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masahiSummary:
Nishiki-e is a performance of traditional Japanese Dances centred on the theme of the Wind.
Zorro: The Masked Messiah is... well... Zorro - the heroic masked man in black riding to the rescue of the peasant underdogs.
Never let it be said that Yukigumi does not know how to do high-grade traditional crack. The entirity of Nishiki was pure, top-level magic crack, with the performers having far too much fun, while showing off skills that they normally put to one side in favour of Western performances.
Much to my surprise, I'm starting to really love watching Nihonmono, even if I know I'm missing a lot simply because of the whole different language of Japanese theatre. Mind you, it's easier to understand after seeing Kabuki, which surprised me.
Todoroki Yuu was a strong presence throughout, showing why she has been a mainstay of the company for so long. Despite a good decade and more of age difference, she not only matched but overtook Mizu on several occasions in skill and approach.
The fan-dance battle was made of win (although Mizu's tache was not), but all the same, while Tom does make her presence felt as a sleek professional, she was just too methodical, too much about the moves and less about the spirit of the thing.
That's why the Aqua5 skit, with them as traditional performers, and the Yuki girls playing the fangirls made me so giddy. They were having fun and playing with each other, and were all the more watchable for it. There's polished, ice-cold perfect performances from people like Tom and then, there are the ones from the Yukigumi gang that just make you love them all the more.
I also adored a skit featuring Kimu as a monk, along with all the Musumeyaku, which made you realise just how fricking tall the former is and how fricking short the latter are. The silliness that ensued was just adorable.
On the Zorro! front, I loved it. I'm sad that a few songs were muted out on the DVD for copyright reasons, but the rest were great and it really did look like Yukigumi were having the time of their life with the story and roles. And for Ouki Kaname's last show with the troupe, she was given the honorary place of Villain, and was contentedly chewing the scenery whenever she was on stage.
A lot of plot was compressed into a very short musical-revue-play-thing, but it worked. Although it's safe to say that Japan, in general and Takarazuka especially, seem to be quite oblivious to how painfully racist they are being in their representations of characters of ethnic origins. The native American sequences were painfully laughable, because yellow tracksuits with matching feathery headdresses and ruffles were really the look that people of North America went for. Still, the costumes were impressive for the size, especially given that some were bigger than the ladies wearing them.
Cast-wise:
Mizu Natsuki as Zorro: Every role Mizu plays should feature either a cloak, a sword or both. She knows how to work with them and clearly loves using them, given then amount of swirling she did. Her Zorro was perfect, with Don Diego being the completely frilly fop on the side (which she also had far, far too much fun with! Her poor, mutilated cuff!).
I love Mizu as Top Star of Snow. She has such a great energy with the rest of the troupe, and even if they look tired and lagging, her energy seems to give them all a boost. The brighter she smiles, the more they're ready to stand up and help her shine, which is what a good Top Star and Troupe should do - the troupe reflects the top star and vice versa, and when they are working well together, they are radiant. This show, with Mizu at her best, is a great example of a troupe having a great time.
She and Tonami... oh, I will miss Tonami so much. They had such a lovely dynamic, and could kick butt together so fantastically. However, the double-act that really stole the show in this performance was Zorro/Bernardo. And it had the classic dying-in-arms scene, which makes me happy in any Zuka show, especially if it's not the leading lady doing the dying. Buddy-angst is one of my favourite zuka tropes :)
Shirahane Yuri as Lady Zorro: was having the time of her life in her finale show. Her skit of abducting boyband leader - Mizu - had me in tears, then as Lady Zorro, she was so fiery, delightful and a perfect match to Mizu. She'll be a hard act to follow, definitely.
I loved her attitude, her ferocity, and especially her disgust with fop Don Diego. Poor Diego seemed so perplexed that this lovely girl was smacking him and his frilly wig around so much :D
Otozuki Kei as Bernado: Kimu gets 3rd place in this review simply because of how fantastically she played a character who did. not. speak. It's hard enough to express something when you have stuff to say, but to make Bernardo such a layered character without saying a word until his death scene was amazing acting.
The relationship set up between Bernado and his lover (played by Aihara Mika) was so touchingly done, and Kimu's I-knocked-up-my-ho strutt was worth seeing :) Plus, their barefoot mini-pair-dance was absolutely gorgeous.(And just realised that if Kimu does get top, they'll be reunited as Top Combi)
Ayabuki Mao as Sergeant Mendoza: Yumiko really does seem to enjoy playing villains, even if she was looking unfortunately tired in this show. Still, she and Mizu as enemies was lovely fun, and the sheer sleazy evil Yumiko played was fantastic :)
Misa Noeru as Don Carlos/Elder Red Willow: Misa Noeru is always fantastic, even when the character she is playing are wearing the most absurd head gear imaginable. As Don Carlos, though, she was such a picked-on Don and was having such fun with the role of hen-pecked man.
Ouki Kaname as the Governor: A gratuitous semi-big-role for their soon-to-depart Teru. Not that she wasn't good at being the vindictive, cruel Governor, but it was hard to pay attention when you had Mizu whirling around in the background with sword and cloak ;)
Ozuki Tooma as Sergeant Garcia: Poor Kitarou! Always picked on :D She has such lovely comic timing, and her expressions are absolutely priceless. Garcia is so hapless and sweetly useless, and yet so very, very earnest.
And since those are the main people who stuck out for me, I feel I should stop now. I can't really point out any other favourites.
Nishiki-e is a performance of traditional Japanese Dances centred on the theme of the Wind.
Zorro: The Masked Messiah is... well... Zorro - the heroic masked man in black riding to the rescue of the peasant underdogs.
Never let it be said that Yukigumi does not know how to do high-grade traditional crack. The entirity of Nishiki was pure, top-level magic crack, with the performers having far too much fun, while showing off skills that they normally put to one side in favour of Western performances.
Much to my surprise, I'm starting to really love watching Nihonmono, even if I know I'm missing a lot simply because of the whole different language of Japanese theatre. Mind you, it's easier to understand after seeing Kabuki, which surprised me.
Todoroki Yuu was a strong presence throughout, showing why she has been a mainstay of the company for so long. Despite a good decade and more of age difference, she not only matched but overtook Mizu on several occasions in skill and approach.
The fan-dance battle was made of win (although Mizu's tache was not), but all the same, while Tom does make her presence felt as a sleek professional, she was just too methodical, too much about the moves and less about the spirit of the thing.
That's why the Aqua5 skit, with them as traditional performers, and the Yuki girls playing the fangirls made me so giddy. They were having fun and playing with each other, and were all the more watchable for it. There's polished, ice-cold perfect performances from people like Tom and then, there are the ones from the Yukigumi gang that just make you love them all the more.
I also adored a skit featuring Kimu as a monk, along with all the Musumeyaku, which made you realise just how fricking tall the former is and how fricking short the latter are. The silliness that ensued was just adorable.
On the Zorro! front, I loved it. I'm sad that a few songs were muted out on the DVD for copyright reasons, but the rest were great and it really did look like Yukigumi were having the time of their life with the story and roles. And for Ouki Kaname's last show with the troupe, she was given the honorary place of Villain, and was contentedly chewing the scenery whenever she was on stage.
A lot of plot was compressed into a very short musical-revue-play-thing, but it worked. Although it's safe to say that Japan, in general and Takarazuka especially, seem to be quite oblivious to how painfully racist they are being in their representations of characters of ethnic origins. The native American sequences were painfully laughable, because yellow tracksuits with matching feathery headdresses and ruffles were really the look that people of North America went for. Still, the costumes were impressive for the size, especially given that some were bigger than the ladies wearing them.
Cast-wise:
Mizu Natsuki as Zorro: Every role Mizu plays should feature either a cloak, a sword or both. She knows how to work with them and clearly loves using them, given then amount of swirling she did. Her Zorro was perfect, with Don Diego being the completely frilly fop on the side (which she also had far, far too much fun with! Her poor, mutilated cuff!).
I love Mizu as Top Star of Snow. She has such a great energy with the rest of the troupe, and even if they look tired and lagging, her energy seems to give them all a boost. The brighter she smiles, the more they're ready to stand up and help her shine, which is what a good Top Star and Troupe should do - the troupe reflects the top star and vice versa, and when they are working well together, they are radiant. This show, with Mizu at her best, is a great example of a troupe having a great time.
She and Tonami... oh, I will miss Tonami so much. They had such a lovely dynamic, and could kick butt together so fantastically. However, the double-act that really stole the show in this performance was Zorro/Bernardo. And it had the classic dying-in-arms scene, which makes me happy in any Zuka show, especially if it's not the leading lady doing the dying. Buddy-angst is one of my favourite zuka tropes :)
Shirahane Yuri as Lady Zorro: was having the time of her life in her finale show. Her skit of abducting boyband leader - Mizu - had me in tears, then as Lady Zorro, she was so fiery, delightful and a perfect match to Mizu. She'll be a hard act to follow, definitely.
I loved her attitude, her ferocity, and especially her disgust with fop Don Diego. Poor Diego seemed so perplexed that this lovely girl was smacking him and his frilly wig around so much :D
Otozuki Kei as Bernado: Kimu gets 3rd place in this review simply because of how fantastically she played a character who did. not. speak. It's hard enough to express something when you have stuff to say, but to make Bernardo such a layered character without saying a word until his death scene was amazing acting.
The relationship set up between Bernado and his lover (played by Aihara Mika) was so touchingly done, and Kimu's I-knocked-up-my-ho strutt was worth seeing :) Plus, their barefoot mini-pair-dance was absolutely gorgeous.(And just realised that if Kimu does get top, they'll be reunited as Top Combi)
Ayabuki Mao as Sergeant Mendoza: Yumiko really does seem to enjoy playing villains, even if she was looking unfortunately tired in this show. Still, she and Mizu as enemies was lovely fun, and the sheer sleazy evil Yumiko played was fantastic :)
Misa Noeru as Don Carlos/Elder Red Willow: Misa Noeru is always fantastic, even when the character she is playing are wearing the most absurd head gear imaginable. As Don Carlos, though, she was such a picked-on Don and was having such fun with the role of hen-pecked man.
Ouki Kaname as the Governor: A gratuitous semi-big-role for their soon-to-depart Teru. Not that she wasn't good at being the vindictive, cruel Governor, but it was hard to pay attention when you had Mizu whirling around in the background with sword and cloak ;)
Ozuki Tooma as Sergeant Garcia: Poor Kitarou! Always picked on :D She has such lovely comic timing, and her expressions are absolutely priceless. Garcia is so hapless and sweetly useless, and yet so very, very earnest.
And since those are the main people who stuck out for me, I feel I should stop now. I can't really point out any other favourites.