Greetings everyone,

Please place your reviews and/or comments for the Japanese display here!

Trav.

This was a very good show in my view! The quality of the shells was strong — with many unique and bright shapes, there was a good variety or colours and the synchronization was outstanding.

In particular, near the end, there was a segment that was the true definition of «organized chaos» — in a positive way.

The only pitfall was the finale. The ending felt somewhat anticlimactic. This may have been a cultural difference in terms of expectations, but I didn't realize the show had ended until the lights turned back on and I looked at the time.

Although the lasers do not carry even remotely the same energy as fireworks, I did find that their integration was not as jarring as the past. They also understood the music that it accompanied. As well, on a night like today where the smoke was not quick to dissipate, it actually helped the show by providing 4 opportunities to «clear the stage» of smoke.

Overall, I would give this show high marks for creativity, organization of sequences and design.

Note: this was the first show that I saw this season, so I don't have any ranking.

This debut show by the Japanese consortium Great Sky Art took place in humid weather conditions with light winds, just enough to prevent complete obstruction of the view. Though visibility was reduced at times, the audience seated in the stands at La Ronde was able to see everything there was to see in this VERY GOOD performance. It was also the first time in the history of the Montreal International Fireworks Competition that Japan was represented two consecutive years.

Let's start with the quality of the pyrotechnics. Japanese shows are eagerly awaited by enthusiasts because they often feature sophisticated products that are rarely exported or used by participants from other countries. I particularly enjoyed the special ghost shells which stood out for their extremely bright stars that alternated with neutralization to produce sequences of flashes. They were seen several times, with variations in sequence, color, and speed of alternation. The brightness of the pieces was also highlighted in the penultimate tableau by mines whose stars went out very quickly in synchronization with the lyrics. Several pieces featured two or three color changes, which were particularly obvious in mine sequences. Considering the reputation of Japanese manufacturers, however, I expected larger shells and more complex effects. By way of comparison, the display presented by the Omagari Hanabi consortium in 2024 featured nearly 20 12-inch shells and other with a 10-inch diameter, as Paul reported in an interview at the time. There were none in this show. In 2024, some effets had a higher number of color changes, while other shells had several layers of pistils in different colors. The pyrotechnics used this year seemed to me to be quite comparable to those of excellent European manufacturers.

I feel that the soundtrack better reflected the country's cultural specificity. Under the theme From Screen to Sky, I believe 12 of the 13 segments originated from Japanese cultural productions, including anime, films, television series, and video games. In her blog, Mylène Salvas provided a detailed introduction to the musical selections and offered some useful references for people like me, who didn't know much beyond Super Mario Bros. The soundtrack was fairly simple, sometimes featuring complete songs, but from an original repertoire. The transitions were well done, sometimes a little abrupt, but in such cases, this accompanied drastic changes in the visual performance. This was particularly the case during the transition between Code DDD (a segment devoted entirely to lasers) and Tank!, which began with a spectacular barrage of bright flashes along ramp 3 that took the audience by surprise! However, Céline Dion's performance of Édith Piaf's Hymne à l'amour during the opening of the Paris Summer Olympics seemed out of place. The designer's motivation, as expressed in interviews (i.e., recognition of Canada and a desire to adapt Japanese fireworks to international music) did not convince me that it served the concept and internal coherence of the show well. I had the same impression in 2022 with the Nuvu show, which focused to Hungarian culture but ended with a few international songs, including one by Marie-Mai. (This did not prevent the team from winning a well-deserved Silver Jupiter Award.)

I found the pyromusical design to be excellent, with the exception of the finale. It was based on a fairly elaborate technical design. The latter included a large number of firing positions along the main launch ramps. Despite my doubts about including L'Hymne à l'amour, for example, this segment was superb. It began with a set of flares arranged on the raised surface of the 4th ramp in the center of the firing zone, giving it the appearance of the Olympic cauldron that appeared on screens around the world when Céline Dion performed this song in Paris. Then, the tableau gradually gained in intensity. As in the Dragon Fireworks display in 2018, the Super Mario Bros. music segment featured its share of mushroom-shaped shells, but it was also very different: a slow rhythm, a sequence of blue mines turning red and progressing along the third ramp, with ring-shaped ghost shells synchronized to the sound of the bell indicating additional points. All the firing stations allowed for varied firing patterns. I would have liked to see nautical effects on the lake, which was only used for mines and comets launched horizontally and surfing on the water's surface. However, the space was generally used very well, with an intense and effective use of the platforms forming the fifth ramp near the audience, and angles producing very wide tableaux. I also think that the show's design would have benefited from a slightly more diverse range of pyrotechnic products: the various ghost shells and color-changing mines, in particular, were present in many segments.

As the show approached the 30-minute mark, I suspected that it was nearing its end. However, I thought that the Japanese team would slightly exceed this minimum duration because I could barely sense the beginning of a crescendo. As soon as the 30-minute mark was reached, the last song ended, and the lights of the nearby rides and bleachers were turned back on. That finale was a surprising ending.

After talking to a few people after last night's show, I got the sense that opinions were quite divided. Some viewers clearly did not have the same expectations as me regarding the pyrotechnics they hoped to see in this show. On the other hand, this design seemed to delight those familiar with Japanese cultural productions, particularly anime. In my opinion, it was a very good display, but the anti-climactic finale, the rather niche and slightly inconsistent soundtrack, and the pyrotechnic arsenal impact my overall score.

My personal ranking so far:

1. PyroItaly (Italie)
2. Great Sky Art (Japon)

Fred

Japan brought their lights and energy to Montreal during this quite cloudy evening. To my surprise (and probably that of many others), we didn't get the traditional Japanese style fireworks this time.

I liked :
— Synchronization was on target.
— Shells with fast color/brightness change were really nice.
— Soundtrack was fun, even for people knowing nothing about Japanese animations.
— Fast mines were a great alternative for the usual flashes.
— Nice combinations of effects on ramps 3 and 5 to create depth.
— «Tank!» segment was very well built.
— «Two-Hundred-Meter Blade» was so creative, so different! ...The finale before the not-finale.

I noticed :
— No 12in shells.
— I didn't understand the creative choice for Mario Bros. So much possibilities...
— Hymne à lʼamour from Céline Dion was a questionable choice.
— The number of different effects was limited, creating repetitions throughout the show.
— Finale missed the target. After such a nice buildup, I really expected something more intense during the last song.
— Lower effects seemed sometime weak and repetitive.
— Great smoke accumulation at times.

Personal thoughts
Japan gave us a very entertaining show with a solid soundtrack. The choice of theme and music, although aimed at a more specific audience, was able to entertain the vast majority of spectators. Will the more traditional style of fireworks chosen by the Japanese team pay off in the end?

After 2 shows :
1) Italy
2) Japan

Best soundtrack : Japan.

Dan

Dan: technically 200mm calibre shells are classified as «large» as they have to be set up in the protected areas of ramp 1 and, for everywhere except the US, are classified as UN1.1 for transportation. Many ports only accept UN1.3g products, which includes shells up to 175mm (7«) calibre.

Paul

Thank you for these clarifications Paul !

I edited my original post, replacing «No big caliber shells» by «No 12in shells».

My point was that we didn't have the chance to appreciate any of the biggest possible shells during the display.

:)

Dan

ArtiDan
Thanks Dan! 8'' can still be very impressive!

Paul.

Finally my review of this excellent display!

https://montreal-fireworks.com/ReportBlog/2025/07/08/japan-july-6-2025-great-sky-art/

For me, it's currently just ahead of Italy

Paul.

The warmest and most humid fireworks evening appeared for the Japanese display day, with a temperature of 24-25 C during display time under very high humidity (Humidex 32-33 C) and somewhat breezy NE winds sending the dense smoke accumulations towards the bridge. The maximum of 34 C also represented the hottest day so far this July. Meanwhile, Severe Thunderstorm Watches were released for a second consecutive display day, and indeed, strong thunderstorms made an appearance North of the island of Montreal during the morning, from Lachute to Mirabel and East. Farther South, light rain occurred occasionally during the morning to early-afternoon over the island, and then briefly around sunset. Following, this a low cloud ceiling appeared, creating visibility issues for the highest altitudes of the display.

This was a fantastically choreographed display. The show was indeed very playful with its wide arsenal of effects and vivid coloring scheme that there was scarcely ever a dull moment. The transitions were carefully implemented and truly amplified the fluidity of the show. The piece following the laser segment after «Super Mario Bros.» particularly emphasized these attributes, as it flowed well, had a seamless transition, and carried a powerful arrangement of color that really kept the audience attentive (apart from the laser segments collectively stunting momentum). The jellyfish shells were especially attractive, as well as the intensely luminous red photoflashes that caught everyone off-guard. «Mystical Adventure» and «Two-Hundred-Meter Blade» were especially well delivered and truly made use of the available space!

I also felt a deep connection to some portions of this show. As a fan of some of the original anime, and growing up with the famous Super Mario Bros., it was delightful to see some related theme songs make an appearance in this display. In addition to the Super Mario Bros.« segment, I was just as (or even more) drawn to »Mystical Adventure!«. This theme song served as the introduction for the original »Dragon Ball« animated series or perhaps was the replacement theme song for the original in newer releases. This animated series was and still is my absolute favorite anime, so having this song appear and well represented created a strong emotional link to this particular portion of the show.

While the show was very much enjoyable, I had a few negative points reserved for it. One notably criticism that I had with the show was that, though to a lesser degree in Italy's case, it was not always so clear how some of the songs chosen were relevant to the thematic premise. This removed a bit of tenacity from the show, as some of the songs, such as Celine Dion's »Hymne a l'amour«, seemed random and so veered from the overall flow. The show definitely had a more cultural direction, and it led to some clever sequences, as well as interesting changes in rhythm and pace. However, the more seemingly random soundtrack raised questions in my mind as to what trying to be portrayed. Such an approach weakened the conceptual design to a degree, but not tremendously as most of the show resolutely followed the idea of bringing screenplay to the sky. I think, though, what might have benefitted the show was that the show could have mostly been centered on popular anime, as these are deeply woven into Japanese culture and would have, therefore, complemented other soundtrack selections in this display. In particular, I would have envisioned some components of Pokemon to appear in this show. Although the Mario Bros. segment was interesting, it was not obvious why the pacing was the way it was – I felt that there could have been more upper-level support and faster pacing to truly articulate the signature components making up this legendary theme song.

The finale was also surprisingly cut short, and it could be said that there was no real finale. Indeed, the final section of the show was no more intense than other sections of the show previously. This was probably the more disappointing aspect of the show, as the rest of it came so strong. I noticed that this left a mark on what people felt about the show, despite the energy it brought them overall prior to the finale. Nevertheless, the crowd was able to overcome the feeling of an anti-climax and gave the Japanese a well-deserved applause.

Although not really a criticism, it is a shame that the low cloud deck managed to hide away plenty of those upper-level shells, or at least dim their color richness.

Definitely another contender for a Jupiter this year.

Trav.

Paul – We similarly had problems seeing many of those upper shells due to the low cloud deck hiding them, or at least dimming their coloring/brightness. Most of the time, those shells just appeared as a glow from Notre-Dame Street. My preliminary and follow-up weather reports for Japan's display pointed out a low-cloud ceiling potentially creating visibility issues, but it turned out to be quite extreme at times!

Trav.