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An older song, a romance at art school: making My Only One

I revisited Takane no Uta with a melancholic rock remix and an animated romance between art students. Studio tables, a quiet library, and the walk home became the setting for My Only One.

Two art students talking on a hillside street at sunset, one carrying a black sketchbook and the other a blue flower artwork

They can draw at the same table and still feel a little far apart. In the library, empty chairs sit between them. In the corridor, he hesitates before calling out.

For this music video, I made a romance between students studying art. I revisited an older song, remastered and remixed it, and gave it a story that follows two people through their time on campus.

The Japanese version is Takane no Uta (Remastered), and the English version is My Only One. Both follow someone who struggles with words but keeps looking toward the person he loves.

The English music video, following two art students from the morning arrival to their walk home.YouTubeで見る ↗

Returning to the song with a melancholic rock remix

I had already released a song and music video called Takane no Uta. This time, I remixed it in a more melancholic rock direction and kept revising it.

The feeling in the original Japanese lyrics is still at the center: knowing someone may be out of reach, yet finding your heart moving toward them anyway. Falling in love does not suddenly make the narrator confident or good with words. That uncertainty remains in the song.

Alongside the new version, I built a video around everyday life at art school. Dappled light, long shadows, and expressions that stop just short of saying something sit alongside the melancholic rock mood.

The earlier Takane no Uta music video is still available. You can return to the same lines in the Japanese song and hear or see how they feel with this version’s music and pictures.

Getting closer while making things

The setting includes studio tables, a library, and corridors where student work is displayed.

He carries a black sketchbook. She carries an artwork with a blue flower. Their work and tools give a visible sense of what they do without needing an explanation on screen.

Two students sitting apart at a library table with empty chairs between them and leaf shadows across the room
The source image for the library scene. They share a room, with some distance still between them.

They also have a life around the romance. A friend teases him, and four students work on an assignment together. Classes and projects keep happening while he has a crush. Her expressions and the things she makes catch his attention within that everyday routine.

Eventually, he calls her name, she turns toward him, and they talk on the way home. I revisited the order and length of the scenes to connect those changes.

Four art students working around a sunlit studio table with rulers, paper, and flower artwork
The source image for the group assignment. Time spent making things together is part of the story.

Giving the chorus a face

I came back to the choruses several times during editing.

There were art studies and empty library shots I wanted to use. At the line addressed to someone like a flower blooming beyond reach, though, I wanted to see him, her, or both of them. I rearranged the shots around that choice.

The second chorus especially centers on the heroine turning in the corridor with her flower artwork. Her expression comes after the time spent studying in the same place and the moment when he calls her name.

Some generated clips needed more careful selection. A sheet of paper disappeared as another was handed over. Drawings faced the wrong way inside a sketchbook. An unnatural extra hand appeared from behind a body.

There were good expressions and good light in the footage, so I chose the usable sections again. If opening a book looked wrong, I could use the stable moment before or after it. If an extra hand appeared, I could begin after it disappeared. Other moments needed a different shot or a change to the length of the neighboring cuts.

I also pulled back from framing that had become too enlarged and soft. Moving closer to a face can help show an expression, but the softness can become distracting. I adjusted each shot to show the person while keeping the qualities of the original image.

For My Only One, I adjusted picture and captions to the English recording and lyrics. I prepared full-length square and widescreen versions, plus a vertical edit using the second chorus.

Watch the Japanese remastered MV · Japanese recording and lyrics · English recording and lyrics

I kept the evening scenery at the end, with the two walking downhill into town, and removed the fade to black.

A black sketchbook and a blue flower artwork. Two people who were apart in the same room are now walking side by side. That is the time I have kept alongside this new version of the song.

alternative pop rock高嶺の唄(Remastered)Open the song page for audio, lyrics, and notes.Explore this song →

Thank you for reading.

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