Granbelm Premiere Event Stage Report

The premiere screening of the first two episodes of Granbelm was held at Tokyo’s Toho Cinemas Toyosu on 24 June 2019. Unbeknownst to the public, every thousand years magicians wage war during a grand battle of magic and sorcery called ‘Granbelm’. One day, an ordinary girl named Mangetsu becomes involved in this battle.

Granbelm is an original anime by the creators of the anime adaptation of Re:Zero – Starting Life in Another World and the cinema was brimming with fans. The anime received a lot of attention before the broadcast and many fans left the event looking forward to what will happen in the next episodes.

After the screening, there was a talk segment with the producer Takayuki Nagatani and the cast of the four main characters, Miyuri Shimabukuro (voice of Mangetsu Kohinata), Atsumi Tanezaki (voice of Fukami Shingetsu), Yurika Kubo (voice of Nene Rin), and Chinatsu Akasaki (voice of Rosa). During their introductions, Shimabukuro revealed that a year had already passed since her audition and that the recordings had already been completed earlier this year.

The first segment was an introduction of the characters on-screen as the cast shared their comments. That’s where Kubo laughingly said that she had nothing to add to the character introduction because it was so perfectly done on the big screen. The talk then turned to behind-the-scenes situations. Shimabukuro mentioned that she realized what the core of this story was thanks to her lunch. Akasaki asked if ‘lunch’ was the keyword of her hint, to which she explained that she was not entirely sure, but maybe if everybody would try to think about it while watching and if they would realize the same thing she did at the end. Let’s try to confirm what she meant by watching all the episodes!

There also was a funny part where Kubo asked Nagatani where the sense for words came from within the dialog between the characters, since she thought they stood out. He answered that this was all thanks to the scriptwriter Jukki Hanada. His strength with words was heavily incorporated into the script. Nagatani hopes that viewers will be able to enjoy the fun conversations in the middle of all the drama that is happening.

The topic then changed to their work in the recording studio. Shimabukuro explained that the animation had already been put together when they went into the recording studio and that they were very beautiful. Kubo added that after seeing the completed work for the first time today, she thought the sound effects of the series were amazing. She pointed out that we could hear the rustling of Mangetsu and Shingetsu’s clothes during one of their conversations. Akasaki added that she thought Tanezaki was really amazing, since she was able to say ‘majutsu-shi’ (magician) repeatedly, even though it’s quite a tongue twister. Tanezaki then said she could say the word as many times as she needed and that she isn’t scared of ‘majutsu-shi’.

Shimabukuro said she tried to reach the level of her senpai while working on this series as to not be left behind by them. Kubo then added that the atmosphere in the recording studio was created by Yoko Hikasa, who voices the character Anna Fugo. For example, one day she would step outside for a bit to rest her voice from Anna’s screaming, but then they were able to hear her loud laughs coming from outside. Kubo herself was laughing while recollecting this incident. Nagatani added that he put a lot of pressure on Hikasa, and that Mangetsu’s and Shingetu’s acting also required some vocal straining. However, he is very thankful that they were all able to do it.

Then the talk headed towards its end. Nagatani said that for this series they mostly drew the mechas by hand, which seems that puts to be becoming more and more of a ‘lost technology’ nowadays. He added with a laugh that this makes it a series with attention to detail, but at the same time the staff were working super hard. He said that he hoped the series could surprise people who were not expecting an animation like this in 2019. He also said that the anime’s production has already been completely finished, right up until the last episode!

Akasaki explained that the story will be unveiled slowly so the viewers can follow the story until the end. She ended her comment with a laugh and said that people who liked Rosa should re-watch the first episode. Kubo asked the viewers to keep in mind what it exactly it was that made them interested in the series in the first place right up until they watch the final episode. She thinks there will be many surprises for everyone and that they will enjoy the full series.

Tanezaki talked about the girls and how they fight with no regard for loss. She added with a laugh that this was also true for the voice actresses, so if there was something the viewer didn’t understand at first, she hopes they will at least be able to enjoy the voice acting despite the confusion.

Shimabukuro ended the event by saying that the viewers should not ignore the little discomforts of this series, since it could be considered that this too becomes an important part of the story. The opening, ending and everything together makes up this series called Granbelm. At the end she thanked everybody for coming to the event and the event ended in a warm atmosphere.