AnimeJapan2017] Report on the "Sword Art Online the Movie -Ordinal Scale-" Special Stage!

On Saturday, March 25, 2017, a talk event on the hit movie "Sword Art Online the Movie -Ordinal Scale-" was held on the RED Stage at Anime Japan 2017. Here is a report on the enthusiastic atmosphere at the event.
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This is an animation film based on an original episode of the popular light novel "Sword Art Online," which has also been made into an animated TV series, and is a completely new production for a movie. The original novel and its TV anime version were based on an online RPG in a "VR (virtual reality)" space, and this film introduces an online RPG "Ordinal Scale" using "AR (augmented reality)," creating a drama that blends the real and virtual worlds. This film has been released in North America, Asia, Europe, and other countries around the world, and has been well received both domestically and internationally.

Incidentally, it was announced on the day of the event that the film had drawn 1.4 million viewers in Japan and grossed over 2 billion yen at the box office. At the beginning of the event, the host, Nippon Broadcasting System announcer Naoki Yoshida a.k.a. "Yoppi," asked for a show of hands of those who had seen the film, and most of the audience members responded with a show of hands. The cast members, Sadashijo Matsuoka, Haruka Tomatsu, Kanae Ito, Rina Hidaka, Ayayo Takagaki, and Ayana Taketatsu then appeared on stage, and the applause and cheers from the audience were especially loud, indicating the overwhelming popularity of this work.

The overwhelming popularity of this work was evident in the applause and cheers from the audience. The audience applauded when Mr. Matsuoka said the line from the play, "Start up the Ordinal Scale! The rest of the cast greeted the audience with the same line. The cast members who did not have that line in the play followed suit, creating a rare situation.

In the free talk session that followed, the audience was excited to hear about the stage greeting tour. Tomatsu-san and Taketatsu-san revealed that the cast members, who have been traveling around Japan from the movie's release date to April to give stage greetings, enjoy sharing delicious foods from each region on their LINE group talk, which again showed how close the cast members are.

In the following corner titled "AUGMAR Laboratory," a flip-talk session was held on the theme of "What if the AR device "AUGMAR" that appears in the play has a hidden function? The flip talk started with the theme "What if there was a hidden function in the AR device "OGUMAR" that appears in the play? Mr. Yoshida prefaced his talk by saying, "This is not a comedy," but Mr. Takagaki immediately burst into laughter with the pun "Ookuma (search)," and showed his strength by saying, "I created the flow. In contrast, Mr. Ito and Mr. Taketatsu presented practical ideas that make full use of AR with creative illustrations. The audience laughed and shouted with admiration. At this point, however, Mr. Matsuoka said, "Physical full burst-ohh!" (a call to action from "Accel World," a work by the same author), the flow of the discussion took an interesting turn again. Takagaki-san's answer was inspired by the word "AR," and he ended the discussion with the pun, "There are various kinds of pictures (on the spot without going to a museum).

As the fun talk came to an end, the performers gave their final remarks. Most of the audience had already seen the movie, and they all talked about how much fun it would be to see it in the theater again and again. Ms. Tomatsu, who plays the main heroine Asuna, commented that she especially wanted the audience to pay attention to the sounds that can only be enjoyed in the theater and the meaning of the lyrics of the songs that are played in the film. Matsuoka-san, who plays the main character Kirito, spoke of his passion for the series, which has continued uninterruptedly for five years through anime and games, and concluded his speech by saying, "I want to do a third season! and "I want to do a third season! The audience gave a thunderous applause.

Finally, a secret guest, the singer LiSA, appeared on stage!　As soon as she sashayed onto the stage, she sang the theme song "Catch the Moment. The audience was on their feet in excitement at this pleasant surprise, and the stage was closed with the excitement at its peak.