Anime / Shelter (2016)

Due to the work's short length, this work's page and its subpages contain unmarked spoilers. You Have Been Warned.

"I'm not alone."

"I could never find the right way to tell you
Have you noticed I've been gone
'Cause I left behind the whole world you made me
But I will carry it along
And its a long way forward, so trust in me
I'll give them shelter like you've done for me
And I know I'm not alone; you'll be watching over us
Until you're gone..."

- Porter Robinson and Madeon, "Shelter"

Shelter is a six-minute animated short film produced by A-1 Pictures. It accompanies the song of the same name by Porter Robinson and Madeon.

It shows the story of Rin, a 17-year old girl who lives in a virtual reality that she can control with a tablet and stylus: lush meadows, giant cliffs, a tree swing, if she can draw it, she can realize it. However, she is all alone and doesn't remember how or why she ended up in this strange version of reality.

The music video can be viewed for free on on Porter's YouTube channel. It includes English subtitles embedded in the video.

During the 2016 New Year's Eve Dragon Ball Z Kai marathon, Toonami aired the music video on television making it the first subtitle-only anime to air on Toonami.

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This short film provides examples of:

• 20 Minutes into the Future: As a young girl, Rin used to live in contemporary Tokyo with her father, Shigeru. The Tokyo shown doesn't look any different than modern-day Tokyo, but scientific technology has advanced enough that Shigeru was able to design and assemble a spaceship for his daughter within a matter of days or months.
• After the End: The later half the short film shows that a massive asteroid was on a collision course with the Earth. In the days leading up to the disaster, Rin's father, Shigeru, built a spaceship in which she could potentially live out the rest of her days. Rin is essentially the last human in the universe and with Earth completely annihilated, the only place she has to call home is the spaceship.
• Apocalypse How: The size of the asteroid that hit the Earth is gigantic, meaning if there is still an Earth left, its definitely not habitable anymore.
• Artistic License – Space: If a Mars-sized object like that had approached the Solar System, we could have detected it from tens or even hundreds of years ago for a more effective countermeasure (like world-wide evacuation) and Shelter probably wouldn't have had such a bleak ending. It is in fact the small and medium-sized asteroids that pose a more serious threat because their agility and smallness make them that much harder to detect.
• Beautiful Void: The only thing populating the landscapes Rin creates is Rin herself. What could be a lonely setting is mitigated a bit by the gorgeous scenery and Rin's exuberant exploration.
• Blatant Lies: Rin assures the audience that she doesn't feel alone or troubled towards the start of the short. While she does have fun in her paradise, we quickly see this is not the case at all; one scene shows Rin in a black long coat walking through black skeletal trees looking nothing like her usually cheerful self.
• Bittersweet Ending: While there's no indication that there will be any changes to Rin's predicament, as she's still all alone in the virtual world and her home world is destroyed meaning she has nowhere to return to, she feels less alone now that she knows of her father's love and sacrifice.
• Book Ends: The short opens with a voiceover by Rin that includes her stating that she doesn't feel alone despite her solitary existence. She repeats this assurance at the end, only this time it's clear that she actually believes what she says.
• Colony Drop: A celestial body of some kind was on a collision course with Earth, and Shigeru's goal was to find any way for his daughter to survive the destruction of Earth.
• Desolation Shot: There are a couple times during the short film where the camera focuses on a barren and/or ruined landscape: the first is when Rin is in the bath and there's a desolate landscape outside her room; the second, during the flashback section where the news displays Tokyo in ruins; and the third when there is a brief shot of Shigeru and a young Rin looking over the oncoming destruction.
• Earth-Shattering Kaboom: The final shot of a young Rin in the spaceship shows the Earth and the other object colliding via a reflection in the spaceship's window.
• Everybody's Dead, Dave: The truth of Rin's life is that she's been all by her lonesome for several years following the destruction of Earth, and she doesn't realize she's possibly the last human left alive. Rather than being a forlorn ending, however, the trope is partially subverted as this revelation- being saved by her father and having her memories of him- means she will never be truly alone so long as she carries those memories.
• Fake Memories: At the start of the short film, a teenage Rin recalls witnessing the apocalypse herself. However, after viewing her father's memories, the truth is that she was most likely unaware of the apocalypse when she was placed in the shuttle and sent away by Shigeru, implying that she had seen a glimpse of her father's memories of the apocalypse.
• Good Parents: Shigeru was a loving father on top of secretly making a spaceship to save his daughter.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Shigeru built a spacecraft for Rin to escape on, rather than just one for himself or the both of them, even while knowing he would die on Earth with everyone else after she was gone. As the spacecraft carried Rin off, he seemed happy with his decision.
• Homeworld Evacuation: Upon learning that a giant asteroid is on a collision course for Earth, Shigaru builds a spaceship for his daughter, one in which that would sustain her for the rest of her life. The spaceship we see leaving Earth's serve is carrying Rin.
• The Ingenue: Rin still acts like a child despite being 17-years-old. Justified, because she was a child when she first entered the virtual world and is living all on her own.
• Innocent Fanservice Girl: Inside the virtual world, most- if not all- of Rin's outfits show off her legs and omit footwear, with some of her dresses leaving much of her skin exposed. Her physical body is completely naked. Since Rin's the only one living in the spaceship, a lack of clothing isn't a problem at all.
• Just Before the End: The short film includes a flashback sequence that shows a young Rin with her father, Shigaru, during the lead up to an asteroid hitting Earth.
• Lotus-Eater Machine: The virtual world Rin frolics in is shown to be something akin to a dream world that she can manipulate at will. This is so she can provide her brain with enough stimuli to keep it functioning, since, in reality, she's hooked up to a spaceship in which she's the only passenger.
• Magic Skirt: Rin's outfits mainly consist of dresses and skirts, and despite all of her flips and tumbles, her modesty is never compromised.
• Meaningful Echo: Rin tells the audience at the beginning that she doesn't feel lonely, but we learn fairly quickly that that isn't true. However, after she learns about the circumstances behind her virtual life- that her loving father saved her from death by creating a spaceship just for her-, her repeated assertion at the end of the short that she doesn't feel alone holds more weight.
• Minimalist Cast: Rin is the main character of the short with her father appearing only in flashbacks.
• Missing Mom: Rin's mother only appears in a photo. Her father's message confirms that she died some time before the Earth's annihilation.
• No Antagonist: There are no villainous individuals causing any conflicts and neither of our main characters are the "bad guy". The reason behind Rin's isolation was due to a simple tragic act of nature, and the object on course with Earth was doing so completely by cosmic chance.
• One-Word Title: The title of the song and the short film is the single word Shelter, referring to the spaceship that acts as Rin's only shelter from outer space.
• Platonic Cave: The virtual world of that Rin lives in seems like an idyllic place, considering Rin can create whatever landscape she wants. But it's also a very lonely one, as she's the only living thing populating it. The later half of the short film shows why this is: the world we've seen Rin in is actual a dream-like place with her physical body being protected and sustained by a spaceship. Said spaceship was built by Shigaru in an attempt to save his only daughter from being killed via an apocalyptic planetary impact.
• Posthumous Character: Rin's father, Shigeru, died several years before the short film takes place, but if not for his actions, Rin wouldn't be alive or have the ability to craft and explore her own worlds.
• The Pollyanna: Rin remains cheerful and optimistic even after finding out that Earth is long gone and her father along with it. She holds on to her father's love as proof that she's not truly alone and is hopeful for the future, despite her seemingly hopeless situation.
• Prefers Going Barefoot: Rin is barefoot almost all of the time both in- and outdoors, only wearing shoes once outside of flashbacks.
• Rewriting Reality: Rin can create any sort of landscape she wants within her virtual world by using a tablet, stylus, and some kind of incredibly complex software. Forests, meadows, cliffs, etc.- basically, if she can draw it, the software can realize it.
• Scenery Porn: The virtual world Rin lives in isn't restricted by real world physics or geography, leading to gorgeously rendered landscapes and detailed scenery.
• Simulated Fantasy, Post-Apocalyptic Reality: Rin is stuck in a simulation she can control with a drawing tablet, which is aboard a spaceship created by her father to survive a planetary collision.
• Slept Through the Apocalypse: Rin was in a coma throughout the ending days of Earth. It isn't until she regains her memories about the time leading up to her being put in the spaceship that she realizes both her father and the Earth are gone.
• Wistful Amnesia: There are hints that Rin vaguely remembers pieces of her childhood; there's the desolate scenery when she is in the bath that looks like the meteor about to crash into Earth, and she one of her drawings resembles a scene from Tokyo lit up at night.
• The World Is Just Awesome: Rin clearly loves exploring the landscapes she crafts, if her ecstatic expressions are any judge.
• Tragic Keepsake: The teddy bear that sits in a corner in Rin's room was a birthday present from her father, and the sole keepsake that accompanied her onto the spaceship.
• You Are Not Alone: Shigeru may be long gone and Rin herself my be the only person in the virtual world, but Rin doesn't believe herself to be alone; she still has the memories of her and her father living together, as well as tangible proof of her father's undying love in the form of the spaceship that sustains her. Considering that, Rin remains hopeful for the future.

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