About On Your Mark

On Your Mark is the name of a music video created in 1995 by Japanese animator & director Hayao Miyazaki. The music video is set to the song "On Your Mark" by Japanese music duo Chage & Aska. The musical arrangement was done by Sawachika Taisuke. For technical credits, look here.

What makes On Your Mark so unique and stand-out is the animation's story. In a futuristic world, a young female angel has been held prisoner against her will by a powerful religious cult named Saint Nova's Church. After a raid is delivered upon the cult and the followers killed, the girl is rescued. But two policemen who helped in the raid reconsider what they've done and make a plan to rescue the angel back from the police force. They attempt three different times which leads to three different outcomes of the girl's escape. The two policemen, both named Chage & Aska (this can be assumed by the name on the coffee mug) finally succeed and manage to break through their sheltered dome environment. Their city has been sheltered due to a nuclear catastrophe and people are restricted from leaving the habitat dome. The two policemen go outside anyways in an old car and allow the newly freed angel to fly into the free open air.

For answers to specific questions go here. For related merchandise see here.

Links

Interviews
Miyazaki interview in Animage Sept. 1995

Commentary
Review 1
Review 2
Review 3 (Italian)
Review 4

Other
IMDB Entry
Wikipedia entry
@ Nausicca.net