“Movie Given Hiiragi mix” release commemorative stage greeting report

“Given Hiiragi Mix” (released on January 27th), the first part of the two-part sequel to the “Given” anime series, has finally been released! A stage greeting to commemorate the release was held at Shinjuku Wald 9 on January 28th, with Shogo Yano, Yuma Uchida, Masatomo Nakazawa, Takuya Eguchi, Fumiya Imai, and Yasuto Saka participating.

Since his previous work "Given'', which was released in 2020, was screened during the coronavirus pandemic, it was his first time to greet the audience on stage for this work. This is also the first time that six people will be together. Yano, who played Mafuyu Sato in front of the audience, said, "The previous work was released in 2020, and at that time, the release of the movie was postponed, and related events such as live performances were also postponed, so we switched to streaming. Today is the second day of the film's release, so I'm relieved that it was released safely," he said, feeling happy. Next, Uchida, who played Ritsuka Uenoyama, said, "The TV anime was released in 2019. It's been 5 years since we started recording...'' and Eguchi, who played Akihiko Kaji, quipped, "Yeah!! It's been 5 years already?'' , which excited the audience. Next, Nakazawa, who plays Haruki Nakayama, said, "This is a personal matter...'' "This is my first time doing a stage greeting for a movie like this, and I didn't have the chance to do it last time (due to the coronavirus pandemic), so it can't be helped. I was very disappointed that I wasn't able to stand up for the stage greeting.'' Looking back, he said, "Today, I was finally able to stand in front of everyone, and all of us were together! I was really happy and my dream had come true.'' There was warm applause.

Looking back, Imai, who played Hiiragi Kashima, the central character of the story, said, "This time, the spotlight was on Hiiragi and Genjun, and I got to sing as "syh,'' so things went by very quickly.'' "There are stories that change weekly, so I hope you'll come back multiple times,'' he said. Lastly, Saka, who plays the role of Genjun Yagi, said, "The TV anime was mainly about the four members of Given, but when the spotlight was on the two of us, we were able to see what kind of emotions were going on, and the backbone of who we are as individuals. It's very accurate, and I think the work depicts that.''He then told the audience, ``The reason I can greet you like this is because you love me.'' I talked about my feelings.

Finally, regarding the highlight of this work, Eguchi said, "I usually smoke cigarettes, but when I played Akihiko, I put in three times as much nicotine and wanted to make the lines feel like nicotine. I'm putting 4 times as much in it! I want it to be one of the ways to have fun." Yano, who recently went to the "Given Exhibition'' with Onshi from Sentimilimal, who serves as the theme song for this work, said, "Looking back at the time when Mafuyu and Ritsuka met in "Given,'' 10 years after it was serialized, it made me feel good. There are so many things that come together, and there are stories that have been woven up to this point, so I really thought that this work is also connected in this way.'' "Please enjoy yourself today and go home. Thank you very much," he bowed deeply, and the stage greeting ended with warm applause.