A new world of blue roses bloomed at Nippon Budokan! BanG Dream! 7th☆Live "DAY1:Roselia "Hitze" Live Report

Bandolier! 7th☆Live" was held at Nippon Budokan from February 21 to 23, 2019. Here is the report from "DAY1: Roselia 'Hitze'" held on February 21.

Bandolieri! is a content featuring a concept in which the voice actors who play the characters themselves perform on stage as a real girls' band. On the first day of the event, Roselia's Aina Aiba (Vo.), who plays Yukina Minato, Haruka Kudo (Gt.), who plays Sayo Hikawa, Yuki Nakajima (Ba.), who plays Risa Imai, Megu Sakuragawa (Dr.), who plays Akko Udagawa, and Kabaon Shizaki (Key), who plays Rinko Shirogane, performed on Day 1.

The venue was set up with a movable full-circle stage in the center of the arena, with the audience seats fully open 360° to the stands. This is almost the same as "BanG Dream! 4th☆LIVE Miracle PARTY 2017! at Nippon Budokan" where Poppin'Party performed on August 21, 2017. Due to the nature of the drums and keyboards being basically immobile, this stage configuration was probably the best solution, as the stage could be rotated to show the performance to the audience in all directions. The stage is surprisingly close to the seats in the stands. The stage was an elaborate three-tiered circular movable stage on top of an octagonal base stage, with various gimmicks such as rotating the entire band set and raising the center stage. When the lights around the edge of the stage are turned on, the entire stage appears to resemble a rose. Eight screens are set up above the stage, so that the audience can see the video performance from any angle.

A gate resembling a cathedral of roses rose up from the center of the stage, through which the five members of Roselia appeared in new costumes. Standing in front of their instruments (Ms. Aiba's microphone was a blue rose), the five members struck an atmospheric pose. Sakuragawa-san, holding a stick with his hands along his body in a chuunibi pose, looked very picturesque.

The opening number was "BRAVE JEWEL. While playing "BRAVE JEWEL," Ms. Nakajima raised her head and looked around the Budokan like Lisa's sister, and her vertically rolled red hair extensions helped to recreate the visuals. The melody of Ms. Shizaki's keyboard on the bridge played softly was pleasant to the ears.

The stage started to rotate during "R," and Kudo's headphones were impressive. The most impressive performance was Mr. Kudo's guitar playing with head banging. Her hair was straight and black with a hint of green, Sayo's hair color, at the ends. The way her hair fluttered when she head-banged was very elegant, very Saya Hikawa-like and very Roselia-like. Ms. Shizaki's solo singing part had a thin and bewitching sound.

The first voice of MC was "It's finally here, Budokan" uttered by Ms. Aiba as Yukina Minato. From this point on, the talk continued with Lisa looking nervous and Ako caring for Rinko, both wearing their characters' faces. The MC for today's live was mostly in character mode. It was also the latest episode of the anime "BanG Dream! 2nd Season" and the smartphone app "Bandol! Girls Band Party", as well as the darker, cooler side of the group as depicted in the latest episodes of the "BanG Dream! From here on, the report will be based on the names of the performers, but unless otherwise noted, please assume that the MC was acting as the character.

Aiba-san's voice, "Do you want to hear the music that we are aiming for the top? and the band started to play the cover song "Soul's Lefranc". Ms. Aiba moved to the center of the stage with a microphone, and the center stage where she stood rose to a higher level. The next song was "Zankoku na Tenshi no Thesis," which was performed for the first time at the live and was connected to the "Neon Genesis Evangelion" song. The band sang the arrangement with a sense of speed in a slightly higher key, reminding the audience of the "present" Yukina Minato, who has gained a bond with her friends. The audience cheered as Ms. Aiba walked freely around the stage and followed Ms. Nakajima closely. The chorus of the song, "Zankoku na Tenshi no Thesis" overlapped with Akiko's expression, and I felt that these two songs must be Akiko's favorite worldview.

The first half closed with "ONENESS. Ms. Kudo realized that she was being filmed when Aiwa came closer to her, and it was impressive to see her smiling every time she sang her part in the chorus. When Ms. Kudo and Mr. Nakajima faced each other and showed their session play, the contrast between the bright colors of the blue of the guitar and the red of the bass guitar was very striking.

At this point, the five members left the stage and a movie shot in a church that was designed to resemble a sanctuary was shown on the screen. The video was of the same quality as the music video, and was seriously crafted, with challenging effects such as a 360° camera shooting the five members as if they were surrounded by each other, and close-ups of their faces pieced together like a stop-motion animation. Each of the performers also showed individuality in their acting, with Sakurakawa showing strong eye contact and Kudo displaying an inorganic beauty like a doll. The artistic picture-making reminded me of the fantastic image of Ms. Shizaki playing the piano in a cathedral in the forest shown at Roselia Live "Vier" (November 7, 2018, Shinagawa Stellar Ball). Perhaps it is the color of Roselia in its current incarnation to create movies as a means of expressing its unique worldview. I think it is a wonderful approach that only the girls can take.

In the last part of the video, the five members' lips weave the alphabet in a series to spell out "Sanctuary". As I watched, before I knew it, the five girls who had been standing by began to play "Sanctuary. The strength of Ms. Aiba's high tone was overwhelming, and it showed the shining bond between Yukina Minato and Roselia, who overcame many conflicts and struggles.

Sunny Road Night" is a song that strongly expresses the gratitude from Yukina Minato to Risa Imai. The warm sun shining beyond the sea of clouds and the red color all over the venue illuminated the five members. Mr. Sakuragawa's smile, which almost made a "nikkaku" sound, was dazzling. Nakajima-san and Aiba-san were so happy to see each other, their foreheads pressed together as they exchanged sincere smiles. After finishing the song, Ms. Nakajima said, "I feel embarrassed. But I really enjoyed singing with Yukina. Although the focus of the song tended to be on the relationship between Ms. Nakajima and Mr. Aiba, it was Kabaon Shizaki who left a personal impression on me. The way she raised her right hand after playing a strong and impressive phrase to leave a lingering effect, or the way she led the audience's groove by waving her right hand widely while playing with her left hand, showed that she was not only performing, but also trying to attract the audience with her whole body as Rinko on stage.

The "color" of the venue was impressive in the performance of "Determination Symphony. The audience, which had been all red during the previous song "Sunny Road Night," quickly changed to turquoise, the color of Sayo's hair. This song (from "Bandoli-Girls Band Party! Girls Band Party"), but it was cool that Ms. Aiba said, "You dyed it rain-colored," and Ms. Kudo said, "Hina will be happy, too," simply expressing her acceptance of the audience's feelings as far as the characters were concerned. It was cool to see how they simply expressed their acceptance of the audience's feelings in character.

Here on stage, the five began an exchange in which they reminisced about the time when Roselia was formed. It was both like a recital and a stage performance, with the five of them playing Roselia in the flesh. Aiba-san said, "I'm going to deliver this song to you with all my gratitude," and they launched into "Trajectory. Ms. Aiba stood on the soaring center stage and sang with love and gratitude. It was also impressive to see Ms. Nakajima and Mr. Kudo, who had been sitting on a box for the first number, standing up for the second number. I'm really grateful to be here now. Thank you to all the members. I'll be counting on you from now on.

Are you ready to devote yourselves to Roselia? The members were introduced by the aori of "Are you ready to devote your all to Roselia?" and the entire audience joined in the call and response of everyone's (character's) name. After the tension was high, the next number was "BLACK SHOUT"!　On the screen, the music videos of the characters and the real-time performance of the five members were shown side by side, synchronized with the camera work in alignment. The circular stage rotated super fast to match the tension of the song. During the solo part, Kudo-san seemed to wink at the audience, and it was deeply moving to think that this was an expression of her wearing Sayo. The front team of Ms. Aiba, Ms. Kudo, and Ms. Nakajima leaned on each other's backs in the center of the stage in the song "LOUDER," which continued the momentum of the live. The live was closed with "Safe and Sound," the ending theme of the "BanG Dream! 2nd Season" anime. Everyone sang together," said Aiba, and a chorus of the gentle voices of Lala Lala filled the Nippon Budokan.

The five members showed the performance of Roselia itself, clad in their characters in the main part of the show. The encore video was a complete turnaround, showing the girls in their true colors and full of variety. The video "Don't break Roselia's character setting! The film "Roselia Character Settings Mustn't Fall Apart! This is the second installment of the "Character Crap" series that began with the "Rating Quiz. The quiz was actually a variety video in which the audience was given an out-count if they broke their characters during the break time between shooting a fantastic movie of Roselia wandering in a church at the end of the first half of the live.

After his complete defeat in the previous rating quiz, Mr. Aiba was determined to take revenge this time. However, he was not ready to give up, as he was asked "To the top? (Mr. Kudo)," then "Bloom like crazy! (Mr. Aiba)" to confirm Yukina's character in the rhythmical exchange, Kudo-san asked, "This hand? (Mr. Kudo)" - "I won't let go! (Ms. Aiba)," and then interrupts with a standard phrase from Poppin'Party's Kasumi Toyama ("Teardrops"), Ms. Aiba's character quickly collapses. Other highlights included an impersonation of Rimi Ushigome, Sakuragawa-san's boo-boo cushion on a chair, and Nakajima-san being forced to drink a bitter drink and not realizing how bitter it was. In the quiz to guess the contents of the box, which is a standard topic, Shizaki touched a hard, spiky pineapple and said, "Watermelon! The audience gasped when Mr. Shizaki said, "A watermelon! In the final result, Ms. Aiba showed her overwhelming weakness with 87 character crashes, but the audience was impressed by the seriousness with which the variety videos were made, such as the use of Poppin'Party's Aimi as the voice for "Aiba, Nakajima, Kudo, out~" when someone's character crashes and their true colors come out. The audience could sense the seriousness with which they were making the variety videos.

For encore, the five members changed into live T-shirts and performed "Re:birth day". During "Hot Color Starmine," Ms. Aiba compared the lights of the venue to a momentary, unforgettable firework display. The venue was enveloped in a blazing light as he said, and the Budokan itself trembled with the rhythm of the bandleaders united as one.

During the announcement corner, it was announced that Roselia would be performing at Fuji-Q Highland Conifer Forest on August 3 (DAY 1 Flamme) and August 4 (DAY 2 Wasser), 2019, to the audience's thunderous cheers.

The audience was in a state of excitement as he said, "I really enjoyed performing live today. We were very happy, thank you very much.

After all, Roselia starts when we go beyond the limit. Let's continue to push the limits! (Megu Sakuragawa) "We were so close to the audience.

The audience was so close to us, and I realized that this is what 360° means. Thank you so much for the great view! (Yuki Nakajima)

It's been two years since the band Roselia started, and it was really fun to be on stage at the Budokan like this. I hope we can do many more shows this year! (Haruka Kudo)

I really, really appreciate everyone's support to stand on the Nippon Budokan stage as Roselia. As long as there are people waiting for us, we'll keep going! (Aina Aiba)

Holding hands, the five members bowed to the audience and said "Thank you very much for your kindness today! and then they said a few words of thanks in their own voices. Normally, this would have been a beautiful ending to the event, but as the four were leaving, Mr. Aiba asked, "Wait a minute!　We can't end like this after all. Aiba-san sent the members back to their original positions, saying "You are Rinko" and "You are Lisa," and sang the real last number "Neo-Aspect" with the message "Roselia will continue to evolve from now on.

I thought about the reason why I brought this exchange after the big round, but since they had created a truly wonderful live performance as Roselia with Yukina and the other members in their characters, I thought they wanted to end the show with a performance as Yukina, Sayo, Lisa, Ako, and Rinko once again. I think they wanted to end with a performance as Yukina, Saya, Lisa, Ako, and Rinko. With a clear and appealing concept and tireless efforts to achieve the ideal, this live performance convinced me that the band Roselia can reach even greater heights.