Tsurune The Movie: The First Shot (劇場版ツルネ -始まりの一射-)

Tsurune The Movie: The First Shot (劇場版ツルネ -始まりの一射-) opens in cinemas in Japan today, and being the Kyoto Animation supporter that I am, I decided to catch it. As part of the opening, the first two screenings will include a live stream of a cast event being held in Tokyo. Although it also meant that I can use my pre-sale tickets, since the movie + live stream was priced differently.

After the movie, the voice actors of the main characters (Minato, Masaki, Seiya, Nanao, Ryohei, Kaito) came on stage to talk about the movie.

They also announced that season 2 of the anime series will air in January 2023! I wonder if it will be the Wednesday night slot on Tokyo MX, like most other KyoAni shows? Or will it be on NHK? Since I think season 1 was shown on NHK. 🤔

Okay, now for my thoughts about the movie.

The movie is not a continuation of the TV series. It is basically a compilation of season 1, although not the entire season. The story revolves around the prefectural competition, and includes several new cuts (but most of the movie came from season 1). They did, however, do a new voice recording for the movie. It wasn't really that obvious but if you have watched season 1 a few times, you may feel that it feels somewhat different here and there.

The start was actually a scene from the past, bringing Minato's mother back into the picture. Which brought tears to my eyes... much like how bringing Ann's story back to the start of Violet Evergarden The Movie made me cry. Minato's mother appeared several more times in the movie and each time, recounting her past brought tears to my eyes.

I think they also did a bit of work to the music, which is always nice since the music pieces are by Yokoyama Masaru.

All in, the movie is more like a director's cut of season 1, selecting the pieces to tell the core story, with a few additions that felt like they were left out from season 1 (but probably added in instead of something that was previously taken out; most of them were about the past of Minato, Masaki, Seiya, and Ryohei).

Some of the cast (voice actors for Minato, Masaki, and Seiya) will be coming to Yokohama next Friday for a cast event (which will not be streamed live) so maybe I will go catch it again...

Update August 20, 2022: Report about the cast event on animate Times (in Japanese)