The squeeing of Osaka Samurai
Jun. 10th, 2007 01:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
matataku_hoshiSome reminders/disclaimers/thoughts before the review:
-I am a huge Kiriyan fan. She is my favorite sienne. Tsukigumi is my favorite troupe. Please realize this while reading ^_^
-I may be squeeing a lot about stuff lately, although as I think I said a few weeks ago that may be due to the fact that I tend to only write up stuff that I really like (don't get me started on the ending Great Pirates...it makes me angry :P). Also, I think seeing a live performance also really adds to the enjoyment. I think this would have been a really good show regardless, but getting to be there with an audience that was also really getting into it added an extra layer that unfortunately DVDs can't always capture.
-Even nearly a day later I'm having trouble being sane/orderly/coherent, so I think I'm going to have to stick to bullet points and random squeeing
-my Japanese isn't that great, especially when trying to understand Osaka-ben, so I may have gotten some things wrong.
-I was six rows back and in the center. I have a sad feeling this is probably the best seating I'll ever get for Takarazuka.
-I am a huge Kiriyan fan. She is my favorite sienne. Tsukigumi is my favorite troupe. Please realize this while reading ^_^
-I may be squeeing a lot about stuff lately, although as I think I said a few weeks ago that may be due to the fact that I tend to only write up stuff that I really like (don't get me started on the ending Great Pirates...it makes me angry :P). Also, I think seeing a live performance also really adds to the enjoyment. I think this would have been a really good show regardless, but getting to be there with an audience that was also really getting into it added an extra layer that unfortunately DVDs can't always capture.
-Even nearly a day later I'm having trouble being sane/orderly/coherent, so I think I'm going to have to stick to bullet points and random squeeing
-my Japanese isn't that great, especially when trying to understand Osaka-ben, so I may have gotten some things wrong.
-I was six rows back and in the center. I have a sad feeling this is probably the best seating I'll ever get for Takarazuka.
On the actresses...
-Maggie: I definitely understand now what people see in this girl. She's still young, but if she keeps this up and Hankyu is smart I think she has a bright future ahead of her. She was a really fun villain. Somehow I never noticed before how tall she is...
-Misa Noeru and Ebira were hillarious. Tsukigumi is really lucky to get to work with so many great senka members this year. And thank God they actually gave Misa Noeru something to do.
-Aoki Izumi and Asahana Rinka were (I believe, assuming I didn't get any details wrong) Kiriyan's extremely dorky younger siblings. They worked really well together, once again really funny.
-Takigawa Sueko played I believe someone in Kiriyan's household. And they let her sing her own song! (granted, with other people in the background, but I was still very, very happy). She, like Yoshizuki Eri, isn't someone who gets main roles, but she's one of the people who IMO in the little things they do holds tsukigumi together.
-I'm starting to run out of positive adjectives, but props to Ryuu Masaki (some sort of a family servant?), Kitajima Mami (Kiriyan's sick father), Hanase Mizuka (a geisha), and Yoshizuki Eri (couldn't figure out exactly what her fole was) were great as well. So yeah, this cast worked well together and did superbly.
-I actually haven't seen Yumesaki Nene before this and had heard some people complain about her being bland. I thought she was fine here, and Osei was a fun, bratty role. Her "I'm going to put stones in my kimono and jump into the river!" scene was hillarious. I couldn't help but think though that Ai-chan also could have done this role well, so I'm really hoping that she got a decent role in Dal Lake no Koi.
-What do you really think I'm going to say about Kiriyan? All my fears of her getting typecast as a villain were washed away here. She was both really funny but also serious in her concern at the way Osaka was a city of money. She had a really great number at the end of the first act. Also, I felt like more so than in Itoshiki Hito Yo! and in Slapstick, she's really dripping with top star quality. She's grown up in the last couple of years. I would rather see her stay in tsuki until Asa retires, but I definitely think she's ready if she does get plucked away to hana. So yeah, Kiriyan remains my one true sienne love. As if there was any doubt.
On the show itself, staging, etc.
-It was, unfortunately, fairly hard for me to follow the dialogue. The combination of not being able to see the actresses lips as close up as I'd like/this being a live performance/Osaka-ben unfortunately did me in. I did feel though as if I was able to basically follow what was going on. However, if anyone has any tidbits (other than the TakaWiki summary, thank you
caithion ^_^) they want to share, I'd be grateful.-Kiriyan came into the aisles. Twice. Once in the opening number (she actually made her entrance that way), and once towards the end of the show. I have an aisle seat when I go back to see it on Thursday so this makes me very, very happy. As it was, I was in row F and at one point she was standing behind the people in row G. She was so close I could have stretched my arm and reached out and touched her... (OBVIOUSLY I WOULDN'T, NOR WILL I IN THE NEAR FUTURE. THAT'S JUST NOT COOL. It was just the idea of it ^_^).
-I didn't like the costumes so much when I first saw them, but they really grew on me. I thought they fit the mood well.
-The sets were (compared to a lot of Grand Theater shows) simple, but fitting.
-the music itself wasn't anything that would blow you away, but it served its purpose. I liked the dancing, though.
-The show had both me and the audiences in stitches, and I was only getting a portion of the jokes due to my non-fluency in Japanese. Definitely a comedy, although with a few serious parts.
-I'd almost forgotten how much I like Bow Hall shows. All of the main cast (pretty much everyone who got a role name on the TakaWiki page) got really fun, quirky roles, and lots of lines. There was particularly a lot of baby love.
-I have no particular attachment to the Kansai region other than thinking that Kyoto is pretty (and that Takarazuka is there), but I felt like I
could get into the Osaka nostalgia. So as a piece I also thought it worked very well. If there's a translation out there I'd be interested in reading the original short story. Sorry, once again my lack of coherence is coming into play. I could spend a couple of days trying to write a more elegant review, but I decided for the moment just to settle for being incoherent.
Other miscellaneous thoughts and observations
-Of Kiriyan's three Bow Halls so far, I feel like this one was by far the most successful. For the record, I would rate Slapstick as number 2 and Itoshiki Hito Yo! as number 3.
-The audience got really into it. Even the guy who was sitting next to me who was probably dragged there by his wife was clapping enthusiasticly (although do keep in mind I was up in the front with all of the rest of the Kiriyan fanatics who either had good connections, had paid a lot of money on Y!J, or were simply camping out at Lawsons when the tickets went on sale).
-Afterwards they did speeches, which I think is common at Bow Hall and Theater Drama City shows. I was a bit surprised that Yoshizuki Eri was the first one to speak until I remembered that she was vice-kumichou. Kiriyan also spoke. She thanked the Senka members. She also made some kinds of comments along the lines of how this was a show about Osaka so they weren't sure that a Tokyo audience would get it (there's something of a rivalry between the Tokyo and Osaka regions of Japan), but they were really glad that everyone showed up. Then they said either goodbye or thank you in Osaka-ben. If you haven't noticed, my knowledge of Osaka-ben is a little non-existant.
There are it seems still a few tickets left for the final performance on Friday. The temptation to call in sick to work is...highly, highly, tempting, but unfortunately it would make me feel like an ass and I'd rather be on my school's good side. Luckily for me I'm going back Thursday ^_^
Demachi details to follow sometime later today.<input ... ></input><input ... >
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no subject
Date: 2007-06-10 05:01 am (UTC)-Takigawa Sueko played I believe someone in Kiriyan's household. And they let her sing her own song!
Happiness! Vast happiness! <3 Thank you for passing on this very important information. But tell me. Please tell me. What was it that Misa-san did? And, even more importantly, Ebira-san?
Oh, and Eri-san spoke not because she's Tsukigumi fukkumicho, but because she'd have been the kumicho for Osaka Samurai. There's always a kumicho, even for shinjin koen. It was Ai-chan for the Roma shinko!
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Date: 2007-06-10 08:21 am (UTC)Mostly, it was that Ebira-san and Misa-san actually got to be funny, as opposed to ParisSora where Misa-san only got one comedy bit (the part where she kept on trying to take the suitcase with the money in it). They did, however, get their own song in the finale, along with Hanase Mizuka. There was also an otokoyaku dance.
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Date: 2007-06-10 03:28 pm (UTC)Interesting that they'd have her give the speech! Technically PariSora should have been her last shinko, but given her success, it seemed as though the company had graduated her early from them. (She debuted in 2000, same as Maggie, though ranks above her obviously).
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Date: 2007-06-10 03:39 pm (UTC)Yeah, glancing at TakaWiki it looks like her last shinko was Jazzy Fairies in 2005. But yeah, she has done well...musumeyaku aren't really ranked, but for all intents and purposes she seems to be the nibante. I hope it stays that way, Ai-chan has a lot of spunk.
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Date: 2007-06-11 05:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-14 07:06 pm (UTC)In Ai-chan's case it surely means the company thinks she's grown far beyond shinkos and has better things to be doing with her time. Like playing opposite Tom. I don't think her fans should be miserable!
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Date: 2007-06-10 05:51 am (UTC)I am sooooooo jealous!
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Date: 2007-06-10 08:16 am (UTC)*blush*
Were you able to get tickets for Elisabeth?
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Date: 2007-06-10 06:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-11 04:54 am (UTC)(I'll be going on the 10th of July)
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Date: 2007-06-10 03:36 pm (UTC)Nice to feel justified in my love <3
The show sounds wonderful! If only I had tons and tons of money to fly out to Japan on a whim and go to one of the available performances
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Date: 2007-06-10 03:41 pm (UTC)If it makes you feel better, I'm completely missing renfaire season this summer :/
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Date: 2007-07-04 05:36 am (UTC)I live in Tokyo myself (since last autumn) and will stay here until August 22nd.
Maggie = taking over the world
I think it might be fun to discuss different things with you :)
If I might ask, which country do you come from?
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Date: 2007-07-04 06:01 am (UTC)I'm an American (hailing from Massachusetts) currently working in Saitama as an ALT for the JET program.
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Date: 2007-07-04 06:27 am (UTC)Hmm... any plans for this weekend?
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Date: 2007-07-04 06:44 am (UTC)/end rambling In any case, yeah, I'm around this weekend ^_^
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Date: 2007-07-04 07:26 am (UTC)To be true I already saw Elisabeth twice and have some other tickets for it I am well with ^_^
Maybe saturday would be better, because I have some test next week I should learn for, but if you prefer sunday, that also should be no problem.
And now I continue to stalk your journal, because it's interesting.
And thinking of the fact that we will meet in private, I think I can add you to my file sharing friends list (I just assume that you are trustworthy). I think there should be at least one more entry from the last week should be visible to you.
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Date: 2007-09-09 12:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-17 02:22 am (UTC)Nice icon ^^