[Grand Finale] Japan's World-Class "Film Score" Festival! Report From the Day Kyoto Was the Hottest Place in Japan: ~The End of the Festival~

"The end of the festival" is drawing near.

And so, even the wildly exciting Kyoban Festival has its final performer up next. The grand finale: organizer Yuki Hayashi himself returned once more to the stage!

Hayashi, too, seems to be in the style of skipping song explanations and just performing one after another! The first track was "The Promised Land" from the Haikyu!! film. He left the piano himself to go pump up the crowd. Being good-looking, he makes a great stage presence. After that, Hayashi unsparingly showcased Haikyu!! masterpieces. The Battle of the Garbage Dump, the Haikyu!! season 2 main theme, and on it went.

A track that feels like a fusion of a momentum-filled, modern-style rock sound, the kind that, with vocals added, you'd expect to be used as an opening theme, and the inherent grandeur a film score possesses; listening to it is supremely exhilarating! Sound after refined sound, each and every one cool...

Here, an MC segment. Hayashi said this Kyoban Festival was "My Win," which also happens to be the title of the next track. Of course, including the audience, it's everyone's win, he said.

And so the next track was Haikyu!!'s "My Win." Just as I'd felt with Blue Miburo's Mononofu, I thought the modern approach to a track really is the hallmark of Hayashi's arrangements. He's so good at expressing in sound the particular green naivety of Jump protagonists, the feelings and strength of young boys.

Next, seamlessly into a track from the anime "Wistoria: Wand and Sword." This track, too, despite using so-called medieval-style instrument sounds, has a fantasy feel in 6/8 time, and then the modern feel of the four-on-the-floor drums (a rhythm where the bass drum always lands once on every beat) that emerges in the later development. (Four-on-the-floor in 6/8 is so fresh!) By weaving in modern-style arrangement here and there, it's a track that embodies, how to put it, a feeling that fits "today's" anime perfectly, that fits today's young people perfectly, and yet also fits the worldview perfectly, all at once.

The next tracks were Gundam Build Metaverse, and Gundam Build Fighters, the Metaverse version. Hayashi, who said he loves Gunpla. He edited the footage himself and apparently pulled an all-nighter. As you'd expect from someone who'd say that, the footage was finished incredibly cool! As I wrote in the pre-festival installment too, the parts where the footage lines up sharply with this track's hits (breaks and the like) really are exhilarating to watch, and it was an addictive experience.

Watching Kyoban Festival up to this point, what I think is, I used to assume that since a film score is a work made to fit footage, it'd end up 100% in line with the work. But I was amazed at just how much individuality each composer has. In Hayashi's case, his forte seems to be cool tracks with a sense of momentum (though it's probably also that, it being a live show, he selects such tracks for the setlist...!). Bringing out individuality without breaking the worldview, that's just too incredible. Film scoring runs deep...!

The next track was "Arlequin" from Karakuri Circus!

Actually, my own first experience of Kazuhiro Fujita's work wasn't Ushio and Tora but this one. As I thought when watching the anime too, it's incredibly cool! At the risk of repeating my earlier words, it's a track that masterfully embodies the complex worldview of Karakuri Circus, and it felt like the emotion of first reading the manga and the euphoria of watching the anime came rushing back.

Next, from My Hero Academia, "STAR AND STRIPE," the symbolic track of America's number-one hero. It contains all sorts of homage-like sounds too, a track packed with a fun that never gets old to listen to. The melody, conveying strength and reassurance, is wonderful too. Compared to Japan's number-one hero's song, it also has a certain femininity to it. The work is famous, so surely no one doesn't know it, but the conviction that even hearing it cold you'd feel its dependability is, in a word, masterful.

Here, Hayashi shared a behind-the-scenes score story in his MC. He said he was surprised when a track he'd made intending it to be used during the "Quirk," was used in a different place in the anime proper. (Of course, it landed on the note that the producer's judgment was excellent, and that conversely Hayashi was convinced it was used elsewhere.)

Next was a track with a memorable tempo-up right from the top! It must be a tough track for the instrumental players, but the rock-steady performance that shows no sign of any struggle is masterful as ever. It reminds me anew that Kyoban Festival stands on the combined strength of many people.

Echoing the "Quirk" theme, various irregular rhythms are expressed in the track.

The latest MHA film, You're Next. Hayashi said he's about to go see it with his family.

From there, two more tracks! Being the world's fastest unveiling, Kyoto Theater shook!

Hayashi's signature track "You Say Run," a re-arranged version made to express not the heart of a boy who admires heroes as in the season 1 days, but the heart of a somewhat more matured Deku.

An arrangement that carries a touch of wistfulness within its momentum pierces the heart!

The next track was The Trinity; anyone who's seen the film would get goosebumps from the intro. This track too is really cool. It's what you might call "that Hayashi flavor": the sense of momentum and the coolness of the hits shine. The MHA tracks couldn't be performed together with the anime footage, but the way the crowd got hyped made me feel everyone was firmly replaying it in their heads.

The next is the last track of the day...! A trace of loneliness comes over me.

He said that every time he plans Kyoban Festival he agonizes and struggles greatly, and that being a composer is a lonely profession, so the moment when the daily hardships are rewarded on the day itself is so rewarding, which is why he wants to keep doing it for a long time to come. With those words from Hayashi, the fans looking forward to next year must have felt reassured.

And the final track was Haikyu!!'s "The End of the Festival." You could hear an "Ahh..." from the women. A heartfelt cry of, it's really ending and that's so sad. And at the same time, they probably also recalled the feeling of finishing watching a movie.

It ends; every event has an end, and though it's lonely, those feelings exist because there was a joyful beginning. Because of the day-by-day accumulation.

It was a moving melody that lets you feel that kind of message. And the beautiful strings at the very end, I felt it was a track truly fitting as the finale of this one day.

Kyoban Festival really was a wonderful festival. I sincerely hope it continues every year, and how happy I would be if I could be allowed to be here as a writer next year too. Like the protagonists of anime, I thought I want to keep up my efforts and make my dreams come true going forward.

September 22, 2024 'Kyoban Festival' Kyoto Theater Setlist

Performer	No.	Content Title	Title
Yuki Hayashi	Track 1	Blue Miburo	Mononofu
Takahiro Obata	Track 1	The Promised Neverland	The Promised Neverland Main Theme 2
	Track 2	Ninjala	Last Battle
	Track 3	Shoshimin Series	Shoshimin Main Theme
Tatsuya Kato	Track 1	Revue Starlight	Reproduction ~ Superstar Spectacle (Medley)
	Track 2	Dr.STONE	STONE WORLD
	Track 3	Dr.STONE	King of The Ocean
	Track 4	WorldEnd: What Do You Do at the End of the World? Are You Busy? Will You Save Us?	Always in my heart
	Track 5	Free!	Into the new world
	Track 6	Free!	Rhythm of new sensations
	Track 7	Free!	This Fading Blue
	Track 8	Free!	Never seen landscapes
	Track 9	Love Live! Sunshine!!	Let's Make a Miracle Happen!
	Track 10	Yohane the Parhelion	SUNSHINE in the MIRROR
	Track 11	From the Love Live! Sunshine!! Aqours Live	Main theme of Aqours 5th anniversary!!
Yasuharu Takanashi	Track 1	FAIRY TAIL	Dragon Force
	Track 2	FAIRY TAIL	Three Dragon Slayers
	Track 3	FAIRY TAIL	Erza's Theme
	Track 4	FAIRY TAIL	FAIRY TAIL Main Theme 2014
	Track 5	NARUTO Shippuden	Doten
	Track 6	NARUTO Shippuden	Rinkai
	Track 7	NARUTO Shippuden	Standing on Roaring Ground
	Track 8	Kinnikuman	Amazing Muscle
	Track 9	NARUTO Shippuden	NARUTO Main Theme '16
	Track 10	NARUTO Shippuden	Reversal of Fortune
Yuki Hayashi	Track 1	Haikyu!! The Movie: The Battle of the Garbage Dump	The Promised Land Kyoban Festival Special Ver.
	Track 2	Haikyu!! The Movie: The Battle of the Garbage Dump	The Battle of the Garbage Dump Kyoban Festival Special Ver.
	Track 3	Haikyu!!	"Up"
	Track 4	Haikyu!! The Movie: The Battle of the Garbage Dump	My Win Kyoban Festival Special Ver.
	Track 5	Wistoria: Wand and Sword	Wistoria: Wand and Sword
	Track 6	Gundam Build Metaverse	GUNDAM BUILD METAVERSE
	Track 7	Gundam Build Metaverse	GUNDAM BUILD FIGHTERS_MV
	Track 8	Karakuri Circus	Arlequin
	Track 9	My Hero Academia	Star and Stripe
	Track 10	My Hero Academia	Quintuple
	Track 11	My Hero Academia THE MOVIE You're Next	You Say Run (You're Next Ver.)
	Track 12	My Hero Academia THE MOVIE You're Next	The Trinity Kyoban Festival Special Ver.
	Track 13	Haikyu!! The Movie: The Battle of the Garbage Dump	The End of the Festival Kyoban Festival Special Ver.