While this may be shown on the big screen, Ado SPECIAL LIVE “Shinzou” in Cinema is, for all intents and purposes, your typical concert recording. There’s no attempt at weaving a story around the concert and no peeks backstage. It is simply what happened on the stage at Ado’s Shinzou concert from start to finish, though with admittedly high production values. While it has many different cameras—including drone ones for dynamic, sweeping shots—the cinematography is not anyone’s reason for watching this film. Rather, this film lives or dies specifically on how much you like Ado and her music.
Thus, I find myself in an interesting position to review this film. I would hesitate to call myself an Ado fan. I know her music only through the times she has intersected with the anime world—i.e., Spy Family and One Piece Film Red. That said, I won’t pretend that I haven’t listened to her Uta songs on repeat for days at a time.
And as an anime fan, I felt satisfied. I got to hear my favorites. From One Piece Film: Red, we have “New Genesis”, “I’m Invincible”, “Tot Musica”, and “Backlight”, while from Spy×Family, we got the second season’s opening song, “Kura Kura”. I love concert recordings like this, where you can hear all the subtle (and not-so-subtle) differences between how the songs are sung live versus the studio recording. It’s a real treat in this regard, as she often changes things in fun ways.
However, the anime songs only account for 5 out of 26 songs sung during the concert. The rest of the songs are Ado’s original work—her other big hits from over the last few years, along with some cool musical treats like a duet with Hatsune Miku and her performance of the song “DIGNITY” with B’z guitarist Tak Matsumoto backing her up.
I found many of Ado’s non-anime songs very hit or miss, especially with her habit of occasionally shouting rather than singing. That said, there is no doubt that Ado has an amazing voice. There’s no auto-tune or post-production magic here. For over two hours, she belts out one high-energy song after another, showing off her range and power without somehow destroying her voice in the process. It’s an impressive tour de force, even if some of the songs don’t hit you personally.
And while I didn’t know over half the songs on the setlist, I was rarely bored. While the music is, of course, the main selling point, the logistics of Ado performing onstage are more than a little interesting. Ado is, famously, a person who keeps her true identity tightly under wraps. So, how does a woman who refuses to show her face perform in front of tens of thousands of rabid fans?
Rather than typical spotlights, we get the opposite for Ado: the entire stage is backlit with massive digital screens. In addition, she spends over half the concert in one cage or another, which cuts down even more on the ambient light. This turns Ado into a pitch-black silhouette from the audience’s (and the camera’s) point of view. The contrast is so great that you can tell when Ado goes through costume changes. It works out surprisingly well, though, in the rare cases when she leaves her backlit stage (like when she rides on a mobile birdcage through the audience), she becomes invisible in the dark stadium.
In the end, only one question is important about this film. Are you an Ado fan? If so, you should watch this film—especially if you’re unable to see her live during her current world tour. On a big screen with a high-end movie theater sound system is about the closest you can get to being there live. Seeing it this way may be a better experience, as you can both see and hear her better (as the crowd mic is often cut to let you hear Ado’s voice in perfect clarity). If you’re not an Ado fan or are a fan only of her anime stuff like me, it’s likely to be hit or miss; however, I’d wager there’s a good chance you’ll find at least one song you love.
