The "Sentimental Graffiti 20th Anniversary Special Event - Reunion" was held on January 19, 2019 at Hitotsubashi Hall in Tokyo.
Sentimental Graffiti" is a love simulation game released for the Sega Saturn on January 22, 1998. The game was then ported to various hardware platforms, the anime "Sentimental Journey" was broadcasted, and subsequent series of games were developed until the release of "Sentimental Prelude" for the PS2 in 2004. Strangely enough, however, from my personal experience at the time, I feel that the most exciting time for this work was during the year on the eve of its release. The release of the main game was postponed, and the huge amount of goods and peripheral developments that preceded the release of the game generated tremendous excitement. The character designs and illustrations by Tomohisa Kai were so outstanding that they captured the hearts of the otaku of the time. As a result, the Sega Saturn version of "Sentimental Graffiti" sold over 200,000 copies, making it one of the bright spots of the late 1990s gal game boom.
The cast of 12 main heroines for this work consisted of six new voice actors from Aoni Productions and six others recruited from the general public, and the 12 acted as a voice actor unit called "SG Girls. Although there had been previous works in which voice actors themselves performed on stage, such as "Idol Defense Force Hummingbird" and the "Sakura Taisen" series, this work, in which the voice actors were cast as a unit and some of the members were recruited from the general public, was a major turning point in the era of voice actor idol groups, which has also led to the current popularity of voice actor idol groups. This was a major turning point in the popularity of voice-over idol groups.
Even now, 20 years later, there are many stories about "Sentimental Graffiti," including complicated contractual moves (the rights are currently held by Gungho Online Entertainment) and various adult situations related to its production. Toshio Tabeda, one of the key staff members at the time who spoke at the event, even said, "I apologize for the inconvenience I caused everyone 20-odd years ago and for not being able to help" (Mr. Tabeda is in charge of organizing the contractual relations and merchandising for this event). ) So when the Sentimental Graffiti 20th anniversary project was launched in January 2018, those who knew the project at the time greeted the news with surprise. But in fact, it was not the "adults" who first began working on the 20th anniversary event, but the voice-over cast themselves, who had once worked as the SG Girls.
The cast members held meetings at a karaoke box, held a rally among themselves to confirm their mutual will and enthusiasm for the event, and involved the staff of the time, including the aforementioned Mr. Tabeda and Mr. Tomoyuki Hamada, who was in charge of music for the film. The unprecedented approach of a 20th anniversary event led not by the makers but by the cast was made possible through crowdfunding (the platform was CAMPFIRE). The goal was reached within 10 minutes of the start of the crowdfunding campaign, and the total support reached 34,701,700 yen in the end. Three months later, the event "Sentimental Graffiti 20th Anniversary Special Event - Reunion" was finally realized.
The event was attended by Junko Okada, who played Taeko Adachi in "Sentimental Graffiti"; Moyu Arishima, who played Taeko Adachi in "Sentimental Graffiti 2"; Mariko Suzuki, who played Honoka Sawatari; Ai Maeda, who played Emiru Nagakura; Hiromi Konno, who played Rurika Yamamoto; Yukiko Mitsunaka, who played Natsuo Morii; Yuka Nishiguchi, who played Yu Nanase, Machiko Toyoshima as Manami Sugihara, Chisyu Yonemoto as Chie Matsuoka, and Reiko Suzuki as Akira Endo. I personally cannot remember an event that called for both cast members who had changed voice actors between productions. Unfortunately, Michiko Oda, who played Wakana Ayasaki, Asami Okamoto, who played Asuka Hoshino, and Yuki Makishima, who played Miyuki Hosaka, were unable to attend the event, but they did send a message in the event pamphlet (Makishima-san wrote a message of regret for not being able to attend the event and happiness for being involved in the work, saying, "I'm so sad I couldn't attend. (Makishima-san also sent a voice message saying, "I'm so sad I couldn't attend the event! ).
The event started as the lights dimmed and the opening theme song of the game "Sentimental Graffiti", "Kumo no Mukou ni Mukou (Beyond the Clouds)", was played. The opening message, written by Raita Okura and performed by the cast members as their characters, was played, and the legendary copy from that time, "I miss you, I miss you..." was replaced by the phrase "I miss you, I miss you. ...... I missed you!" I was strangely moved, as if something had been connected across the 20 years.
There was a brief greeting from the cast members at the beginning: "I am Junko Okada, Double Taeko! I am Moyu Arishima, Double Taeko! The names "I'm Junko Okada of Double Taeko" and "I'm Moyu Arishima of Double Taeko! When Ai Maeda said, "I never thought I would see this view after 20 years," Hiromi Konno was half crying and squishy from her first words, "Stop it, I'm going to cry, please take care of me~". Her greeting was filled with the words "I could see you again, I missed you," and gratitude to the fans who had brought her to this place through crowdfunding.
The first corner was a live voice-over of a famous scene from "Sentimental Graffiti". It seems that the cast themselves were involved in the scene selection process. Whenever the characteristic game screen of "Sentimental Graffiti" with a live-action background was shown on the screen, the audience buzzed. Many of the scenes chosen were related to dates and confessions, such as going to see a lavender field with Honoka. As for Taeko, Okada-san and Arishima-san played different scenes, but rather than a double cast, it was great to feel the atmosphere and feelings of Taeko in "1" and "2," in each place and at each time.
My overall impression was that although the characters were played as they were 20 years ago, the acting seemed to have more depth, which gave me a strange sensation that only a voice actor who performs with a voice can give. Ai Maeda, who had to deal with two occasions when the screen display was malfunctioning, got over it with a little ad-libbing that showed a bit of her true colors and returned to her natural acting as Emiru, the smiling face, and while calmly letting the video problems slide, she gave a powerful shout in the following scene that shook the audience and herself with her soul. I felt the soul of a professional actor in Ms. Chisyu Yonemoto, who calmly put the video problems behind her and drew the audience and herself into the story with her soulful and powerful shouts in the following scene. The cast and the fans seemed to be recapturing 20 years of time together as the actors of today performed the famous scenes of the past, such as Rurika showing the ammonite, Nanase gazing at the meteor shower together, and Akira playing the violin for the main character.
In the "One and Only Memories Corner," each member showed a photo of a memorable moment and talked about an episode. Yonemoto introduced a photo of the waiting room at the last concert held at Nakano Sun-plaza 20 years ago. Yonemoto and Mariko Suzuki, who were the nervous type, confessed to a prescription episode in which they secretly drank a little beer in the waiting room. Many members were surprised to learn this for the first time. Hiromi Konno showed a photo taken on January 19, 1997, the very first day the six members of Usagi Gumi (the publicly recruited group of SG Girls) were announced. The members who could not attend the event this time graciously agreed to share their photos with the public. Many of the memorable photos were taken after the 20th anniversary project was launched, showing that the members were enjoying their ongoing activities and that they had been discussing and preparing for this day. Personally, I was impressed by the two-shot photo of Junko Okada, who plays Taeko Adachi, and Moyu Arishima wearing bunny ears, and the commemorative group photo taken in the same arrangement as the newly drawn illustration for the 20th anniversary.
In the game corner, the "Illustration Message Game" did not go so well because the subjects were too difficult for the time limit of 10 seconds (e.g., "the twelve signs of the zodiac"), but it was interesting to see the two of them stirring up a sense of conflict. It was interesting to see the two of them stirring up a sense of rivalry. The losing North team performed "Sentimental Graffiti" related impersonations as a penalty game. The leader Mariko Suzuki's imitation of Emiryun was especially good.
The daytime session was announced to be a talk-only event, but there was also a mini live performance to close the stage. Here, a live band played (!). The band performed three songs: "Yakusoku (Promise)," "Mirai: Sentimental Graffiti," and "Sodan Hitto Imoide (Only One Memory). Mirai ~Sentimental Graffiti" is a completely new song created as a result of this project, and was written by Tomoyuki Hamada based on the original poem by Raita Okura, which contains the stories of 12 girls. It was a very happy sight to see the cast happily calling out from the stage, and the audience waving their hands in unison as they sang along with Lala Lala. On the next page, we will report on the main live performance of the evening session.