New discoveries and fresh impressions brought by the orchestra's performance! Report on the "Mobile Suit Gundam Theater" Cinema Concert

Mobile Suit Gundam" began broadcasting on April 7, 1979. As one of the 40th anniversary projects, Cinema Concert was held at Tokyo Opera City on August 16 and 17. The Cinema Concert is an event in which live music accompaniment music and songs are performed in conjunction with movie screenings, and over the past few years, various famous movies from Japan and abroad have been re-screened in this way. This time, "Mobile Suit Gundam" also received the reliable help of the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, allowing fans to enjoy the first theatrical version of the film in this form. Here I would like to take a look back at the first day of the festival. In conclusion, I can only conclude with child-like impressions such as, "How interesting "Mobile Suit Gundam" is," "The music is really good! I was like a child when I saw the film.

Before the screening and performance, Director Yoshiyuki Tomino appeared on stage and thanked the packed audience, overturning his own expectation that only the first floor seats would be filled, while mentioning that at the time of production he had not expected to be able to hold such an event 40 years later and mentioning the "Declaration of the New Century of Anime" as a topic. However, as the director, he also spoke of his current state of mind, saying that he was "overwhelmed" and "in needles," as the first "Gundam" movie was screened on the big screen. He also said that he was "in a bind," because the film was "pieced together" due to a sudden schedule and other factors. The Gundam fans listened to the director's light-hearted talk, their mouths loosening as usual. After concluding his speech, the director disappeared into his sleeve and was replaced by the conductor, Takayuki Hattori, who started the screening.

A space colony was projected in outer space, and the bass sound of heavy brass instruments began to echo. Then, strings overlapped the sound, and the sound of a timpani being struck. Some people may first recall this song "Long Sleep" when they think of Gundam. When Ichiro Nagai's famous narration, "Half a century has already passed since mankind began to emigrate the overgrown population into space (......)," is played, goosebumps involuntarily rise on the skin.

Then Zaku appears and lands on the surface of the Side 7 colony. In my brain, the scene that follows comes to mind ahead of time, and the memories of the past tell my present self. Zaku grabs the hatch opening/closing knob and turns his wrist 360 degrees. From then on, this event became a time of constant dialogue with my memory. As the screen in front of me flashed with famous scenes, my brain would play the secondary soundtrack on its own. However, the main content of this event, a wonderful performance by an orchestra, was even more pleasing to the ears than that.

In fact, Director Tomino's note in his opening remarks that he had checked the sound at the rehearsal and found "basically, it was a little difficult to hear the dialogue" and "but since the main content this time is a live performance, please forgive me," was rather successful in that regard. The audience was made up of people who know "Gundam," including the author, and even if they could not hear the lines, their brains could fill in the blanks. And since there was a large screen in front of them, it was not so much of a problem if they had trouble hearing the dialogues. In fact, if I had been able to hear the dialogue, I would have concentrated on the story. That is how much "Gundam" has not faded away. I feel that forcing the audience to listen to the music was just the right way to convey the appeal of the play's accompaniment.

Seira in the monitor says a lustrous line, "Amuro can do it," and Amuro in the cockpit of the Gundam says, "Amuro, let's go," and the battle in outer space begins. In this famous "Gundam" scene, the sound pressure of the brass instruments and the melody played by the stringed instruments heighten the sense of excitement even more than before.

On the other hand, no matter what kind of masterpiece "Mobile Suit Gundam" is, few of us go back to see it often. Many people probably last saw it more than a decade ago. To be honest, although I saw the theater version of the trilogy in real time at a movie theater, it was the first time since then that I watched it from beginning to end. In other words, this cinema concert was an opportunity to experience the so-called "First Gundam" for the first time in a while, and at the same time to rediscover the splendor of Gundam music. The live performance by the orchestra, from high notes to low notes, was deeper and thicker than what I had heard on TV or in the theater version, and each instrument had a strong power. This made the audience's eyes, or rather ears, focus on parts they had not noticed before.

For example, in the tense scene just before the film enters the atmosphere, the soaring trumpet resonates in my heart, but I also notice the fascination of the drums and timpani, which are played in a four-strike pattern. The four-strikes may bring to mind "Dashing Shah" as well as "Shah Comes" as the theme of Shah. The air-breaking strings and the dazzling trumpet of this song will grab your eardrums and keep them there, but you will realize that it was the four-strikes at the beginning and the thick rhythm section played live that made this song so appealing. Theatrical accompaniment tends to leave the impression of strings or brass instruments, but on this night, the timpani and drums were intoxicating.

On the other hand, there is a piece that is played during the scene "Gundam in a tight spot," which is exactly what the name of the piece suggests. 「ジャッジャッジャージャッ」という印象的な音色、といえば伝わるかもしれないが、あの音がギロから放たれていた音色だと、今回視認することもできた。 It was a time that made me appreciate anew the sounds and music that I used to listen to as a boy without thinking about it.

In terms of surprise, the acoustic guitar played in the scene where Degin listens to the voice message from Garma. It was a single note piece played by plucking one string at a time, and few people will remember it because of its simplicity and subdued nature. However, the performance of the song at the Cinema Concert this time made us realize that the song very well expresses Degin's sorrowful feelings, and it was one of the most memorable moments of the Cinema Concert.

Furthermore, when I was a child, I loved the "Ai Warrior" and "Meguriai Uchu" episodes, in which intense mobile suit battles unfolded around the New Types such as Amuro and Char, but the Cinema Concert made me realize the charm of the first theater version. At the same time, I think it was the first film that best conveyed the appeal of the film's musical accompaniment at the Cinema Concert. Gundam" is not a mere robot animation, but a film about people living under the harsh conditions of war. On the screen, subtleties and tense "pauses" that arise in conversations appear. The music enlivens this unsettling tension. The second half of the cinema concert was a particularly good time for this.

The first half of the concert consisted of two parts, and ended with Amuro seeing off Matilda as she descended the elevator in the White Base and Midea flying away. After an intermission, the second half begins with Garma visiting Char in the shower. From there, we move on to the party scene at the Eschenbach house, where we can enjoy live ball music with three beats, a rarity in "Gundam." In other words, the second half of the film is lined with episodes such as Garma's death, her love for Lieutenant Matilda, and her mother's departure from her nest. What is depicted in these episodes is that a soldier is also a person. The scene in which Amuro visits his mother, Kamalia Rey, and then attacks a Zeon army outpost in a core fighter was very memorable, as was the aforementioned scene with Degin. The background music was so somber that it was hard to believe that it was a battle scene. In the TV series, there was a scene in which the Gundam was converted into an airborne vehicle, but in the movie version, the scene was deleted and the Gundam did not appear at all. The music strongly conveyed director Tomino's determination to focus on the theme of the reunion and separation of father and son. The audience not only enjoyed the magnificent music created by Hyuo Watanabe and Yuji Matsuyama, but also got a great taste of "Gundam" as a work.

After the screening, time was set aside for a talk show, and while it had been announced that Director Tomino would be taking the stage on the first day, he was called to the stage by the host, who led Hiroko Moriguchi, who sang the theme song for "Mobile Suit Z Gundam" and "Mobile Suit Gundam F91," by the hand of Director Tomino. Takayuki Hattori followed, and they talked about "Gundam. Takayuki Hattori, who also arranged the music for this cinema concert, said that although some of the arrangements had been extended to fit the length of the concert, the musical score of the time already had a voluminous instrumentation, and that he had "faithfully reproduced the original music" rather than orchestrating it. The audience was impressed by his words. From the audience's point of view, this story was exactly what they had just experienced, and even though the live sound added to the volume and quality of the music, there was no moment to spoil the image in their brain in terms of reproduction 40 years later. As a result, I just couldn't wait to see the other two theater versions.

In fact, as part of the 40th anniversary project, a project called the "Gundam New Visual Experience TOUR" awaits, which will allow viewers to experience the "Gundam" series films in the latest screening systems at movie theaters nationwide. Specifically, "Char of the Counterattack" and "Gundam NT" will be screened in "4DX" in September, and the "Mobile Suit Gundam" theater version trilogy and others will be screened in "ULTIRA" and "DOLBY CINEMA". But right now, I am eager to see the battle of Jaburo, the decisive battle of A Baoa Ku, and the final moments of Matilda and Dozuru, and at the same time, I also want to compare the accompaniment to the movie. It was the kind of night that made me return home, wishing from the bottom of my heart for the screening of the "Sad Warrior" and "Meguriai Universe" versions, if possible, at the Cinema Concert.

(Reporting by Koji Shimizu)