‘Hypnosismic — Division Rap Battle — Movie' lets viewers remix the narrative
Democracy may be in decline around the world, but it's on the rise in Japanese movie theaters. 'Hypnosismic — Division Rap Battle — Movie,' which goes into wide release Feb. 21, is billed as Japan's first interactive movie, in which the audience votes en masse to determine the outcome of the story.
The interactive feature is the latest event in the 'Hypnosismic' media mix franchise, which kicked off in 2017 with music, manga, a smartphone game, anime series and live concerts. 'Hipumai,' as fans call it, centers on groups of stylish male rappers from neighborhoods around Tokyo and Japan at large who engage in rap battles using special hypnotic microphones. The fanbase (about 90% of which is young women, a rep tells me) attends live events wearing LED-lined gloves lit up in colors representing their favorite group, including Buster Bros!!! (Ikebukuro), Fling Posse (Shibuya) and Bad Ass Temple (Nagoya).
Such was the case at the premiere of the 'Hypnosismic' film on Feb. 5, attended by members of the press and about 300 fans chosen via lottery. Before the screening, longtime 'Hipumai' fans and journalists alike were instructed to download a smartphone app developed by Kino Industries, the company behind the tech that powers interactive films like this one (their first film, the English-language interactive thriller 'Late Shift,' was released in 2016). After an introduction by the film's cast and director Takanori Tsujimoto, all of whom did an admirable job of talking for 40 minutes about a film they weren't allowed to reveal anything about, the LED-adorned audience was asked to scan an onscreen QR code with their apps, allowing voting on each of the film's rap battles.
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