matataku_hoshi | More on A-"R"ex

I went back to A-"R"ex last night and I thought I would post my impressions from the second time around.

General show thoughts:

The score wasn’t as bad or sparse as I remembered it being. It’s still not great, but there were a few memorable tunes.

I think it was

sumirepanther who said that Oggy-sensei didn’t succeed in making A-“R”ex into a cohesive whole. I agree with this completely. The show has moments where you can see what it might have been. Even Asako has a few towards the end. As a whole, however, it just doesn’t work. I will say though, that I liked the second act better than the first.

Taki-san, Mihoko, and Kiriyan

Taki-san I’ve decided was one of the best parts about the show, if not the best. I’ve always liked her, but I’ve complained in the past about how she always gets typecast into bitchy roles (Ernest in Love, Elisabeth, Phantom, etc). She does those really well, but typecasting=meh. With Athena, she gets to do something a little different. One can never tell what’s going on backstage, but she appears to be enjoying herself a lot.

Taki-san may very well be one of the best actresses in Takarazuka and she should be treated as such. I miss Natsukawa Yura, but I feel very lucky to have Taki-san as the kumichou of my beloved tsukigumi.

Oh, and Lucia, so that I’m not accused of withholding information, she shows up in a scene in Egypt as Isis. Alexander is confused, and she tells him that she has different names depending on where she goes. In Babylon, she’s Ishtar.

I don’t know why I wasn’t more positive initially on Mihoko’s Nike. It’s not as great of a role as say, Elisabeth, but at least she doesn’t have to play a stereotypical musumeyaku here. She had some really cute facial expressions as she’s watching down on Alexander from the heavens.

Kiriyan, like Mizu’s Death, loves putting her hands all over the other characters. This alone made sitting through the more boring parts bearable :D I feel strange writing anything else about her because I’m so ridiculously biased, but <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 On a less biased note, Kiriyan does also suffer from the source material (although she gets better treatment than some of the other seito). However, I felt like she was able to pull off a good performance regardless. From when I first saw Kiriyan live in PariSora, I’ve always been impressed by her passion. This shows up fairly well on video, but moreso live.

I sat in row five waaaaay off to the left tonight. It was most likely just the illusion of the stage, but I’d like to at least think that I ended up with Kiriyan eye contact a couple of times. Regardless of whether or not she actually was looking in my direction or it just appeared that way, I think it shows that Kiriyan is doing her job well :D

Asako

I need to say this first: I almost always love Asako. I even though that her performances in Jazzy Fairies and PariSora were enjoyable, if not her best roles. On my list of favorite otokoyaku, she usually ranks number three after Kiriyan and Micchan. I write the following below not because I’m suddenly experiencing Asako hate, but because I like her and I’m worried about her.

Asako’s strong point has always been comedy. But because of Dal Lake and Elisabeth, I feel like she can act in serious roles. And even though Magician no Yuutsu was a comedy, she had some really good serious moments. Not to mention really wonderful stage presence.

I’m not going to beat around the bush: Her performance in A-“R”ex was pretty bad IMO. Vocally she sounded as good as ever, but with the exception of a few scenes, her acting was just plain flat. The difference in her charisma between now and when she was in Magician no Yuutsu was noticeable. Granted, a great deal of this may have had to do with the script and the direction. A-“R”ex, after all, is a show with a lot of problems. There’s not much for Asako to work with. The way the character of Alexander is written, he starts off angsting and well, ends angsting.

I want to say that Asako got upstaged by Kiriyan in this show, but I don’t know if that’s just my Kiriyan-bias speaking. Then again, Kiriyan got a significantly more interesting character to work with. I would be curious as to what others who have seen the show think).

*sigh* I don’t know if I’m being too harsh. Asako fans, please don’t disown me. I would be more worried if not for the fact that Me and My Girl is coming up. Asako herself has said in the past that this is a role that she’s excited about playing. When Asako is into a role, she’s incredible. I feel mean saying this, but when she’s bored, I feel like it shows.

*wanders off to watch Ernest in Love and to remind herself that Asako can indeed be awesome*

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

This show seems an obvious candidate for the Lucia Method of Viewing, which is, practically speaking, the opposite of just sitting still and watching the whole thing. Through selective viewing, and intense concentration upon, e.g., goddesses, one can still get one's money's worth out of the DVD of even an unpromising stage.

... Especially if it comes in a box with Nito monogatari and Manon. At some point. After Osa-san has been paid for. Oh, God. Asako, you have no sense of timing.

Friending you because I also love Takarazuka, including "The Muffin Song" and Kiriyan. I'm not in Japan and school eats my life, so I like to read journals like yours to keep up to date~ ^^

Sometimes I think that you and your descriptions/summaries are a true godsend for those of us stuck outside of Zuka-land ;_; *worships Becca*

Kiriyan, like Mizu's Death, loves putting her hands all over the other characters.
That, alone, might be worth buying it ^_^;;

I had really high hopes for this show. Too bad this seems to have quite a few ..err..weaknesses.:-)

I'm really curious about Kiriyan's peformance though :D

Oh pooh, I had high hopes too. Looks like I might be stuck with hoping that Hollywood Lover was good.

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