ekusudei: (play without words)
The Energy 8

Star - The Rose of Versailles: Matobu Sei & Koto Marie
Moon - Great Pirates: Yamato Yuuga & Kanou Chika
Snow - Burning Love: Sou Kazuho & Konno Mahiru
Cosmos - Castel Mirage: Tsubaki Hiroka & Ayano Kanami


The Rose of Versailles
[ TakaWiki ]

I can keep this short and sweet by saying... I didn't watch it. ^^; Really not in the mood for Berubara lately. But I did watch the speech at the end. Un-chan was as completely and terribly goofy as ever. Oh my god. She must be terribly, terribly shy. I hope her speeches are still as adorable, but I suspect she's gotten used to them by now.

ExpandGreat Pirates )

Overall, a really fun show to see because of its nostalgia factor, but the surprise of this tape was actually...

ExpandAi Moeru )

So, yeah. Wow. I think I need to go watch that again.

But first, a complaint! Why did no one tell me that...

ExpandCastel Mirage )

So, yes. Must hunt down full versions of Ai Moeru and Castel Mirage shinkos. ASAP.

[I'll come back and edit this post when I watch the Berubara.]
ekusudei: (Default)
The Energy 7

Star - Revolt of a Gallant Poet: Matobu Sei & Emi Kurara
Snow - In Search of El Dorado: Otozuki Kei & Konno Mahiru
Cosmos - The Rose of Versailles: Tsukifune Sarara & Miwa Asahi
Flower - Michelangelo: Ranju Tomu & Sawaki Kurumi


My VCR mysteriously repaired itself! Quick, time to get my last bunch of videos onto DVD! ;) I thought this would be an interesting watch because it contained one show I'd never seen, one I liked quite a lot, and two I really didn't care for. Would the adorable younger casts change my impressions of the shows themselves?

One thing I did notice, and would like to complain about (What? Me? Complain about something? Heaven forbid.) was the fact that in general only the lead musumeyaku role made the cut to be included in the cast lists in the little booklet that came with the video, and generally 12-15 roles were listed for each show. No love, Hankyu, no love.

Expand Revolt of a Gallant Poet )

Expand In Search of El Dorado )

ExpandThe Rose of Versailles )

ExpandMichelangelo )
ekusudei: (Default)
Doing the review for Slapstick reminded me of a similarly titled Tsukigumi show that I don't think I've ever written up a review for. This is A Crime. So I'm rectifying that.

Practical Joke
Moon Troupe Drama City, 2001

The story of a man who works behind the scenes of 1960s Hollywood to keep the movie world's secrets secret.

[ TakaWiki ]

ExpandCast )

ExpandSummary: )

What I Thought...

... Can be summarized very easily. This show is informally known as Expand That Show Where Kiriyan is Hotter Than Anyone Has a Right to Be, and Yet Incredibly Sweet, and Mami Gives Us a Strip Show Standing on Her Couch. )

Jen says: Three thumbs up!
ekusudei: (Default)
In Search of El Dorado
Snow Troupe, 2001

Not to be confused with the 1997 Tsukigumi show El Dorado. Actually, I used the English translation listed on the Wiki, because that may be the official translation, but I think "In Search of the Golden Country" might be a better translation with less baggage.

ExpandCast )

ExpandSummary )

ExpandWhat I Thought )
ekusudei: (Default)
Figaro!

[ TakaWiki Page ]

Main: Mizu Natsuki, Ayano Kanami

Summary: A comedic compilation of two of Beaumarchais's Figaro plays: "The Barber of Seville" and "The Marriage of Figaro." The usual liberties are taken, but they actually made an interesting play fitting the two together. Still... Argentina? The music seems to have been drawn from different sources, although I heard a high amount of Cole Porter's music with some interesting new, original lyrics. ^^;

Thoughts: Oh good heavens, I haven't laughed that hard since Ernest in Love. Harder, in some places. Takarazuka slapstick at its finest, and even if most of the puns went way over my head, just the tone and intonation had me giggling. I had no idea I knew so many Cosmos 'siennes.... But my, so many seemed so familiar. Plus, it features Mizu in not just one, but two roles! And those naughty, naughty nuns. I had to grin when they stripped down to their underwear and started dancing, even if I'm starting to feel that these corrupt nuns are a bit of a zuka cliche.

And... the birthmarks! The birthmarks crack me up whenever I think of them. "Shaped like a frog going..." *throws up hands* "...banzai!" and "A duck's kiss!"
ekusudei: (play without words)
Daikaizoku (All-Japan Tour, opening night -- Sky stage)

[ TakaWiki Page ]

Because this was the All-Japan Tour, and not the Tokyo version that is available commercially, the cast list is different. For one thing, Yuuhi and Shiomi were gone doing Blood and Sand in the Bow Hall. (T_T) One of these days I'm going to get that show.... (How many times have I said this now in the past 7 months?) I'll put the Tokyo cast in brackets.

Emilio: Shibuki Jun
Kidd: Kiriya Hiromu [Naoka Iori]
Elaine: Emi Kurara
Edgar: Yamato Yuuga [Kozuki Wataru]
Frederic: Koshino Ryuu [Ozora Yuuhi]
Luckcome: Ritsu Tomomi
Ann: Hanase Mizuka [Saijou Mie]
Rockwell: Tsukifune Sarara [Yamato Yuuga]
Doctor: Asama Moyu [Shiomi "Crap yarou ze!" Maho]
Big Ear: Hokushou Kairi [Kiriya Hiromu]
Seagull: Suzushiro Marina [Manou Chika]

ExpandSummary from the Takarazuka Official Website: )

ExpandWhat I thought: )

So, overall a fun show and great for drooling over Rika. Recommended for Tsukigumi, Rika, and pirate fans! ;)
ekusudei: (Default)
Ima Sumire Hana Saku / ESP!!

It has been too long since I had a Mami-era Tsukigumi show to watch. All of my favorite seito, plus a few extras from senka. This tape contains two shows, both of which were used as the revues for the play Ai no Sonata. Since they were Mami's last shows, this was a special tape. It's only 80 minutes running time.

Ima Sumire Hana Saku is another of those 20 minute traditional Japanese dance shows starring the incredible Kasugano Yachiyo and Matsumoto Yuri. Can I possibly describe my glee at hearing Kiriyan lead the chorus, or watching Mami, Rika, Yuuhi, Shiomi Maho, Shiokaze Kou, and Tani dancing around in kimono? Oh, there is glee. This is the Tsukigumi I first fell in love with.


ESP!! is definitely a Mami revue show. I'm trying to figure out why she always got these absolutely bizarre shows. I mean, revue shows are always bizarre, but Blue Moon Blue? And this one is nearly as odd. I think I've got it. It's because Makoto Tsubasa has the balls to pull it off. She's got that untouchable star aura that says: "Yeah, I own this stage. And yeah, I own all of you. And I know it." I don't think I'd get along with her at all if we ever met face to face, but maybe that's just her stage persona. Anyway, she can use that to stare you down. "You're saying something is odd? Yeah? No? OK, good." ♥

The best parts? Rika singing "Born to be Wild" in cowboy getup, complete with boots. Mami as the Beast, eating poor angel Dan-chan and gleefully wiping the blood away from her mouth. The Spanish song with all the otokoyaku in female guise, and Rika feeling up a snarky looking Shiokaze. Actually there was a lot of roaming hands in this show.... The duet/trio dance to "A Whiter Shade of Pale." The chorus line to Verdi's "Anvil Chorus." And the best? The conversation (mainly in English) between Rika and Mami. I had to listen to it twice before I could make out what Mami was saying.

Mami: Jama suru na! (Don't get in my way!)
Rika: Jama suru na!
M: OK. ESP de ikou. (Let's go to ESP.)
R: OK, ESP!
M: Me wa [can't make this out] ni. You wa-
R: Honto ni. (Really.)
M: OK. Ja, from me.
R: Why?
M: I'm the Top. You're getting changed time, OK, please?
R: OK! *runs off stage*
M: OK...

It gets funnier from there.

*happy sigh* I love Moon Troupe.

Manon

Jan. 28th, 2006 11:05 pm
ekusudei: (Default)
I had a hard time deciding which of the thoroughly depressing videos I've been watching lately to review next. In the end, this is definitely the one I had to go with.

Manon

[ TakaWiki Page ]

This show is hot. Hot, hot, hot. The chemistry between Asako and Kanami is hot, the music is hot, the dancing is hot.... *shivers* Yeah, this one is definitely a keeper.

Kanami looks stunning. I've never seen her this lovely before. A fake tan looks good on her. ;) This was a great role for her, much better than Juliet. The Zuka Hispanic look is good for Asako too. Wow. Her Roderigo was great. Angst, angst, angst. And this is the play that finally won me over for Ranju Tomu. I loved her Lescaut. Such a ruffian, willing to sell his sister for money, and yet, when push came to shove, in the end he was there for his little sister. *sniffle* I think that scene had me tearing up more than the final scene with the two main stars. Yabuki Shou made an appearance again, as Fernando, and I know I've watched too many Hanagumi shows when I recognize everyone and their cousin twice removed.
ekusudei: (Default)
So, I reviewed Versailles no Bara 2001 ~Fersen and Marie Antoinette~ previously and wasn't exactly overwhelmed with it. (Warning, truly honest and slightly acidic review over there.) Now I've revisited the Takarazuka take on the story once more.

Rose of Versailles 2001 ~Oscar and Andre~

[ TakaWiki Page ]

Shop Pages
[ TCA Pictures ] [ Takarazuka Video ]

Oscar: Minoru Kou
Andre: Kouju Tatsuki (alts: Kozuki Wataru, Juri Sakiho)
Marie Antoinette: Hoshina Yuri
Fersen: Aran Kei
Girodet: Yumeki Noa

It was the cast that convinced me to give it another try, and I wasn't disappointed. ExpandHowever... )

You won't get anything more intelligible out of me than that. Sorry. ;p
ekusudei: (Default)
[ TakaWiki Page ]

Aaaand, Nagisa Aki pops up again (she was top musumeyaku in Glassy Landscape). I wonder if she was Senka, or transfered from Flower to Star Troupe when she became top?

Hm. Michelangelo. It... didn't hugely appeal to me in the first half. I kept waiting for plot. Maybe a villain. Forgetting of course, that this is a biography. So, Michelangelo is an angsty artist. Aika Mire seemed to have two settings for this play: broody/not quite all there, and explosively angry. A friend dies, he makes a statue. Another friend dies, he makes another statue. I started sensing a pattern. Then there was the woman in love with him, whose older (dead) sister he had loved. Poor chick.

But I felt like Michelangelo developed more of a personality in the second half.

Takumi Hibiki was great as Juliano! I liked the little side-story between Juliano and that other chick.

Juri Sakiho was cool as the bandit king. We need more plays with bandit kings.

The music was eh. Is Aika Mire not a huge dancer? Because I don't think she danced once in the whole play.

Viva!

Still not much in the way of kicks or twirls or complicated steps from Aika Mire. Weird. And really stands out with Charlie as her second tier otokoyaku. Takumi Hibiki is cool! But the pool-stick number was nifty, and I think Aika Mire can sing well.

Sena Jun's fire-outfit was very cool. And I am reminded of how weird it was seeing her as an otokoyaku. I mean, I know she is, I've seen pics and she is Moon Troupe's Top Star now, but.... I've only ever seen her in Elizabeth.

...I wonder what the deal was with those flowers that someone in the audience gave Aika Mire when she was on the runway. Something to do with this being her sayonara show? Planned? She reacted well if it wasn't.

Also, what's with all the otokoyaku pair dancing? Not that I'm complaining, mind you.

Definitely liked this revue show better than Babylon. And Ootori Rei's gown in the finale parade was lovely.

Here the mind-babble of the day endeth.
ekusudei: (Default)
[ TakaWiki Page ]

Shop Pages
[ TCA Pictures ] [ Takarazuka Video ]

So, as predicted by my cynical self, my first batch of DVDs arrived yesterday, the day before my midterm. After a long day of grading NATS exams and studying, I took some time out to watch one of them: Rose of Versailles ~Marie Antoinette and Fersen~.

ExpandAlso, Wao Youka has the unfortunate distinction of looking exactly like one of the ladies I taught with for two years. It's a little hard to fall under the otokoyaku spell when all I can think is: *Oh, it's Mrs. T...* )

So, what did I like?

ExpandMari Hanafusa! )

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