Echoes of Japan: From Screen to Sky
Designed by Ryo Oya. PyroDigital Firing with ~3700 cues. Visualization via Pyrosmith’s Pyro Maestro software
Exceedingly hot and humid weather had been the backdrop for the final day of setup for the Japanese team’s display. Fortunately, the threatened thunderstorms never really materialized and what rainfall there was had cleared up late in the afternoon, save for a brief shower around 8pm. Despite the improved conditions, it was still very very humid and this lead to something I’ve never seen during a display in Montreal. The main display area was clear with light winds, but a large cloud of what appeared to be fog hung over the display site at the start of the display. The ceiling was such that shells below 6″ in calibre were perfectly visible, but the 6″ and especially the 8″ burst within this recalcitrant cloud. This was very unfortunate as the most intricate effects were contained within the 8″ shells, though this cloud did clear from time to time, but it was never completely absent.
For the 2024 Japanese display, my expectations had been set exceedingly high as that display used some 10″ and 12″ shells, but I found these somehow largely underperformed, especially the ghost-effect and “disco” shells. With my expectations set to a reasonable level for this display, especially knowing there would not be any 10″ and 12″ shells, I was more than pleasantly surprised.
Despite the low cloud, it was clear to see there were many magnificent shells used, including ghost-effect and “disco” shells. These were, in my humble opinion, of higher quality than what we had witnessed last year and the firing patterns used allowed better viewing of the effects. My biggest surprise was how engaging the soundtrack was. In the interview we were told that the first part of the display would follow a more traditional Japanese style. Whilst it was clear that the early part of the display was differently fired to a more Western style, it was still very engaging and good use made of the different levels of the site. The one-shots, despite being European, integrated and harmonized very well with the Japanese shells and we witnessed many colour-changing pillar mines that are of a similar style, in effect, to the ghost and other colour changing shells. What was really apparent, though, was the incredible use of sky-mine type shells. These are shells that burst at mid height and propel their stars upwards, as if there was a mine at that position in the sky. These contained many beautiful colour-changing effects and formed kind of an extra “ramp” in the sky. Together with the many different kinds of horsetail and other falling effects used, these were well placed in the design and so there was excellent interplay between the different levels.
In many pyromusicals, shells are often more used as a sky filler, rather than tightly synchronized. In the Japanese display, shell synchronization was often used to great effect and added to the experience of the display. The laser segments were well enough integrated to not be too jarring and they did give chance for the large volumes of smoke enhanced by the high humidity to leave the site.
The pivot point of the display was a tribute to Montreal with Céline Dion’s Hymne à lʼamour from the Paris Olympics of 2024. This was extremely well done, but the heart-layout of red bengals on the top of ramp 4 was really not apparent to the audience. Maybe some comets or mines could have been used instead.
The second half of the display was a move to the “modern Japanese” style and it was really thrilling, with me exclaiming WOW several times. We had barrages of incredible strobe shells that were dazzlingly brilliant and literally danced with the music as well as complimentary effects on ramps 3 and 5 that caused surprise when there was a wall of white-out comets. The design of the penultimate segment to the music Two-Hundred-Meter Blade was just outstanding and was more intense than the actual finale. The finale itself was good, but something of a small anticlimax in the end.
Personally I enjoyed this display more than I expected and found the soundtrack very engaging. The pyrotechnic design was great, though there was a paucity of nautical effects, save for candles and comets fired across the lake. As for the shells, these were just incredible – especially the ghost effects and the dancing strobes. It’s such a shame that the weather didn’t cooperate and we missed the best of the 8″ shells. The audience gave the team a well-deserved standing ovation! Really the first two in-competition displays have really set a very high bar this year!