The circle of bandleaders became a big circle!　BanG Dream! 5th☆LIVE Day1: Poppin'Party HAPPY PARTY 2018!

BanG Dream! Project's live event "BanG Dream! 5th☆LIVE" was held at Makuhari Messe in Chiba on May 12-13, 2018. This time we report on "Day 1: Poppin'Party HAPPY PARTY 2018!

The band "Poppin'Party", in which the voice actors of "BanG Dream!" play the instruments themselves, was performed by Aimi (Gt. & Vo.) playing the role of Kasumi Toyama, Sae Otsuka (Gt.) playing the role of Tae Hanazono, Rimi Nishimoto (Ba.) playing the role of Rimi Ushigome, and Ayaka Ohashi (Dr.) playing the role of Saaya Yamabuki. (Dr.), Ayaka Ohashi (Dr.), who plays Saya Yamabuki, and Ayasa Ito (Key), who plays Arisaki Ichigaya. The opening act was "Afterglow," "Pastel*Palettes," and "Hello, Happy World! The backing band for each vocalist at the January GARUPA Live was "Bandolier! The third demonstration band "THE THIRD (temporary)" was in charge of the opening act.

The opening act was THE THIRD (temporary)!

THE THIRD (temporary) consisted of Raychell on bass vocals, Reiho Kurachi on keyboards, Natsume on drums, and Riko Obara on guitar. Ms. Obara was a surprise new member who joined the group at THE THIRD (temporary)'s first live in March. THE THIRD (temporary) appeared as the opening act this time, performing Afterglow's "That Is How I Roll! Egao's Orchestra! Glitter*Green's "Don't be afraid!", and their original song "R-I-O-T". Personally, this was the first time for me to see THE THIRD (kari) on stage as a solo group; I had an impression of Raychell's powerful vocals, so I was expecting to see more cute and sweet songs like "Pastel*Palettes" and "Hello, Happy World! I wondered what she would do with the cute songs like "Pastel*Palettes" and "Hello, Happy World! I wondered what they would do with the cute songs like "Egao's Orchestra! I was surprised to see Reiho Kurachi on keyboards and vocals for "Eo no orchestras!

What particularly impressed me this time was the performance style of Ms. Kurachi, who happily beat a rhythm on her feet while playing the keyboard, or marched with her feet or her hands in a "Ganbare (Hang in there)" pose! pose with both hands, and the performer's emotions are conveyed through his movements. By using a relatively simple keyboard set, it was refreshing to see them express their feelings by showing the movement of their feet. Don't be afraid!" is another song in a fairly high key, but on this song, Raychell's high notes were exhilarating. The original song "R-I-O-T" was a profound and overwhelmingly powerful number.

THE THIRD will hold their second live on July 17 at Mynavi BLITZ Akasaka. Ami Maejima, who plays Aya Maruyama, vocalist of Pastel*Palettes, will make a guest appearance at the event.

Poppin'Party in full climax right from the start!

Behind the screen where the chibi-character Kasumi and her friends were conversing, behind the gauze curtain covering the stage, the real Poppin'Party members lightly familiarized themselves with their instruments. While the gauze curtain blocked the audience's direct line of sight, the camera on the stage showed the members preparing for the performance on the screen, giving the audience a very realistic impression of the performance. The audience's anticipation was heightened and the live started with "Teardrops," an unexpected choice for the first song, but Ohashi-san was surprised to see that she was visually recreating Saaya Yamabuki with a ponytail of pinkish brown in her hair. Aimi and Ms. Otsuka are emotional as they play their guitars back to back.

The a cappella version of "For You Who Just Started Running" was sung by Aimi, who was bathed in a pin spotlight and sang with a passion that calmed the cheers of the 12,000 people in attendance. In her own part, Ohashi-san's serious expression on her face as she played the drums and sang, and her singing voice was impressive enough to make one huff and puff. Ms. Otsuka changed the temperature from the way she and Aimi were happily back-to-back in "Teardrops" to cool and solitary, showing off her super technique. After the performance, Aimi greeted the audience in high spirits, "The voltage has been maxed out from the beginning! she greeted the audience with full of energy.

After the voice-out time with the audience, they performed an anime special medley. The songs were "My Heart is a Choco Coronet," "STAR BEAT! and "Yumemiru Sunflower. My heart is a choco coronet" suddenly started from the chorus, and everyone sang along in chorus. The flow of the song was a recap of the memorable parts of the anime, starting with the first A melody of Nishimoto's song, "I like you, I like you, I like you, I like you. In the parts sung by each member, the vocal parts of the four members other than Aimi were really attractive, especially Ohashi's voice, which seemed to be even better and more brilliant, to my surprise. The audience sang "STAR BEAT! ~Hoshinokodou~" to the chorus of "la la la la la la" throughout the vast venue.

At this point, "Poppipa Strengthening Plan" was shown on the screen as an interlude video. In this project, the members are challenged to take on various challenges in order to strengthen each member. The first challenge was to perform on Bushiroad's premises, followed by street live performances at Shinjuku West Exit and Shinjuku South Exit, a mecca for street live performances, as well as in front of Shimokitazawa GARDEN, a sacred place of memories. Otsuka's singing ability and expressiveness were overwhelming as she sang "Time Lapse. In Yamashita Park, she had a session with a passing musician. In front of the Takashimaya Department Store in Yokohama Station, where Ms. Otsuka used to really perform on the street, she was reunited with a customer who used to come to see her every week back then. Mr. Nishimoto tried his hand at killing to hone his performance skills. He was seriously learning how to use myton fur nishimotonfer and how to kill with imitation swords.

Acoustic corner where each member's individuality shines through

In the acoustic corner, the members were divided into teams and performed live. The highlight was "Time Lapse" performed by Aimi and Otsuka (Sexy 2). The slightly whispery, gentle overlapping of the two singers' voices was impressive, but at times their voices swelled with power and gradually increased in intensity, as if they were conversing on guitar and voice as they single-mindedly and passionately exchanged guitar notes. The scene where Aimi sang a little off the mic (which she quickly fixed) because she was too absorbed in the performance was chillingly live.

Baby 3, a unit consisting of Ms. Nishimoto, Ms. Ito, and Ms. Ohashi, performed a cute and laid-back acoustic rendition of "Yes! The cute and somewhat idyllic "Yes! Ito's singing style was impressive, as she sometimes changed the end of words by raising them as if to ask a question. Ohashi-san, who usually plays the drums with passion, was in charge of the star-shaped tambourine for this song. He was having too much fun (?). He was surprised to see many of the tambourine bells popping off. In terms of performance, the somewhat humorous sound of Nishimoto's bass guitar was impressive.

Once the five members were on stage again, they introduced their renewed summer uniform costumes. The new summer uniforms had a more natural look with a more anime-like color palette. The acoustic corner was closed with "STAR BEAT!　This time, the band sang at a relaxed tempo and sang in a calm voice. The band's sound and the main vocals were subdued, which increased the presence of the chorus, giving the audience the strange impression that the singing voices were chasing each other. It was also a pleasure to hear the further improvement of Mr. Ito's keyboard playing, which was clearly noticeable due to the small number of notes. STAR BEAT! ~Hoshinokodou~" gave the audience a sense of transparency.

Enjoying the summer season! The second half of the show

In the interlude video "Poppipa Strengthening Plan," Mr. Ohashi tried core training and stretching again. Although she usually does muscle training, Ms. Ohashi struggled with training that used different muscles than usual, but managed to get through it with a smile on her face. He said that the snare drum became easier to play, and the training may have been the most fruitful. Mr. Ito tried his hand at dancing, aiming to become a miracle dancing keyboardist who can also charm with his movements. She seemed to be feeling the joy and difficulty of dancing, even though she was gradually losing heart.

In "Kirakira datte Yume datte -Sing Girls-," Ohashi-san equipped herself with a tambourine and Ito-san switched to a shoulder keyboard to show the results of her training in the interlude video. Ms. Ohashi, who says that "muscles and drums are connected," showed powerful movements. The song "Natsuzora SUN! SUN! SEVEN! Ms. Ito danced to the chorus of the song, which she had been training for since it was a dance assignment. Nishimoto-san's movement of waving the bass head may have been the result of his training in sword fighting. Mr. Ohashi said, "It was the first time for me to run (in the live performance of "Bandolier! live)!" Ohashi happily reported, "This is the first time I ran! I've never run (at a "Bandolier!" live performance) before!

For the next song of the summer corner, Ohashi-san moved closer to Aimi-san. The next song was "Hachigatsu no if," the first twin-vocal song by the two since the Budokan concert. Personally, I felt like I was watching their backs at the Budokan, so it was a treat to see their sparkling faces as they faced each other and sang together with their hands outstretched. When Aimi said, "We still have summer songs for us," everyone put on their happi, a festive outfit. After showing off their backs to the characters depicted, the final summer number, the first performance of "Summer Dawn! to the final summer number, the first performance of "Summer Dawn!　Fireworks were displayed on the screen, and the towels were thrown around by the audience, creating winds in the air during the chorus. Ito-san said, "It's a bit cooler (feeling the wind)" in the hot and burning venue.

The last song of the main program was "I would like to deliver energy with the circle of five! and "CiRCLING" was the last song of the main program. Before singing the last song, Aimi's smile was very impressive as she formed a circle in honor of the title of the song. When Ms. Ito said "Circle! Ms. Ito asked the audience to join her in making a circle above their heads with their hands, and Ms. Nishimoto suggested, "There are also lyrics to 'CiRCLING! (Let's make a circle there, too!)" Ms. Nishimoto suggested, "There are lyrics to 'CiRCLING! It was impressive to see the members gazing happily at the "circle" that filled the venue.

The message from their friends brought tears to my eyes. ......

During the encore, Aimi challenged the audience to "play various leading roles according to the theme and acquire star power" as the last "Poppipa's strengthening plan. She played the role of a sporty protagonist, jumping repeatedly across the stage, or a cute shoujo manga protagonist, saying "I'm late, I'm late, I'm late! and "I'm late, I'm late, I'm late!" in a cute shoujo manga style. In fact, as a kindly type of yankee, she even got a laugh when she named a puppy she picked up "Tama," a name she had never given before.

Just when both the audience and the performer had come to believe that the program was a variety show, the next subject was a letter from the members. Nishimoto wrote about their encounters during the audition, his memories of the time when they performed alone, and how he wanted to support them. Ms. Otsuka wrote that she liked the way Aimi, who has a clumsy side, tries her best to carry various things on her shoulders. Ms. Ohashi wrote that she is grateful to Aimi for supporting POPIPA and that Aimi is someone she can trust. Ms. Ito wrote that when she was anxious, Aimi was her emotional support and how irreplaceable she was to her. As she read the letter, Aimi's voice gradually became tearful, but she ended by saying, "I think I can become a star because of everyone's support. I would like to support everyone by gaining strength. By supporting each other, Poppipa will become a star! When she concluded, the audience gave her a warm round of applause.

Aimi, in the VTR, gave a shout for an encore, and the members appeared on stage again. Aimi said, "I think that everyone in life has troubles and pains. I hope music can help you to solve your problems and make you happy. I hope it makes you happy. I want to sing with the feeling that we are not alone in this world. In the backlight, the sight of Ms. Otsuka acting as if she was one with the music and Ms. Nishimoto crying as she played the intro to the song was memorable.

In the "What's New" corner, Poppin'Party's 10th single "Niju no Niji (Double Rainbow)／Saijo," a double A-side single, was released in 2018! (Let's go!)" would be released on July 11, 2018, and that the mini-anime "Galpa Pico" would start airing on July 5, 2018. And the biggest news would be the decision to produce a new TV anime series "BanG Dream!" The "2nd season" will air in January 2019 and the "3rd season" in October 2019. Sanzigen will be in charge of animation production for the new series, which will feature Kokoro Tsurumaki, Yukina Minato, and other characters from the smartphone game "Bandli! Girls Band Party! characters from the smartphone game "Bandoli-Girls Band Party! When the new series was announced, the five were overjoyed! The audience gave the biggest cheer of the day. The audience celebrated with the loudest cheers of the day.

In his closing remarks, he said, "I felt that it would not be possible without everyone here. I was so happy to see everyone's smiling faces. I wondered how happy I was going to be today, but Poppipa's performance amidst everyone's excitement made me very happy as well!　I would like to keep going forward with everyone in Poppipa and all the bandleaders! （I would like to keep going forward with everyone in Poppipa and all the bandleaders! When Ms. Ito said, "We have always said that we wanted to expand the circle of bandleaders, so we were surprised when the song "CiRCLING" was written," the bandleaders in the hall responded by making a big circle above their heads with purple lights. The bandleaders in the audience responded by forming a large circle above their heads with purple lights. she declared. The last performer was, of course, Aimi. I've been thinking about how I can bring happiness to each and every one of you today. The smiles on everyone's faces are the best reward of all!　There are many more things I want to do, so I hope to do many more live performances in the future. Please continue to support us! The venue was filled with warm cheers as he closed with the words, "Please keep supporting us!

The last number was "Happy Happy Party!　With countless colorful balloons flying around the venue, they closed the live in the happiest and most Poppin'Party-like way.