As it is Cuushes Airy Me played over the 3000 plus handdrawn sketches of Kuno Youko is a delirious experience that bewildered my emotions hesitating their entrance and my thoughts having trouble registering what was happening. Despite that Ill try my best to interpret and make sense of this fiveminute fever dream. Since the music video is a field of symbolism there are several important things to be noted here that contribute to the clarity of its meaning when contemplated. Hospital and the burning facility Apple Butterfly Keyhole Nurses and Doctors Rabbit supplying light through breaths The ceiling fan Airy Me Test Subject Caterpillars in an apple broken by the nurse Chimera born by the Nurses button press on patients nose Chimera kissing the Nurse Test Subject hugging the Nurse Right off the bat we can see that the video handles topics surrounding life and death. Bear with me as we piece together the puzzle fragments slowly but surely. Disclaimer that this review is a reflection of my chronological thought process happening in real time with me writing while figuring things out. As such dont expect a steady hand following one road I believe Ive swerved in my beliefs a bit at least a few times. The Hospital that Burning Facility https://i.ur.com/OMkYQNU.png The music video is set in the hospital a building known for the medical care of living creatures spearheaded by doctors and nurses where physical and mental ailments are investigated and cured where life force is tampered to be prolonged yet where efforts might inevitably be in vain despite sacrifices of time and finances as the quietus embraces the animate. In establishing this setting the essence of life and death is amplified. In the beginning of the MV one of the hospital rooms was burning. We look into the given synopsis. Mysterious medical experiments take place a fire spells an operational malfunction. This beginning already means something is amiss in the holy ground of caretaking most especially after we come across the chimera sequences later in the video. The Apple https://i.ur.com/zGmEWSS.png An outofbreath Girl is seen running into the woods. Her identity might perhaps be a Test Subject who escaped from the hospitals experimentations. The Girl eats an apple from a tree to nourish her breathless state. After a while the camera focuses her saddened eye through a keyhole. Although the forbidden fruit of Eden was an unnamed one the apple was the most popular placeholder. With that in mind the apple is a symbolism of knowledge for better or worse. Genesis 2:1617 explains how its partaking assures death from what once was an immortalized state. In eating the apple the Girl gains knowledge of good and evil and clothes her with regular mortality. As such the girl is a simple human. The Keyhole https://i.ur.com/RtBzzNZ.png Yet being seen through a keyhole denotes separation from a boundary. Keyholes in general are a part of doors. What this means is that the Girl upon eating the apple on the tree elevates her status into a Nurse who despite being a mortal human has knowledge on the ways to manipulate ones life to a degree. This is why my theory marks the Girl at the beginning as the Nurse we see throughout the video. Medical Professions: The Nurse https://i.ur.com/TeI0gh5.png The nurse is a steward that is obligated to prolong ones life on doctors orders. They remedy ills as best as they can directly in the battleground of life and death. When we look at it in a rather religious perspective nurses are assistants of the Lord Doctors. As such they may be seen as angels in the form of humans. A brief slip of a figure looking like the Virgin Mary at 3:55 ensures religious connotations. Caretakers of residents of the hospital nurses primarily engage with the sick and say their goodbyes the moment patients are revitalized. They meet people of all ages: kids they clean up their messes mothers and their babe they assist their needs the elderly they help them do simple things all three seen continuously in a portion of the video. In this case a sequence shows the Nurse aiding an elderly man push the door while a butterfly goes out with him. Medical professionals are authorities as the handlers of life. We put our utmost faith and trust in them as we view these people as bearers of holy knowledge to solve every issue surrounding our bodies and minds. In this Earth they are truly superior in multitudinous ways. The Butterfly https://i.ur.com/iPhCUvB.png The butterfly is a recurring creature in the song. Its representations are already familiar: growth lifes beauty departed spirits and metamorphosis. The morphing of forms will be an idea worth remembering. The butterflys casual flutter around and about the video sprinkles connotations of the insects transformation especially as we approach the chimera parts. The Rabbit https://i.ur.com/keHXJJR.png After showing the songs title Airy Me a striking image of a rabbit incorporated in a lampesque contraption where its nostrils are attached to two wires connecting to the bulb above suddenly appears on screen. The rabbit candelabra exhales and inhales and the light shines and dims in accordance with the creatures breaths. Its as if the rabbit is supplying light through its respiration. As for the lighting devices mechanism it shows how our simples breaths influence the way light emits that our breaths emit light in the first place that we are lights that depend on our respiratory capabilities as a source. While living regardless of the form we can influence. Additionally the illustration looks akin to a hospital patient affixed with a nasal cannula for better oxygen airflow. It helps that a patient ward setting follows this scene. As such the rabbit can be identified as a Test Subject selected as patients of the facility. Patients are dependent on nurses and doctors to help cure their illnesses especially as admittance to a hospital implies a condition leaning on the rather concerning. Left alone without the care of medical professionals these individuals can potentially be severely debilitated or in the worst case die. These aspects of being human and being a Test Subject correlates to the rabbits placement here. These are social creatures which are known to always be in groups. Dependent in others presence as hell it is known that rabbits can die of loneliness and that such a thing is written off as an official cause of death. Just to add a nugget of knowledge Internet symbolisms define rabbits as symbols of fertility and craftiness. A rabbit can allegedly be a guardian of pregnant women and newborn children and because of that it is associated with deep understanding of the cycle of life. To tie all of this up the rabbit which can be a humanas a social creaturethat is a Patient/Test Subject of the hospitaldependent on the care of nurses and doctors to continue living where leaving them alone can mean deathsupplying light through its respiration reflect our state as living beings on this earth that are heavily influenced not only by the self but also by others. Our breaths are not ours alone and in the context of medicine a new perspective is opened. Further this moving picture provides a suggestion of the multifaceted nature of man as complex life forms since we can compare it to a variety of creatures as well be they living or not. The Ceiling Fan https://i.ur.com/lVB7DTa.png This will prove integral for the later points where I relate the wards ceiling fan with the meaning of the song Airy Me. The Test Subject/Patient https://i.ur.com/Cif7FNJ.png We move on to the next group of scenes centered around the patient ward where the Nurse gives injections to what looks like a severely afflicted person with a face resembling the Nurse. Going on a bit of a tangent the kid the mother early into the video also have similar facial features as her bar the elderly manit is still important that he has a face. Only the Doctor does not have a face which perhaps supports his position as a God. Going back at the hit of the shot what looks like a head contorts into experimental paraphernalia which sits beside test tubes and a shelf full of different butterfly species. This bit reinforces the fact that the hospital is indeed artificially engineering the life force of patients. Although the criteria for test subjects were not specified I believe these people are judged to be on the brink of death and can only rely on desperate measures which perhaps gives the Nurse and the Doctor an excuse to probe and modify. In one segment the Nurses shadow strips into the peeledoff skin of an apple. The fruit is then divided into smaller slices and fed to the Patient by the Nurse. We go back to the theory that the Girl at the beginning was a Test Subject and after eating a whole apple transcended into a Nurse. Perhaps this is a comment that being a Nurse not limited to the occupation is something to be strived for as a kind helper to other beings that are in need of further reasons to live. Or this could simply be the way to create more nurses for the hospital. But I digress as we reach closer to the Chimera episode. The Apple with Caterpillars https://i.ur.com/s5HEMNn.png Before that we see again the rabbit candelabra a wheel of lights an organ growing and looking like a plant and a broken apple filled with live caterpillars I assume. The caterpillar is the first stage of being metamorphosed into a butterflythe first stage of growth. In conjunction with the apple this might talk about how nurses and doctors with their knowledge bring forth life and growth which can result into an entirely different creature after their service. If we go back to the Girl to Nurse theory feeding the apple of caterpillars to the patient backs up that the hospital is creating more Nurses. It could also mean that they are creating new creatures entirely for an objective that I still havent surmised. But dont count on these assumptions completely just yet for the climax can levy new interpretations. The Chimera https://i.ur.com/JS5LlzE.png After a couple of injections the Nurse with a dismal face presses the nose of the Test Subject transforming him into a Chimera. A chimera according to Greek mythology was a monstrous firebreathing hybrid creature composed of different animal parts. MerriamWebster states that it is an imaginary monster compounded of incongruous parts and due to its absurd monstrosity an illusion or fabrication of the mind. In this fever dream of a music video the Chimera is an existence laden with interpretations. It being an illusion makes sense if we see this as a metaphor to a situation in reality. And so lets think about this morphed creature deeply. So the Patient turns into a Chimera. It rampages as it constantly changes forms. The Nurse runs away windows shatter as if the scene from the beginning of the MV is repeating. What does the Chimera Test Subject represent here? For one it can be thought of as a failed Test Subject as the Patient transforms into an abomination one which warrants the Nurse to flee. Perhaps the butterflies in the locker of the Doctor and the caterpillars on the apple imply that the hospital is making butterflies replicating the beautiful process of metamorphosis for man to escape suffering and fly free as sacred creatures who achieved the summit of growth. Butterflies can be thought of as nurses too as the pinnacle position portion of the interpretation can reflect a medical professionals capability to manipulate life for humanitys benefit which is already in a scale so grand almost divine. Therefore the stark dichotomy between the morbid Chimera and a butterfly creates thick tension in this scene. The Kiss and the Embrace https://i.ur.com/5eKJOs7.png However the endlessly morphologically changing Chimera Patient bloomed into several little butterflies with faces similar to the Nurse and the Test Subject to kiss the Nurse on the lips. Another point of view plays while this was occurring: a firstperson perspective of the Patient pressuring their legs to rise and open the door leading to the Nurse capturing her with an embrace so mellow sincere and light. Affection and unity is highlighted. The Ceiling Fan cont. Airy Me https://i.ur.com/K6j85Fp.png I believe that the song Airy Me was sung in the perspective of the Test Subject. There was only one occasion where we had a firstperson POV and that was at 4:11 in the patient ward with a look on the ceiling fan above. Perhaps the Patient is there in place of us and this video is played for us. Lets take a look at the lyrics. Unable to sit still I practice those steps One two three one two three Unable to settle down my head is now in Madagascar Becoming transparent I want to melt into the night Tonight like air: Airy me I dont want to be anything The towns lights like marble lights assault me I climb Tokyo Tower late at night twelve I become suffused into that red Cover you in syrup I want to eat you And then were flying off inside a crazy dream The distant landscape we just saw I want to melt into it I dont want to feel anything But when you laugh and that puts a stopper on me But you know the world just turns so fast Like you always do laugh for me If you dont at least do that Ill soon I feel Ill disappear The song in itself plays a sorrowful tune of a person at the edge of despair almost giving up on life until salvation was given in the form of another persons existence. Without that individual the singer will feel like theyll disappear. The lyrics present the morphing and coalescing into immaterial configurations making the concept of Chimera forms through butterflies the Nurses shadow into apple skin and other such evidences of concrete to abstract and morphology relevant. The wish to not be anything and the wish to not feel anything explains the severe ailments of the patient growing transparent i.e. nearing the spirits extinguished form. Like an airy self be one with the atmosphere away from the clutches of the earth. A ceiling fan blows currents of air into motion. It relates to the Patients initial desire to be or current state of an airy life form. The formlessness of air is similar to a Chimeras ever changing form. Technically it has form but its much like a fabrication and there is no real form. So the Chimera and the Test Subject are one and the same. However limitations of form cannot hinder our desire to offer love to people important to us. I think this song predominantly is an appreciation of life and people and a call for help all the same. It shows our dependence especially when we are in rock bottom but that isnt necessarily a bad thing perhaps as that reaction explains our drive to live and continue to be lights rather than disappear into nothingness. The way that the Patient opened the door to the other side of the dimension where medical professionals like the Nurse is in shows the Patients efforts to express gratefulness for receiving life from her. It also supports one of my interpretations that Test Subjects can turn into Nurses caregivers of life and that this is a goal: to spread kindness to people no matter the age no matter the status. Even if being a Nurse can be lonely as they sacrifice themselves in servitude to humanity locked in the other side of the door as per the ending it is still an occupation noble and holy. When we look at Airy Me being sung by the Nurse it just shows the mutualism present when we help one another. Cuushes Airy Me visually adapted by Kuno Youko is a thoughtprovoking animated festival of interpretations that incorporate various ideas of life and death and the multifaceted nature of humans. Logical Uncertainty I fully admit to logical holes in my interpretations because of my lack of confidence. The numerous perhaps and linguistic terms denoting uncertainty scattered around this review is already sufficient evidence. I say this for there are a few things that make the conclusion in its optimism and component claims Ive formulated from the music video incongruous and it involves the very beginning. What even is the Girl and why was she escaping? If she were indeed a Test Subject then why did she not feel gratefulness to the Nurse for giving her life? Why did she not turn into a Chimera if indeed history just repeated itself in the cycle of life and death occurring in the hospital? If she is not a Test Subject then what is she? Is she already a Nurseis she the Nurse from the video? Perhaps the worried look she had throughout was because of her feeling trapped in this occupation in the bonds of the Doctor. No joy ever escaped her face aside from when the Patient embraced her. Maybe the bleak atmosphere is faithful to its message: the Nurse just wants to die. She is the singer of Airy Me but instead of having prevented disappearance she wishes to puff away like air. The Patient is the Nurse and she was trying her hardest to kill herself and in the end she succeeded in creating a self inside her that was strong enough to put an end to her life mimicking the internal conflict one has when committing suicide because of attachment to this world and fear of the unknown. It was a kiss of death literally blowing her brains off and a consenting embrace of Death. But the fact that she didnt die at the end by the Chimeras butterfly kiss and the Patients embrace means that maybe shes already immortal and escaping the hospital to eat the apple in the beginning means that she has achieved mortality that which she always wanted to have? With that frame of mind the symbolisms transform into entirely different things and many feel out of place. Maybe then the Nurses wistful look on the butterfly is a sign of her longing for rest as a departed spirit. This lack of confidence in interpretation due to the subtle visual storytelling I cannot fully pierce stirs bewilderment deep inside however subpar it is to my decision to think about this positively. Although I share both sides of the coin I thoroughly enjoyed this unexpected contemplation. My interpretations might be far but the journey of attempting to figuring this out was worthwhile not a degree Id expect from a music video that runs for 5 minutes and 38 seconds. It goes to show how much thought is infused in works of art.