The live choir event and the “greetings from the stage” for film Cherry Blossom Memories, selected to be shown in the Panorama section of the 28th Tokyo International Film Festival, were held on October 30 at Roppongi Hills, Tokyo.
The live choral event was held at the Roppongi Hills Arena. Maika Yamamoto as Miku, Ryohei Hirota as Ren, Ikumi Hisamatsu as Ruka, creator of the original novel and concept halyosy, and director Atsushi Ueda performed. Yamamoto, performing in this film in his first lead role, revealed that she had not read the original novel by start of shooting. “I thought about reading the original, but I wanted to depict Miku in my own way.” In response to this, halyosy said “I had this pure feeling of ‘someone like you was there all along (with your classmates)’. People will probably understand that.”
When the cast talked about how they felt about the song, halyosy said “I don’t get much of a chance to hear any feedback face to face, so I was glad”, he said, with a broad grin. Yamamoto, who felt that her singing might not be up to the task, said of her solo “I got more confidence with practice”, and Ueda revealed that there was a back story fitting for a film with a musical theme- “I decided the blocking while looking at the score”. After the interview had finished, each of the choirs performing in the film took to the stage. Yamamoto, Hirota, Hisamatsu, and halyosy gave a choral performance of “Sakura no Ame”, and there was even one scene in which Yamamoto was moved to tears.
The venue was then changed to the TOHO CINEMAS Roppongi Hills for the “greetings from the stage”, and the presenters changed into Halloween costumes, and were joined by Kodai Asaka who plays Haru. The talk from this point focused on the performance, and Yamamoto said that “it was fun playing the lead character, but there was also a lot of pressure”. Ueda praised Yamamoto’s attitude as an actor. “Through discussions, (Yamamoto) developed a shy Miku. I think as an actress she is very bold, and cool.”
Haru, performed by Asaka, plays the piano throughout the film. Asaka himself has been learning the piano since a young age, and said “I practiced up again, and played it myself in the performance scenes.” When asked which scenes from the film left the deepest impression, Hisamatsu reflected that in the last choir scene “it was really difficult to sing with emotion, with the breathing in time with everyone else.” Sensing the happiness, halyosy said “I made the song “Sakura no Ame” shut in a small room as size of 6 tatami mats. A lot of different people have been involved, and it is really amazing to be standing here now”.
Last of all, Ueda gave his seal of approval for the finished product. “Though there is no-one who has had any choir experience, they practiced for 2 months, and they came out at a level not to be ashamed of for a high school choir club.”
Artist halyosy made the original “Sakura no Ame” in 2008 using voice synthesizing technology application software VOCALOID, and released it on the video sharing website Nico Nico Douga. Videos relating to this song have been played over 30 million times, and the song is being sung at the graduation ceremonies of many junior and senior high school students. On the back of its success, this song was turned into a novel in 2012, which portrays the school life of the characters portrayed by the VOCALOID software. The film Cherry Blossom Memories is anticipated to be released in the spring of 2016.
The news provided by eiga.com 
