tsubasa Nakai. Hiroaki Kato from mixi inc is the producer and creative director on the XPICE anime project which impressed not just through the musical talents of SCANDAL but it’s incredibly smooth, kinetic and exciting CG animation. Even if you weren’t a fan of the song, there’s something to appreciate in the animation here. Character designs are simplistic but this is a clear stylistic choice and helps the character models stand out as they move through the scene.
The song itself, SPICE, is now available on streaming services worldwide to coincide with the video’s release, with a special live stream that occurred alongside the video’s release featuring Nakai and SCANDAL archived on YouTube. Taking the strengths of both XFLAG and SCANDAL together, XPICE is an exciting short anime music video that has been a welcome surprise upon its release. You can see it over on XFLAG’s YouTube channel.