The rehearsal scene. The tension carried all the way over to us.

September 22, the day had finally come. The main event of Kyoban Festival. Kyoto, with the heat of the pre-festival event and the co-hosted "Kyomaf" (Kyoto International Manga Anime Fair) still lingering, was about to get even hotter. Since Kyomaf is western Japan's largest anime festival, anime fans gathered here in Kyoto not just from western Japan but from all across Japan, no, from all over the world. The emotion you feel watching an anime, all of it, the visuals, the voices, the sound effects, and the score, stays etched in your mind. And that's precisely the part that can't be expressed in manga, the greatest strength of anime. An anime you've watched over and over, you can replay it all in your head just from seeing the footage, and of course the reverse is true too. The music resounding through Kyoto Theater reproduces, right in our minds, the emotion of that moment. And when you watch anime at home, it's usually a small group, or really, mostly alone. The fervor of people who'd been longing for this day, when they could share that "moment's" emotion together with a crowd, gives me goosebumps just imagining it.

Kyoban Festival, the Curtain Rises!

I'd been looking forward to Kyoban Festival so much that, even though it hadn't even started, I was getting strangely sentimental, thinking, "Ah, once it starts, it'll be over." The clock struck 4:00 p.m., and it finally began.

First, the AI voice character "Soyogi Bon" appeared on screen to convey the rules and how to enjoy Kyoban Festival. And within that screen, one more person: voice actor "Yuki Kaji," the person behind Soyogi Bon, in a collaboration. The audience seemed to fidget with anticipation at the announcement video featuring two great voices. Yuki Kaji and Kyoban Festival organizer Yuki Hayashi are apparently so close they even go out to eat together privately. The reason such an extravagant lineup of guests gathered in Kyoto is the same as the audience's: because they're captivated by the scores of Hayashi and the composers performing today.

From the 3:30 doors-open to the start, the audience filled in more and more.

When the announcement from Soyogi Bon and Yuki Kaji finished, today's MC assistant, voice actor Kayu, took the stage. I was wondering how you can be an "assistant" when you're the only one, when it turned out the main MC hadn't arrived yet. Until then, things proceeded with Kayu hosting.

At the live show, much like a cheer screening at the movies, you're allowed to stand up and allowed to call out; she carefully and thoroughly coached us on how to get hyped. Somehow, what with the prestigious air of Kyoto Theater and all, I'd assumed this was something you enjoy quietly, but it seems you can think of the atmosphere as the same as a live music festival.

And then, the performers' entrance at last. The packed venue's energy was cranked up to the absolute limit. This is what a live show is all about! The fervor of the audience that just couldn't wait carried over with a buzz even to me, in the staff seats behind the PA.

The premier film score festival in Japan, no, in the world. It's said to be the third year, but this was an opening that gives a premonition things will swell more and more from here, with events like this spreading like wildfire all across Japan.

This being the first collaboration with an anime work, the concept movie for Blue Miburo played. With this work set in Kyoto, the affinity is extremely high. (You can also catch things like the special stage at Kyomaf on YouTube, on the official Yomiuri TV Anime channel and the like. Check it out!)

And then, three of Blue Miburo's leading voice actors took the stage at Kyoto Theater. Shuichiro Umeda, who plays Chirinui-o and had also come to the pre-festival event, Yohei Azakami as Toshizo Hijikata, and Tomokazu Sugita as Isami Kondo. Everyone looks great in traditional dress.

Umeda said that for his role as protagonist Chirinui-o, he acted while keeping in mind "a 13-year-old boy living in the Edo period, mindful of the gaps between common sense then and now, but at heart still being a 13-year-old boy."

Azakami said that Toshizo Hijikata as a figure is one he feels he's seen many times in other works, but in this piece he focused on "the way the Hijikata of the Shinsengumi, who still has the desire to protect the country yet, for now, are no more than a ragtag band, grows into the demon vice-commander."

Sugita threw a question at the audience: just who is Isami Kondo? A guy who can fit his fist in his mouth? (a talent attributed to the historical Isami Kondo, not the Kondo depicted in fiction) Nope. A leader who commands through overwhelming strength? A charismatic figure beloved by all? Not that either; Isami Kondo, he believes, was someone who stood above others through virtue. Someone with eyes that could see people as individuals without discrimination, and someone who could bind together the destinies of person and person. He said he acted so as to express that charm of Isami Kondo. Hearing talk like this makes me look forward to the anime's air date even more. With that, the three special guests left the stage.

And then, at last, the performance of "Mononofu." We'd been treated to it at the pre-festival event too, but this time there were visuals and lighting. It pulls you even more firmly into its world! (For a detailed explanation of the track, please do read the pre-festival article.) With this, Kyoto Theater became one, feeling that the battle had been joined at this festival of film score music.

It's just a flat-out cool song, and how this Mononofu plays within the anime...! As an anime fan myself, I felt myself drawn more and more to the work Blue Miburo.