And now for something different: A review of Ai to Shi no Arabia/Red Hot Sea

[matataku_hoshi]

Ai to Shi no Arabia

(Note: Spoilers contained within)

Okay, it wasn’t quite as bad as I heard, but it was still pretty bad.  Judging by the musical half, hanagumi is in pretty bad shape right now.  (Luckily the revue was absolutely awesome and completely reversed my opinion of the new hanagumi).  It’s not really the fault of the Takarasiennes, though.  This just wasn’t good material.  The plot didn’t move anywhere and there wasn’t a story arc.

Yuu had a couple of good moments, but with material like this it was hard for me to judge her as hanagumi’s new lead. 

Other than a cool solo at the end Yuuhi got almost nothing to do.  To be honest, every time she came on stage I would think, “Yuuhi, what are you doing here?” in the same way one would think if they ran into an old friend in an unexpected place.  (Er…my opinion changed in the revue half). 

Ayane also got almost nothing to do.  It’s really a shame she hasn’t been getting interesting roles lately, because when she gets a good role like The Black Lizard she really does a lot with it.  The character of Anoud unfortunately was very flat.  In this half she didn’t have much chemistry with Yuu, with the exception of one scene.

Kazuho Sou actually got out comparatively well in this performance.  Even though Adieu Marseilles is the better show, her character stood out much more in Arabia.  Her role was fun and I really liked one of her scenes towards the end.  Sou and Yuu had good chemistry. 

Miwacchi also didn’t get a lot to do, but she at least had a nice duet and some poignant moments with Yuu at the end.  Sakura Ichika had a small but well done role as a jealous princess..

So what did I like?  Well, the opening song was fun in an over-the-top Takarazuka kind of way.  The dancing in between scenes was nice.  (When I pointed this out to Gen, her reply was that the dance breaks were to distract you from the fact that there wasn’t any plot.  There were a few songs that were done well, and a few moments as well. 

I’m still not sure if it was any worse than Reimei no Kaze.  (Then again I had to sit through the latter four times, which may have affected my opinion of it.  I’m sure if I had to sit through Arabia four times I would be thinking similarly).  I would recommend passing on the musical half to everyone except for the diehard hanagumi fans.

Red Hot Sea

You have to understand that I really like fish.  They make me happy.  I also love the ocean.  So when I heard there would be a revue with dancing fish, I was really excited.  I wasn’t disappointed.  I will go as far as to say that Red Hot Sea definitely made up for having to sit through Ai to Shi no Arabia.  I’m even tempted to go back.

There’s something of a running story going through the revue involving a fairy (played by Aine Harei, aka Miwacchi) and Pedro, a young boy played by Nono Sumika.  I like Miwacchi and revues with a story.  I love fairies.  (Once again, these things together were a good combination for me ^^)  Miwacchi was extremely cute and is really growing on me.  She has such a cute face and I like her singing as well. 

Red Hot Sea reminded me a little of Nova Bossa Nova, probably because they’re both beach themed.  They both have a similar happy, silly feeling.  (Well, Nova Bossa Nova is probably more silly and crack filled.  But it something about it reminded me of it).

For me, Ai to Shi no Arabia felt like they were trying to do a (badly written) Haruno Sumire show minus Osa herself.  The result was that Yuu just didn’t feel like a top star.  Red Hot Sea, on the other hand, was much more in Yuu’s style.  Its playfulness and sense of fun reminded me a bit of hoshigumi.  To be honest I’m not sure if I could see Osa performing this one (but of course it’s not a bad thing for Yuu and Osa to be performing in different styles).  Red Hot Sea felt more like the new Hanagumi. 

Yuuhi was also much more successfully integrated into hanagumi during the revue half.  I have always liked Yuuhi, but while she was in tsukigumi I was usually too busy watching other people to pay attention to her.  Now that she’s in hana I can appreciate her.  I particularly liked a number she had in the beginning that involved fedoras and choreography that looked like waves.

Given that she actually had interesting material to work with, I liked Ayane-chan much better in the revue half.  She and Yuu had good chemistry, especially in the pair dance.

Some of my favorite sequences involved Captain Yuu realizing that she was on a ghost ship, Yuuhi dancing with the waves, and a fight between the peaceful islanders and local thugs. 

I’m bad at describing revues.  But I really liked this one and would recommend it to everybody.

Comments

[fyrie.livejournal.com]

It's going to take a while to shift the balance from Osagumi. They've been so used to it for years, it'll probably take at least a show or two for them to work out how they're going to use Hanagumi now.

But here's hoping, because Yuuhi is fantastic and deserves to do wonderfully well :)

[muffin-song.livejournal.com]

I have nothing against Takarasiennes like Osa and Wao themselves as they're both extremely talented ladies, but I often feel like it's harmful to a troupe if a top star stays too long. It gets to the point where it's just really difficult to recover from their departure.

[fyrie.livejournal.com]

Absolutely agreed. Especially with the Takahana combination. It took Cosmos a lot to get passed them, but now, it's great :)

[violet-tango.livejournal.com]

*randomly steals your icon and runs off with it* :D

[fyrie.livejournal.com]

*g* Komu is so pretty in that show :)

[violet-tango.livejournal.com]

Oh god yes, she was.
Before I saw the show I kind of liked Komu, yes, but not more.
But then it was my first show to see live... and in the end I went to see it not less than four times, and god, I cried when seeing it the last time.

And while I am an absolute Kaname nerd today, back then I only though 'Who is that girl therre who is only on stage to hold Komu's jacket?'

[fyrie.livejournal.com]

Really, I couldn't stop staring at the minion ;) She's very distracting to have lurking and if she can steal the attention from Lucifer, that's a good sign for her :D

[shirabyoshi.livejournal.com]

Well...

Well...

Oh, I just don't know anymore. :(

[muffin-song.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry, I know all of this must be really hard for you :( Despite the bland role, however, your girl looks beautiful. And she gets to frolic around with Sumika-chan playing her young son in the second half.

[shirabyoshi.livejournal.com]

Yes. That's something we can always depend upon, no matter what -- the beauty. <3

[sumirepanther.livejournal.com]

Thanks!
I'm going to see the new Hanagumi next week, and honestly I feel much relieved by your report on Red Hot Sea. (I have given up on Arabia a long time ago :P I know from my past experiences the end result of Tani Masazumi + o-hirome. )

My first hand information on Red Hot Sea was brought by a friend who went to see this show in Takarazuka and has a pathological dislike for Latin revues, fishy costumes in gaudy colors, and spiky wigs. Unfortunately this one seems to have all of them -_-; (She called it "a deteriorated Takarazuka Kenran").
But from what you have written, I see some hope in this show.

[demoneyeskyo87.livejournal.com]

Un-chan is still freshening up a bit, though I loved her when she was Hoshigumi material and now as Hanagumi Top, I am so excited to see what she'll do next.

My feeling is this, Hanagumi just lost a longest running Top Star and to fill that void is kinda harder than what it is.

Glad to hear the revue was great though and if I purchased the DVD, this is the Disc I want to see but not just for dancing fishes but for tacky costumes and lots of tropical flavor into the show.

[jess-in-japan.livejournal.com]

I had pretty much the same opinion about the show. I LOVED all of the gold in the beginning. I was like, "whoa... I'm in vegas... I mean... 'arabia'" And the other number I liked was ベドウィン・砂漠の民. But other than that, I was generally unimpressed and was like, "WHAT?!? THAT'S IT???" when it ended. But I liked Yuu-chan's charisma in the show... and her ability to seem Scottish, even in Japanese. I liked when she sang the Scottish song =) The show itself kinda sucked though.

The revue was good, even though I don't care for storylined revues. My favorite moment was the ghost ship scene!

Oh no, all this talking about it is making me want the dvd. Gah...

[skye-fall.livejournal.com]

Poor Hana TT_TT I was hoping Yuu-kun would have a good first show... although I wasn't exactly optimistic after reading the summary. I'm glad they at least got the revue right though.

Meh....I'm having trouble with the new Yuugumi. It's bugging me that the top three all come from different troupes after so long of having tops who were only from Hana. But then I may just be biased and still upset Osa is gone. XD
Heh sorry, somewhat ranting -_-;

[csh-121476.livejournal.com]

I have to agree that Arabia was sort of disappointing. But I guess it's difficult to incorporate one very long book into a one-and-a-half hour performance. It's just not possible.

I like Red Hot Sea a lot. I love the song and dance sequences, some of the costumes are not bad too. Plus Mattsu got a very difficult song number. She was amazing!

[violet-tango.livejournal.com]

Gaaaaah... actually, I don't know anymore if I will really definitely buy the dvd... on the other hand, I know that I really want to own this show.
I like the music of Arabia quite a lot, and Red Hot Sea makes me very very curious <3