Overall, movie was good. It was pretty exciting. I'm just gonna talk about the positives and the things I liked about the film without giving any spoilers. So all the characters got a fair amount of screen time and as a person who fancies Kotori, I was quite pleased. The visuals and animation were stunning, especially during the performances where the CG was a lot smoother and polished than in the anime and far less distracting(well, for me anyways). I liked how generous they were with the amount of songs featured in it, which were pretty great by LL standards.
Something minor I noticed and liked. I haven't seen anyone mention this yet like on MAL or anything so I'm not sure if anyone else caught it, but in their final performance they referenced(minor spoiler I guess) a few lines from START: DASH!!, so in a way it was like a callback to their first performance and how far they've come since then. Got me good. T.T The only reason I was able to notice it was because I was rewatching the first season beforehand and those particular lines from the song just stuck with me.
The experience itself was pretty neat. The venue was a small, vintage non-profit art house theater run by volunteers that apparently has been running for decades. They only have one screen and seating was very limited with a capacity of only 70. The walls weren't that thick and since it was in the middle of downtown, you could hear the rolling of traffic outside, just barely though. I thought it was charming place. As for the fans who came to the screening, they were alright. The makeup was around 60% male, 40% female. I was kinda hoping to see some of those gung ho fans who would cosplay or wear all LL related clothing or something to make him/herself stand out as a fan. There was one guy who brought his Kotori pillow.
While this apparently happened at another venue...
"There were also two kind souls who were giving out fanmade buttons and prints of Kotori they made to everyone there." T.T
During the film, it was less lively than I had imagined. Like there was almost no reaction(callouts or cheers or anything) during the special seiyuu intro before the movie, which made it kinda awkward and no clapping or cheers after each song performance(except the finale). There were still some laughs during all the silly moments, and despite all that it was still really enjoyable.
I'm glad I decided to see this in theaters. I now have a newfound respect for the series, something I sorta wish I'd discovered sooner. And I'm actually excited to see what Aquors will bring us.
