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19 Jul 2017 07:24 PM
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A new news article has been posted!
The official Pokémon movie website has updated. Translations of the new entries follow:

A Report from the Premiere Day Stage Greetings




Premiere day stage greetings were held in Tokyo on Saturday July 15th,
the premiere day of "Pocket Monsters the Movie: I Choose You!"



The greetings started with Pikachu appearing on the stage. Then, answering Pikachu's summons,
came Kanata Hongo (the voice of Soji), Arata Furuta (the voice of Bonji), Shoko Nakagawa (the voice of Joy),
Koichi Yamadera (the voice of Marshadow), Rica Matsumoto (the voice of Satoshi) and director Yuyama,
all of them wearing matching yellow t-shirts with "I Choose You!" written on them.



Yuyama gave the first greeting: "The anime version of Pokémon started with Satoshi meeting Pikachu.
I wanted to try going back to that point and redoing it from scratch.
It would make me happy if you were to take this back home with you as a memory of this summer."



Hongo then said "Everyone, did you receive your "Marshadow"? I wanted to get it at the premiere no matter what, so I brought this..." before taking out his Nintendo 3DS, making everyone start laughing.
After a short while, he apparently received his Marshadow, and happily commented "There, got it! I'm the only one on this stage that has this Pokémon now..."
He then actually started talking about his guest voice actor role: "I've loved these movies for 20 years straight now, so I was extremely happy I was able to play in one.
I felt this was a wonderful movie, so I would appreciate it if you spread the word about it and watched it many times."



Next up was Furuta's greeting.
As he said "Hello. I'm Arata Furuta, I play Bonji. 20 years ago, when my friend (Inuko) Inuyama told me she was playing Nyarth, I replied "Huh, really?", and now that this franchise has gone on for 20 movies in 20 years, I think back to that and just go "Darn it!"", the audience burst into laughter.
He then continued with "I am happy to have become part of this family now."



Nakagawa raised the excitement level in the vanue even further with her "Pokénchiwa!" greeting, then spoke passionately about her 20 years worth of happiness and love for the franchise.
"Both the act of watching the Pokémon movies, as well as Satoshi and Pikachu's bond in itself, gives me all these emotions, makes me want to become strong, want to become someone that can sincerely protect someone I value more than myself.", she said.
When she finished her greeting by saying "I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Shoko Nakagawa.", the audience responded with laughter.



Yamadera said "This movie depicts the bond between humans and Pokémon, between Satoshi and Pikachu,
though I have to mention that I and Rica Matsumoto here genuinely are old friends, ones that graduated together." He then turned to Matsumoto and continued with "I'm so happy you're still doing well."
He finished his greeting with "I have been standing here on this stage for 20 years straight now, and that really means a lot to me. Thank you so much for today."



Matsumoto then asked the audience "What did you all think? Did you enjoy it?",
and they responded by applauding loudly.
"That's great, Pikachu! I'm so happy!" Matsumoto shared her joy with Pikachu for a short moment.
"I believe this 20th year of the franchise can exist specifically because of the cast, the staff and all you people that love Pokémon. I feel like I've been walking these 20 years together with you all, one step at a time. They (the Pokémon movies) have now reached their coming-of-age ceremony, and as we continue working our best to give you many, many more movies, I hope you'll still continue to support us for many years to come", she said.

Matsumoto then changed the subject to that of the opening theme song, "Mezase Pokémon Master -20th Anniversary".
"I think this song has turned into something like an adhesive that connects people together.
Right now, people all over Japan are humming the song to themselves, and when I sang it at the "Japan Expo" in paris some days ago,
all the French people there were singing it in Japanese as well. It's become a song that connects the world and makes people smile,
and I'm so, so grateful I get to sing a song like that", she said.



She then sang "Mezase Pokémon Master -20th Anniversary" together with all the actors and the entire audience. Once the song was done, the audience cheered and applauded loudly, and both Matsumoto and the other actors were deeply touched.



Before they could regain their senses, a surprise guest came in! It was Asuca Hayashi, the singer of "The Oración Theme: Let's Walk Together".
"I sang this song while feeling genuine happiness, passing on the emotions of all the actors, of all the creators, of the director, of the producer, and of all the enormously many fans.", she said.
As she gave an enthusiastic performance of "The Oración Theme: Let's Walk Together", the entire venue got emotionally moved.

Matsumoto got so touched by the song she ended up starting to cry.
When she was asked for a comment, she replied "I think everyone felt similarly to how I just felt. When I play Satoshi, I try to approach the role from the point of view of the fans watching, so listening to this song made fleeting glimpses of 20 years worth of memories appear in my head, and I'm sure this song makes everyone similarly sense different things and remember their loved ones."



Yamadera then changed the topic, asking Pikachu "What did you think of Asuca-chan's song?", but Pikachu was just as touched, crying "Pikapikachuuu" as it and Matsumoto embraced each other, giving us a scene where we could feel the bond the two shared.



The greetings concluded with a commemorative photo, where Matsumoto yelled "I choose" and the entire audience responded "you!".
This had been a premiere day stage greeting filled with both laughter and emotional moments.

Source: http://www.pokemon-movie.jp/news/?p=2988