matataku_hoshi | Becca's Adventures in Sakura/Secret Hunter Land 5/20/07, Part 2: my review (Reply)

I feel like when I try to sum up my thoughts what I keep coming back to is the rather bland phrases “pretty” and “well-done”, but they do fit here. Somehow I’m finding it much harder to squee when I don’t know the cast that well. Which is unfortunate because I want to squee ^_^

Pretty is maybe not quite accurate here because it sounds a little too trite. Beautiful, maybe? That unfortunately sounds a trite too, but you get the idea. In any case, visually, I think this is the prettiest (I decided on that word) Takarazuka show I’ve seen yet. I don’t even want to think about the amount of work it took to make all those kimonos nor how the siennes managed to make all those costume changes, but they looked really fantastic (both the costumes and the siennes). Ditto in regards to the sets. I especially liked when cherry blossoms kept falling from the ceiling and from people’s sleeves.

Of course, as good as sets and costumes may be they need to be matched by good content, and this luckily was present. The number with the dolls in storage was hilarious. Not knowing hoshigumi that well, I had trouble picking people out. Touko was definitely solid, but it was the Secret Hunter half of the show that impressed me more in terms of her. Uh…what else…I liked Tatsuki Yo and and Suzumi Shio in their scene.

Seeing hoshigumi do all of that Japanese dancing made me realize exactly to what extent siennes really need to know how to do it all. And they did it well too! I left impressed with both the choreography and dancing itself.

The music for the most part I didn’t think was anything special, but it got the job done and certainly didn’t take away from my enjoyment. And I did end up buying the single CD after the show was over, so I guess the theme song was growing on me.

So all and all this was a very beautiful, well directed, and well performed revue. Even though I haven’t seen much hoshigumi I felt I was able to enjoy it.

I find it amusing that although Sakura opened in Tokyo only a few days ago, sakura season has been over for a while. And by the time of the final performance on July 1st when Tokyo is beginning that really obnoxious stage of summer, sakura season is really going to be a distant memory. Oh well, I guess you can't time things seasonally given that Grand Theater shows have a run of what...three months?

I had read earlier that there was some concern that Touko was having vocal problems. I don’t know how to judge singing in technical terms, but she sounded fine to me. I’d go as far as to say good, as I ended up really liking her voice.

Speaking of Touko, it was this half of the show that made me begin to really like her. This is a highly silly show and I think she carried it well. I thought she had really good stage presence, comedic timing (I loved her on the phone trying to get a hold of Sergio), and (I’ll say it) singing. I feel like this show could have really flopped if someone not so capable was the lead.

As for the rest of the cast, once again I have to point out that I really don’t know hoshigumi that well. Toono Asuka’s role wasn’t as boring as say, Ayano Kanami’s in Sakura/Secret Hunter, but I still felt like it was kind of a stereotypical musumeyaku role. I think I’m getting fairly cynical about musumeyaku parts lately. In any case, she didn’t really stand out for me until she started to sing. That girl has a very lovely high range. Hmm, who else. Yuzuki Reon I thought could belt well. Suzumi Shio’s character was funny.

The show itself…hmm. I’m having trouble forming my thoughts coherently. The clichéd-ness of it bothered me, but there were still some cute/funny parts. And towards the end when the action picked up I found myself getting pretty into it. Does it make me sadistic that I loved I just got shot!Touko? The music itself for the most part wasn’t anything special, although I did like “Eres mi amor” on the single CD.

The statue scared me. As did Touko’s finale costume. Honestly, I didn’t really like the majority of the costumes. However, there were a couple of notable exceptions. First of all, Touko’s leather jacket in the first scene. Secondly, Touko and Toono Asuka’s duet costumes.

During the first scene when Touko was doing her warm up stretches, she said “J…C…B!” as she was trying to touch her toes. Touko is currently sponsoring JCB (which I think is a bank?) and this got a lot of laughs. Was this an adlib? Jenebi made it sound like she was saying slightly different things every performance.

Oh, I almost forgot. The line dance was really cute. Did the girls have something on their skin to make them look that way or was it all lighting effects? I think the 93rds have already spread out to their new troupes, although I’ve heard rumors that the new hoshi ones were in here as well. I’m glad they got a cool debut.

So overall? It was silly and fairly cliché, but at the same time Touko was good and it was not at all a bad way to spend a Sunday afternoon. I’m not running out this second to buy another hoshigumi DVD, but I’m interested in seeing them again next time they have a performance.