Parlour Magic’s ‘Japanese Bonus Track’ video recreates 1980s–90s Japanese TV with live-action and animation

# What happened New York synth-pop band Parlour Magic released an official music video for their single "Japanese Bonus Track," directed by Lloyd Lenox. The video was filmed in Tokyo over five nights and combines live-action footage with animated graphics, bold typography, and illustration to evoke the look and randomness of 1980s and 1990s Japanese variety television and anime openings.

# Visual approach and creative starting point Lenox and the band's leader, Luc Bokor-Smith, began with the idea of recreating Human Tetris, the game-show challenge where contestants fit their bodies through cutouts in an oncoming wall. That seed expanded into a larger concept: a heightened TV world that borrows the comedy, unexpected moments and stylistic flourishes of the era's variety shows and anime openings. The video uses motion graphics and typography alongside hand-drawn illustration and 2D animation to build that retro-television feel.

Animation and illustration were contributed by Nick Alkin and Maya St. Clair, respectively. The production intentionally avoided the familiar Western visual shorthand for Japan: instead of tourist-heavy spots, Lenox worked with a local Japanese crew and chose locations that provide texture without cliché.

# Locations and production choices Filming locations included Tokyo's Shimbashi district and the Nakano Broadway shopping complex. The production shot for five nights and emphasized local collaboration. The choice to steer clear of heavily touristed areas aimed to give the video specific, lived-in visuals rather than generic postcard imagery.

# How the music connects to the visuals

The video's retro-TV aesthetic matches the song's move into rhythmic, danceable territory—visual pop and graphic motion complement the track's electronic pulse and string arrangements.

# Band context and next steps

# Why this matters for viewers The video offers a case study in using era-specific broadcast design language—not as pastiche only, but as a structured aesthetic framework that informs shot choice, graphic design and pacing. For viewers interested in music videos, it's an example of cross-cultural visual research (Japanese TV, anime openings) combined with local production practices (Japanese crew, non-tourist locations) to produce an original, referential piece.