[SPOILERS INCLUDED, BE WARNED]

Colorful Stage is one of the few, if not the only, movies I genuinely wanted to watch in theaters rather than wait for a digital release. That could be because of the rewards for Project Sekai, but still. The idea of not only a Project Sekai movie being made BUT also having Hatsune Miku's first feature film? It was a huge deal for both PJSK fans and Vocaloid fans alike. Though I had this gut feeling it was only going to be a decent film and that it would only be a success because "it's a Project Sekai/Vocaloid movie."

I already like everyone in the Project Sekai cast, so just having them be on screen just makes me giddy, and everyone else seemingly felt the same. Having one of my friends silently scream with me every time a new character pops in and then shake me by the shoulders once Toya came on screen was a really funny experience. I thought that they would only show unit characters at the movie, but to my surprise, side characters from different units like VBS's Ken and Taiga, N25's Mafumom, and Emu's family from WXS were actually there. Mostly for cameos/fanservice, but still I was happy seeing that they care for the other characters who aren't as relevant compared to the units.

I think the art and animation were decent. If it weren't for the characters and SEKAI locations, I might mistake this for any other anime that takes place in Shibuya. The climax, however, was a special exception and blew every single expectation of mine.

Music, unsurprisingly, was spectacular. It's so mindblowing having Vocaloid producers like 40mp, sasakure.UK, and DECO 27 handle the movie's main songs. The opening and ending songs were great, but Hello Sekai was the one that stood out to me the most. It started off repetitive as Closed Sekai Miku kept singing the first few lines throughout the movie, but the full song that was performed at the climax was such a good moment. The callback to SEKAI and Journey in the song was tearjerkingly beautiful. To think the 5 other songs that each of the unit sang were all composed by DECO 27, albeit arranged by different Vocaloid producers, is still something unbelievable to me. Gunjou Sanka is one of my favorite PJSK songs, so having a rearranged version of it was beautiful and almost made me tear up.

My main and heavy criticism is mainly about the story. It's certainly good, but I felt that it explained the premise for too long despite it being really simple already. Maybe too simple, in fact. From the Project Sekai event stories I've read, they clearly know how to make layered and emotional narratives, so I was sort of shocked with how straightforward the movie was. Aside from the premise's repetition, the movie was surprisingly easy to follow. Half of the movie is essentially trying to introduce the many characters and explaining what a SEKAI is. All of these were handled roughly. Characters didn't have an equal amount of screen time, and the concept of SEKAI was explained in a horrifically surface-level way. I don't think the parents who were with their kids watching the movie understood it as well as I was hoping for, considering the length of the film. They kept prioritizing explaining "Closed SEKAI Miku's voice can't reach and connect with the people who really needed help" so much that I felt that some of the time spent explaining what was already understandable should have been given to the 5 units and maybe even SEKAI so they're better understood. The first half was a drag.

Despite the simple plot, it was nice that they weren't afraid of making the situation more dire and troubling. With how Closed Sekai Miku failed to reach out, an ocean of darkness consumed her and every other Miku not only in SEKAIs but also in the real world, having Miku songs mysteriously become instrumentals only, dubbed "The Disappearance of Hatsune Miku," which I thought was a cute reference, was surprisingly an actual emotional feeling as someone who's really into VOCALOID. I was not expecting to shed a tear, but my friends who were along with me actually did, and I was the one who was obsessed the most with PJSK. The climax, with the 5 units performing a new song based on Closed SEKAI Miku's song in hopes of bringing back Miku, resulting in Miku in every SEKAI returning, including Closed SEKAI Miku's return and encore, was a STELLAR experience. From animation to the song itself. As I said before, it blew my expectations away not only visually but also in sound. It might be the only thing that's worth rewatching in the movie, in my opinion, but even then, it was only 10 minutes. The ending had a tease, which, to my understanding, could imply either a movie sequel or an update for the game featuring the new SEKAI and what I assume could be a new unit group.

As for the After Live that was not only promised and very hyped, it was only one song with Miku and the rest of the Vocaloid cast dancing and singing My Sekai. Maybe I'm being spoiled, but with how they were hyped up, I was expecting it to be at least 2 or more songs, like how it was in some of the game's After Lives.

Overall, I think that this movie was a real treat to Project Sekai fans first, then Vocaloid fans. I enjoyed every single detail there. The story might have dragged on for too long, but the climax offset it so hard that it pretty much carried the whole movie, and like I said earlier, it may be the only thing worth rewatching for me. It's a really enjoyable movie, and I don't regret spending not a single cent on it (and probably my future money too for rewatching it for the stamp rally event). I may have been right about the whole "movie's probably decent, just successful because pjsk," and that's perfectly fine. I love PJSK with all of my heart, and I am looking forward to what they do with the game in the future.

ps: shoutouts to the guy that screamed in the cinema "HATSUNE MIKUUU" after the movie ended and I screamed back with "YEAHHHHH" without a care in the world.