Review: Your vote counts in this big-screen Division Rap Battle

A theme of my movie-watching in theaters this year has been anime movies based on series that have two seasons. It's been nice, because in these cases, if I have enough notice, I can catch up on the shows before jumping into the movies, as I did with Zombie Land Saga and The Dangers in My Heart (both series I hold really close to my heart now). With Hypnosis Mic: Division Rap Battle, I sadly only had time to get through the first season before catching the new movie in theaters, but if any of the afore-mentioned movies didn't require any pre-watching homework, it's this one.

The premise of Hypnosis Mic is that a new government rises to power which outlaws all weapons, instead making words the way to settle differences. The eponymous device is a microphone that basically super-powers your words, and these mics are used in rap battles between various crews, and by said crews as they thwart various evil-doers and so on in their day-to-day lives. As you might guess, this is an anime that is fairly light on story. The early episodes introduce you to one of the main crews, give them a little quest to go on (stopping a hostage situation, investigating ghost stories, random little things like that), and then there's a big rap number that saves the day. Eventually, the four main groups face off in a tournament that is secretly a ruse by the government to raise the rappers to prominence so they can be brainwashed and used as puppets.

That's where I left off with the show before heading into HYPNOSISMIC -Division Rap Battle- Interactive Movie. The main thing I felt like I was missing heading into this is the addition of two new crews (from Osaka and Nagoya) that are introduced in the second season. But whether you've seen the show or not, the movie gives little into moments to each of the six competing groups, so you can get a sense of where they're from, their team dynamics, and what they stand for. Like I said, this isn't a narratively driven franchise, so it doesn't matter much if you're able to keep up with the character introductions. It's pretty much just place-setting for the musical main event.

As the title says, this is an interactive movie. The only time I've watching anything like this has been on Netflix, where they've released a few choose-your-own-adventure type movies, which are fun. I was a bit wary of putting such a thing in theaters. There's nothing worse than people being on their phones in a movie theater, so going to a movie where we're asked to be on our phones at regular intervals? Seems a risky prospect. However, when you go to a movie like this, everyone in attendance is probably a fan who's going to be paying attention to the movie (plus, there are subtitles to read), so there isn't too much risk of the app usage leading to more wide-ranging phone usage. Further, the way the app (called CtrlMovie) is implemented is super smooth and easy. 

I kept my phone in my seat's cup holder with the app open. It remains dim until there's a prompt on-screen to vote. At that point, the screen brightens, the two or three choices appear as boxes, and you have ten seconds to make your pick. The votes are tallied and the movie moves on. In this case, there are five votes throughout the film, and it's always obvious when you're going to need to vote. So it didn't feel disruptive or awkward.

And, this whole movie (aside from the intros) is a big rap battle tournament, so it just lends itself really obviously to this format. You're voting for which groups win each round and eventually get the chance to face off directly against the Prime Minister and her lackeys.

Your enjoyment, therefore, is going to be very dependent on if you enjoy listening to Japanese rap music. For my part, I find the music in this franchise really enjoyable, and the numbers in this movie are often particularly catchy. The initial round consists of face-offs between groups, head-to-head contests that find them battling while also collaborating on choruses/refrains. First up was the Buster Bros!!! vs. Bad Ass Temple. Then MAD TRIGGER CREW vs. DOTSUITARE-HOMPO. Finally, Fling Posse vs. Matenro. I surprised myself by voting for the Season 2 groups I didn't know in the first two rounds, then I went with my beloved Fling Posse.

A few words on Fling Posse. Led by pink-haired fashion designer Amemura Ramuda, the group from Shibuya is wounded out by novelist Yumeno Gentaro (whose subtitles read very Shakespearean...a lot of "thee"s and "thou"s) and unlucky gambler Arisugawa Dice. I love the dynamic between these three, and I have such a crush on Ramuda, whose voice is infectious and sugary, even though his inner monologue (presumably his real voice) is much deeper and more serious-sounding). Ramuda has arguably the most interesting arc in the first movie, and he's so cute, I obviously was cheering for him and his team. Thankfully, the rest of my theater seemed on board, too....to a point...

After the first round, each of the remaining groups does a solo performance, each of which plays like a music video. These were some of the best songs in the movie for me, and yeah, I loved Fling Posse's the most. Their video takes place inside an arcade, and features a lot of rose imagery. Really fun and lovely.

My audience of about a dozen people rallied behind Fling Posse all the way to the end, and then they got to face off against the government team. Now, I don't know what happened in Season 2 (I do plan to watch it still), but in my mind, the government is evil and villainous. Here, their final song is all about seeking peace by stomping out the violent past of the patriarchy, but like...you are also evil. Despite that, my audience voted for the government to win. I was gobsmacked, dismayed, appalled. Especially because then they got to do another number, when that could've been Fling Posse!

I will say, it seems like whichever team won would be spun as a happy, "good" ending, and the Prime Minister basically says she wants to do better and stop abusing her power. But like, come on. I don't believe that for a second. But that also kind of underlines that this movie is really just about having a bunch of fun musical moments, cheering on your favorite characters, and leaving the theater with a bounce in your step. Nothing too challenging or deep to be found here, just a little interactive concert full of hot people. And I will never complain about staring at a bunch of hot people for a couple hours while getting some great music stuck in my head.

I'm curious to see how this movie lives on. I guess it might eventually hit streaming and allow you to pick who wins within the streamer? For my part, I asked for a screener from GKIDS, thinking it might just be a streamlined version without voting, but screeners weren't available. They were kind enough to comp me a ticket, so I drove almost an hour to catch it on the big screen. With a limited theatrical footprint (no theaters are showing it in LA, even), I have to imagine some kind of home release is how most people will get to watch this. 

I would welcome the chance to check out the musical numbers I didn't get to see. Until then, I have a lot of new raps to add to my running playlist.