The First Narufest is an event organized to celebrate the reopening of the Marukane Department Store, kicking off the Naruhata Festival.
Prologue#
During Captain Celebrity's fight with a Kaiju Villain, a portion of East Naruhata got badly damaged, with the Marukane Department Store in particular needing to close down for repairs. After repairs were completed, they decided to throw a celebration for the reopening, as well as the unveiling of a brand new food court.
To give attendees a dinner and show, they decided to reach out to young local talent to entertain the people while they shop. Among the talents they reach out for are Pop☆Step, the twin idol group called the Feathers, the East Naruhata High Dance Squad, and the boy band the Mad Hatters.
When Kazuho receives the e-mail, she's apprehensive about performing alongside and being compared to other performers, but Iwao encourages her to do it and tells Koichi he should help her. Koichi enlists the help of Makato to help them out, who uses her position as Captain Celebrity's manager to help co-sponsor the event and make sure it's the best it can be by turning it into an indie concert. The owner of Marukane just asks if the centerpiece of the show can be the performers creating an ensemble to all sing the Marukane Department Store Theme Song. [1]
Preparations#
With two weeks to get everything ready, Makoto tells all the local talents to meet up at the department store to figure out how they'll perform. While getting together, the Feather sisters Miu and Yu make fun of Kazuho for showing up in street clothes, while the leaders of the Dance Squad and Mad Hatters fall in love at first sight with each other.
After everyone arrives, Makato gives Kazuho and Feathers assignments to get ready for a week; Kazuho will begin learning the song, while the Feathers will practice and learn to dance with the Dance Squad. Afterwards they'll figure out where everyone goes and put a show on.
A week later, while Kazuho was able to learn the song, Miu unfortunately fractured her leg during practice and won't be able to dance. Makoto debates on what to do, but not wanting Miu to sit the event out, Kazuho suggests that she stays in the middle of the stage, while Yu dances behind her and she Leaps around during transitions to keep the audience occupied. Everyone agrees to the plan and begins practicing for the remaining week, creating the new name for the performing group: the FeatherHATS.
They also managed to enlist the help of many Pro Heroes to help out incase of a breakout of Instant Villains. Among the heroes they tried to contact, Endeavor, Ingenium, and All Might couldn't make the event. Elsewhere, however, Kuin Hachiska gets word about the festival, and decides to unleash Teruo, who's now transformed into a Next-Level Villain, to create chaos during the festival.[2]
Cast & Crew#
Performers#
Pro Heroes#
Stage Crew#
Festival#
During the daytime show Harusaburo Nanboku performs his song that goes out to Naruhata. After the performance wraps up, Present Mic announces that the FeatherHATS will be performing next. Backstage in the green room however, Pop☆Step has been suffering a bad case of stage fright.
While backstage, Midnight and Present Mic get to reunite with each other. Midnight asks where Eraser Head is, and Mic mockingly says he'll try to make it, but Midnight suspects that means he's not coming.
Elsewhere in the city, Eraser Head manages to cross paths with Teruo and stops him from getting any farther. However, the Next-Level Villain manages to unleash a blast of electricity that manages to create a blackout across the city, including Marukane. Kuin watches from above and debates on injecting the panicking attendees with Trigger, but Knuckleduster shows up to fight her and bring his daughter home.[3]
Back at Marukane, the blackout alongside sounds from the action outside starts getting attendees riled up, despite the staff telling them to remain calm. Midnight calls Eraser Head who tells her about the Instant Villain, but assures her that he has him restrained and is just waiting for the police. Hearing this, seeing the crowd getting antsy and having the heroes evacuate meaning the concert would be canceled, Makoto debates on what to do.
Thankfully, Captain Celebrity shows up, and Makato quickly asks him to bring some backup generators to power the store back up. Makoto asks Mic to keep the crowd busy, but he and the other Heroes can only act as standby until everything gets resolved. As everyone else frets over what to do, Pop notices that Koichi isn't around.
The Crawler reappears and takes action, putting on his hoodie and revealing that he brought Pop her microphone, thinking that since she's always performing in the streets and guiding people to safety during villain attacks, she's the perfect one to calm the crowd down. Pop☆Step, despite her stage fright, agrees to do it, with everyone backstage cheering her on.[4]
Stepping on stage, she tells everyone that a Villain caused the blackout, but is already captured by a Hero and they're working on getting the power back on. She properly introduces herself, which gets Jube, Ichimoku and the rest of her fans excited. She seems to start rambling on about being scared and going to the bathroom, which causes concerns for everyone backstage. She then asks if her fans brought any glow sticks and other things to light up, which they did, and asks to bring them towards the edge of the crowd and line up, and for everyone else to create an exit route in case of emergency evacuation or if anyone needs to use the bathroom.
The Crawler and Midnight are both impressed with how she handled it, while Makoto calls in some ushers outside. While they wait for the power to come back on, Pop begins singing some songs to keep the crowd entertained. The Feathers are also impressed, and admit that she's pretty cute out there. Meanwhile, Eraser Head, still keeping Teru restrained, can hear the crowd cheering, figuring the event didn't get canceled. Teruo keeps repeating Pop's name name, as Eraser Head figures he must be a fan of hers, softly smiling and saying he can catch her next show.[5]
Eventually, Captain Celebrity comes back with the generators, and they manage to get the power back on. Pop apologizes for keeping everyone waiting and presents the FeatherHATS as they all sing a remix of the Marukane Department Store Theme Song. Miu stands in the center while she, Yu and Pop all start singing the jingle before the stage erupts in festive lights. The Mad Hatters all play their instruments while the Dance Squad dance to the song, all while everyone keeps singing. The crowd begins cheering as the performance gets livelier and livelier.[6]
Back with Eraser, the police show up and manage to handcuff Teruo, but Eraser sees that Teruo still wants to see the show. The Hero asks the police to wait a minute for the show to wrap up, saying he'll keep an eye on Teruo, who's happy he gets to hear the end. The performance comes to an incredible end that leaves the crowd ecstatic and cheering for an encore, while everyone on stage gets as emotional as they are out of breath.[7]
Aftermath#
The next day, Kazuho is watching a recording Koichi managed to take, beaming with happiness over a successful concert and the three fan letters she received.[8] She'd also get a bulletin board for Koichi's apartment to fill up with pictures and fan letters, but Koichi also uses it to hang up his master's belongings after leaving them with Koichi and not coming back for them.[9]
Anime & Manga Differences#
- In the manga, Best Jeanist and Death Arms are seen in the background as some of the Heroes called to support the event. In the anime, however, they are absent.