This review may contain spoilers
A gift for ONE OK ROCK fans
First and foremost, I want to say that I am a MASSIVE fan of ONE OK ROCK and have been since discovering them with the song "Clock Strikes" in 2015, while watching the South Korean variety show "We Got Married Global".
Since 2015, I have seen them live a total of three times, where most fans, especially international fans like me are lucky to have been able to see them perform live at a concert once.
That being said, when the pandemic hit and artists were forced off tours indefinitely, all of a sudden, OOR announced on their social media pages that they would be holding a live stream concert. I had wanted to see them, but tickets were roughly $50USD. Being so expensive, I opted out, but seeing the announcement of the documentary, I got super excited.
While watching, we got behind the scenes content of not only just how they prepared for the concert, but never before heard background stories of the band, the members, and how each ended up joining. I loved seeing Tomoya and his lovely baby boys, and my belated congratulations on a third child, as well as Taka seeing his father, making a surprise visit to his family home.
We saw the band struggle as they rehearsed and goofed off. We also saw a new side of Taka. My impression of him is that he is a big jokester, but here, he was serious and professional, and his commentaries and critique to staff seemed somewhat brutal - especially after hiring an AR team for the concert, only to forgo the entire idea due to none of the graphics not matching what he wanted in the end - which makes him seem hard to work with. Essentially, we saw a perfectionist Taka, which I still think was great to see.
The documentary also mentioned how Toru ended up testing positive for COVID-19, months prior to the concert, but it was briefly even mentioned, as Toru only retells how he felt sick one night, called up Tomoya and went to the hospital. His only other comments about the event was that he would like to never go back there. I personally wohld have liked to hear a little bit more, since it was dramatized for the trailer, but, I get it since being that sick must have been traumatizing.
I personally also would have loved to see more about Ryota and his life behind the scenes, but his screen time seemed to be limited to interview shots and B-footage.
As for the concert parts itself, they were really great to see, as again, for someone like me who didn't pay $50USD for tickets to see the event, even snippets of the end results of the concert. The edited comparisons versus actual concert night and rehearsal was a nice touch. Seeing the performances reminded me how great OOR is live in person and makes me hope that they will perform on tour again.
My heart absolutely broke at the end when Taka started crying, which resulted in everyone, from the other band members, to crew breaking out in tears. It showed the stress of how hard they worked and the time and effort they gave up for this once in a lifetime livestreaming concert was absolutely worth it in the end.
This documentary really is such a nice gift for OOR fans, especially for those who could not afford to buy tickets for it. If you are not a fan of the band, I highly recommend watching the documentary and checking out all of their stuff. The band members are passionate about what they do, and you can see that not just while they are performing on stage, but while rehearsing in the studio and the way they talk about their jobs. They are a band that has been around since 2005 and still together to this day because of how passionate they are about music and what they do and who choose to continue to be ONE OK ROCK.
Since 2015, I have seen them live a total of three times, where most fans, especially international fans like me are lucky to have been able to see them perform live at a concert once.
That being said, when the pandemic hit and artists were forced off tours indefinitely, all of a sudden, OOR announced on their social media pages that they would be holding a live stream concert. I had wanted to see them, but tickets were roughly $50USD. Being so expensive, I opted out, but seeing the announcement of the documentary, I got super excited.
While watching, we got behind the scenes content of not only just how they prepared for the concert, but never before heard background stories of the band, the members, and how each ended up joining. I loved seeing Tomoya and his lovely baby boys, and my belated congratulations on a third child, as well as Taka seeing his father, making a surprise visit to his family home.
We saw the band struggle as they rehearsed and goofed off. We also saw a new side of Taka. My impression of him is that he is a big jokester, but here, he was serious and professional, and his commentaries and critique to staff seemed somewhat brutal - especially after hiring an AR team for the concert, only to forgo the entire idea due to none of the graphics not matching what he wanted in the end - which makes him seem hard to work with. Essentially, we saw a perfectionist Taka, which I still think was great to see.
The documentary also mentioned how Toru ended up testing positive for COVID-19, months prior to the concert, but it was briefly even mentioned, as Toru only retells how he felt sick one night, called up Tomoya and went to the hospital. His only other comments about the event was that he would like to never go back there. I personally wohld have liked to hear a little bit more, since it was dramatized for the trailer, but, I get it since being that sick must have been traumatizing.
I personally also would have loved to see more about Ryota and his life behind the scenes, but his screen time seemed to be limited to interview shots and B-footage.
As for the concert parts itself, they were really great to see, as again, for someone like me who didn't pay $50USD for tickets to see the event, even snippets of the end results of the concert. The edited comparisons versus actual concert night and rehearsal was a nice touch. Seeing the performances reminded me how great OOR is live in person and makes me hope that they will perform on tour again.
My heart absolutely broke at the end when Taka started crying, which resulted in everyone, from the other band members, to crew breaking out in tears. It showed the stress of how hard they worked and the time and effort they gave up for this once in a lifetime livestreaming concert was absolutely worth it in the end.
This documentary really is such a nice gift for OOR fans, especially for those who could not afford to buy tickets for it. If you are not a fan of the band, I highly recommend watching the documentary and checking out all of their stuff. The band members are passionate about what they do, and you can see that not just while they are performing on stage, but while rehearsing in the studio and the way they talk about their jobs. They are a band that has been around since 2005 and still together to this day because of how passionate they are about music and what they do and who choose to continue to be ONE OK ROCK.
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