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Review: Action! - Hoshigumi 1995
Summary: A series of Christmas-themed skits, followed by a revue with interviews.
The show opens with the catchy 'Action!' song, then leads into the first of 3 skits, which make up the first act.
Skit 1
On a planet run by androids, Minoru Kou is the lonely, loveless leader. His android minions decide to abduct a fleet of girls from earth, to provide him with some company as a Christmas present. Most of them bore him, but one reminds him of what it is to be human.
Noru and Ayaka have a lovely dynamic, but the scene-stealers are Wataru and Kazahana Mai, as the pair of androids who realise what love is with one another and turn human themselves. Corny, I know, but this is Takarazuka.
Skit 2
And just to go in completely the opposite direction, Mariko plays a criminal on death row, remembering the woman he loved. In a combination dance-song act, they portray the history of the man, what he's done, and the loss he and his significant other both feel as he walks up the steps to his execution. (And the lighting in this actually reminded me a lot of the opening sequence of Winds of Buenos Aires.
Skit 3
And yet another leap in completely the opposite direction, the best skit of the show and the reason to buy this video :)
A High School is getting prepped for the Christmas show, led by the nerdy Emao Yuu and the bouncy cheerleader type he's smitten on, played by Tsukikage Hitomi. The entertainment is to be provided by the Badboy Rock musician played by Mariko. With a side of competition from a punk rock DJ played by Noru with the biggest hair I've ever seen.
Meanwhile, the sponsor of the school and her daughter arrive to oversea the festivities, and said daughter immediately gets smitten with the BadBoy musician. Who, unsurprisingly, finds her attentions irritating to say the least, especially when she keeps following him around. Until, while he's working on a new song, she provides a countermelody, and he realises she might not be so bad.
And then, lightning strikes! Magical Christmas lightning, which switches their bodies! Coming around, neither of them initially notice, woozy from being hit by lightning. It's only pointed out to them when they run into their significant allies, in Mariko's case the mother, and in Ayaka's case, the band.
Wacky hijinks follows, while the Badboy in the body of a teenage girl is persuaded to pretend to be the girl for a slumber party, while Teenager Girl tries to be a badboy musician in a rock competition against Noru's DJ.
I was delighted by Ayaka especially in this skit. You can tell she's been watching the Otokoyaku carefully, and the body languages, gestures, expressions and even tone were spot on, while Mariko was hilarious, flailing about like a spazzy teenage girl, doing what she thought was a rocking dance move.
The icing on the cake was the epic genderflip for the second last song, when everyone on the stage genderflipped for one number, including all the background otokoyaku and musumeyaku. It's shows like this that make me love Takarazuka even more :)
Act two started out as the standard revue, with many glittery costumes and much bounciness on all counts. Noru and Ayaka had a wonder set together. However one of my favourite sections was the Jackson section, with ABC, Can't Help Lovin' You, Beat It, Thriller and other songs. Plus, Izumo Aya's big solo number was 'Silent Night', gospel-style. The woman's range is amazing!
And while my Japanese is... bad at best, I still managed to pick up enough in the interviews to be entertained. The question asked was "what was the worst mess-up you've had on stage". The majority of cases seemed to include falling or skirts.
If I understood Ayaka right, she fell over when she was heading towards the wings during Rose of Versailles, and because of the size of the dress, she couldn't get back up, and someone had to grab her arms and pull her out of sight.
Though Noru totally cracked me up. Chiaki Shin was doing the questioning, and when she came out to ask Noru, Noru was strutting and smoothing her hair, all cool and suave. When Shin asked the question, it went as follows:
Noru: Me? Make a mistake? Ha! Not likely. I've never made a mistake.
Shin: What? Not one?
Noru: Nope! *smooths hair*
Shin: That's funny because I remember an occasion during the shinjinkoen of Paparagi...
Noru: FAH!
Shin: When you came out with your flies down. I think that classes as a mistake?
Noru: *buckles laughing*
I love this troupe in this period :) They were all having such fun.
And a last summary of this show: awesome for Shiraki Ayaka. This is the show to watch if you want to see what all the fuss was about her. This shows her singing, her acting, and her wonderful sense of humour :)
The show opens with the catchy 'Action!' song, then leads into the first of 3 skits, which make up the first act.
Skit 1
On a planet run by androids, Minoru Kou is the lonely, loveless leader. His android minions decide to abduct a fleet of girls from earth, to provide him with some company as a Christmas present. Most of them bore him, but one reminds him of what it is to be human.
Noru and Ayaka have a lovely dynamic, but the scene-stealers are Wataru and Kazahana Mai, as the pair of androids who realise what love is with one another and turn human themselves. Corny, I know, but this is Takarazuka.
Skit 2
And just to go in completely the opposite direction, Mariko plays a criminal on death row, remembering the woman he loved. In a combination dance-song act, they portray the history of the man, what he's done, and the loss he and his significant other both feel as he walks up the steps to his execution. (And the lighting in this actually reminded me a lot of the opening sequence of Winds of Buenos Aires.
Skit 3
And yet another leap in completely the opposite direction, the best skit of the show and the reason to buy this video :)
A High School is getting prepped for the Christmas show, led by the nerdy Emao Yuu and the bouncy cheerleader type he's smitten on, played by Tsukikage Hitomi. The entertainment is to be provided by the Badboy Rock musician played by Mariko. With a side of competition from a punk rock DJ played by Noru with the biggest hair I've ever seen.
Meanwhile, the sponsor of the school and her daughter arrive to oversea the festivities, and said daughter immediately gets smitten with the BadBoy musician. Who, unsurprisingly, finds her attentions irritating to say the least, especially when she keeps following him around. Until, while he's working on a new song, she provides a countermelody, and he realises she might not be so bad.
And then, lightning strikes! Magical Christmas lightning, which switches their bodies! Coming around, neither of them initially notice, woozy from being hit by lightning. It's only pointed out to them when they run into their significant allies, in Mariko's case the mother, and in Ayaka's case, the band.
Wacky hijinks follows, while the Badboy in the body of a teenage girl is persuaded to pretend to be the girl for a slumber party, while Teenager Girl tries to be a badboy musician in a rock competition against Noru's DJ.
I was delighted by Ayaka especially in this skit. You can tell she's been watching the Otokoyaku carefully, and the body languages, gestures, expressions and even tone were spot on, while Mariko was hilarious, flailing about like a spazzy teenage girl, doing what she thought was a rocking dance move.
The icing on the cake was the epic genderflip for the second last song, when everyone on the stage genderflipped for one number, including all the background otokoyaku and musumeyaku. It's shows like this that make me love Takarazuka even more :)
Act two started out as the standard revue, with many glittery costumes and much bounciness on all counts. Noru and Ayaka had a wonder set together. However one of my favourite sections was the Jackson section, with ABC, Can't Help Lovin' You, Beat It, Thriller and other songs. Plus, Izumo Aya's big solo number was 'Silent Night', gospel-style. The woman's range is amazing!
And while my Japanese is... bad at best, I still managed to pick up enough in the interviews to be entertained. The question asked was "what was the worst mess-up you've had on stage". The majority of cases seemed to include falling or skirts.
If I understood Ayaka right, she fell over when she was heading towards the wings during Rose of Versailles, and because of the size of the dress, she couldn't get back up, and someone had to grab her arms and pull her out of sight.
Though Noru totally cracked me up. Chiaki Shin was doing the questioning, and when she came out to ask Noru, Noru was strutting and smoothing her hair, all cool and suave. When Shin asked the question, it went as follows:
Noru: Me? Make a mistake? Ha! Not likely. I've never made a mistake.
Shin: What? Not one?
Noru: Nope! *smooths hair*
Shin: That's funny because I remember an occasion during the shinjinkoen of Paparagi...
Noru: FAH!
Shin: When you came out with your flies down. I think that classes as a mistake?
Noru: *buckles laughing*
I love this troupe in this period :) They were all having such fun.
And a last summary of this show: awesome for Shiraki Ayaka. This is the show to watch if you want to see what all the fuss was about her. This shows her singing, her acting, and her wonderful sense of humour :)
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