Prelude to The End pairs My Chemical Romance with Lauren Tsai’s animated storytelling and a voice cast including Billie Eilish and Phoebe Bridgers.
My Chemical Romance and artist Lauren Tsai have released Prelude to The End, an animated short tied to The Black Parade’s 20th anniversary. The collaboration brings the album’s opening song, “The End,” into the world of Tsai’s earlier film project.
Tsai directs and voices Astrid, the central character from The Dying World. Billie Eilish plays Astrid’s friend, Phoebe Bridgers voices her sister, Hideo Kojima plays the Teacher and John C. McGinley voices the Dean, according to the announced cast.
The story follows Astrid through a New England boarding school overwhelmed by trash. After her sketchbook is thrown down a chute, she follows it into a setting populated by forgotten ideas, extending the narrative of Tsai’s previous work.
The film is available online and was scheduled to screen before the band’s October 30 and 31 Hollywood Bowl shows. Those performances close its five-night run at the venue, placing the collaboration directly alongside the anniversary concerts.
The anniversary edition of The Black Parade includes the original album and six bonus tracks. Static Multimedia reports that those additions include three recordings from the band’s 2007 Maxwell’s performance in Hoboken and an unreleased live version of “Someone Out There Loves You.”
For Tsai, the project also revisits an early creative influence: she made animated fan videos for the band as a child. The resulting collaboration extends her own characters and settings rather than simply recreating the album’s existing imagery.
More News, Billie Eilish Officiates Finneas and Claudia Sulewski’s Intimate California Wedding
