Japanese moviegoers are famously well-behaved, even carting out their empty soda cups and popcorn containers after the screening. They also tend to make few sounds beyond titters for comedies or snuffles for tear-jerkers.
But the full-house crowd at the Feb. 5 world premiere of the animation “Hypnosis Mic – Division Rap Battle” at Toho Cinemas Hibiya cheered, applauded and waved multicolored light wands as the on-screen action unfolded.
The 300 fans, who had been selected by lottery, were already excited by the presence of the film’s voice actors and director, Tsujimoto Takanori, on stage prior to the screening in the trendy Tokyo Midtown shopping and entertainment complex. But another, more important reason for their audible enthusiasm was the film itself, the first Japanese feature to be fully interactive. Prior to the start of the story, set in an alternative future where the women who rule central Tokyo have channeled male aggression into rap battles, moviegoers downloaded an app that allowed them to choose their favorites after each rapper-versus-rapper contest, with the winner announced on screen.
The contestants were six three-man rap “divisions” representing Tokyo subcenters and major cities, with the final winner facing a formidable three-woman posse for the all-Japan championship.
The film is part of a multimedia franchise developed by the King Records label that launched in 2017 with rap singles followed by albums, live concerts, games, manga, stage plays and a TV anime series.
Post-screening, the film’s X account was flooded with fan comments. One thanked Tsujimoto for “creating such a wonderful work of art.” “After watching it, all I could say was ‘wow,’” they wrote. “I will go see it again and again when it starts showing in theaters!”
Interviewed after the screening at the headquarters of distributor Toho, which will release the film nationwide on Feb. 21, Tsujimoto said the choice of rap battles as the basis for an interactive movie was “a natural given the huge popularity of the ‘Hypnosis Mic’ franchise.” “If the film had been adapted from an unknown property, the audience would not have been so surprised by what we were able to do,” he explained.
Rap itself is still “a minor musical genre in Japan,” Tsujimoto admitted. “But Japanese people love animation — not only children, but adults as well — so the fact that the film is an anime lowers whatever barrier they feel about rap,” he said. “Also, the quality of the music in ‘Hypnosis Mic’ is very high, so I hope people will enjoy it as a musical movie rather than a rap movie.”
He opined that “Hypnosis Mic” would “open up new possibilities” for not just the franchise but the film medium as a whole. “Japanese people tend to watch movies quietly, but it’s OK to shout while watching this one,” he said. “We hope the audience will enjoy the movie in ways that transcend the usual boundaries of the theater experience.”
