#Furucowa Yuta

[chibimyumi]

What do you think about Yuta's new role as Kijima? After his mindblowing performances as der tod and sebastian, this role just does not seem to fit his status as TOHO prince and favourite cow(it's just my opinion though, no offence). But still our yuta-bab is working as hard as he did for any other roles.

Dear Anon,

What I think of Kijima? Oh gosh… don’t get me started… Well, HERE WE GO～! (You can thank @akumadeshitsumon​​ for this, this is their terrible idea.)

Kijima and Plot Relevance

Kijima is a new character added to the original novel ‘Top Knife’, and it is very obvious that this character was just shoe-horned in there. The characters of ‘Top Knife’ are not badly written, but because Kijima is new, every time they interact with Kijima it feels incredibly forced. ESPECIALLY Sachiko.

Sachiko is this 26 year old brain surgeon who finds herself lacking in every way. Obviously, being 26 and brain surgeon is very unlikely, but regardless, her having the least experience and getting her ego ‘tamed’ wasn’t necessarily a bad thing story-writing-wise. However, her ‘inexperience’ is entirely conflated with ‘the least professional person you can imagine ANYWHERE, to the point of being law-breaking’.

Why do I mention her? Because she is the only connection Kijima has to the main plot. Sachiko’s total lack of professionalism is played up as ‘cute’ and ‘pure’, and now 5 episodes in, her only role so far is THE girl who is in love. After meeting Kijima and having spoken to him ONCE, she finds herself head-over-heels for him, and at work she becomes this romance-drunk, worthless piece of… She is very much reduced to the ‘tell-don’t-show-device’ to tell the audience how DESIRABLE Kijima is, even though he:

Has hardly got any screentime.

Is a total sexual molester in whatever little screentime he has.

Kijima is supposed to be this ‘project’ that Sachiko will probably have to conquer, she is supposed to “cure” Kijima of his playboyitis (spoilers, it doesn’t work that way.)

My and Furukawa’s opinion on Kijima

Skirt-chasers are NEVER nice, for they are the manifestation of the hetero male entitlement, and I hate such characters because they are usually portrayed as “a fun guy who just needs to find ‘the right girl’ to cure him.” As mentioned above, 5 episodes in, and we are already sure that this is the character-trajectory.

In episode 1 Kijima was already introduced as this condescending man who sees women solely as pretty play-things. In episode 2 we see him showing a more charming and compassionate side to Sachiko who was about to cry, but immediately after that scene, he walks to another girl and sweeps his fingers across her waist as he passes by. Eeeewl. In episode 4 his female customers order alcohol, and Kijima just keeps adding booze to the women’s cups without them asking for it (which is SHADY as hell?) Unsurprisingly, Sachiko drinks too much and she falls asleep at Kijima’s bar, so he drapes a blanket over her, and sleeps next to her. It’s a public TV series, so obviously nothing explicit happens, but the subtext is clear as day.

TOHO’s Prince vs Kijima

Dear Anon, you are very right, the way Furukawa plays Kijima does indeed not quite fit his ‘Imperial Theatre’s Prince’ image, and I am sure the producers would now also agree with you.

As mentioned above, Kijima Tatsuya is an OC and his ‘official’ title is ‘The Bewitching Prince (悩殺王子・Nousatsu Ouji)’. We need no second attempt to guess how this is a blatant reference to Furukawa’s TOHO Prince status. Unfortunately (or ‘fortunately’, depending on from whose perspective you look), they cast the most passive-aggressive, pedantic and opinionated actor TOHO has.

The premise of Kijima’s character was just ‘a skirt-chaser’, and when Furukawa asked the director what their vision was, they told him: “the lovable kind you just can’t hate”, to which Furukawa replied: “I learn something new every day.”

It is obvious that Furukawa really feels uncomfortable with this character as he has frequently expressed so even in public interviews. He needs to remain diplomatic of course, but he keeps emphasising how Kijima Tatsuya is the polar opposite of the kind of person he is while shoving passive-aggressive comments in about what kind of person Furukawa himself wishes to be. While playing Kijima, Furukawa has removed any of the charms that is conventionally attractive. Kijima is obnoxious, loud, imposing, condescending, rude, obnoxious, full of swagger, and obnoxious. He plays Kijima for what he is; a disrespectful misogynist. Fans were quite in shock at the beginning, but they seem to have fallen for this person nevertheless. It seems that Furukawa is the living trope of ‘so beautiful, it’s a curse’, because many fans indeed don’t look past his handsomeness.

Furukawa seems to be trying very hard to distance himself from this character by frequently saying: “I love acting”. Even though he is normally unforgiving towards himself when he makes any mistake, for almost every single SNS video he makes a point out of inserting bloopers to help remind people Kijima is Kijima, Furukawa is Furukawa.

Cowjima

‘Top Knife’ is capitalising on Furucowa’s popularity in such an obvious way it’s painful to watch. Furukawa himself is an absolute techno-noob, but even before the series started they gave him and only him an Instagram, an official website, TikTok, and what not. Sachiko is reduced to an empty hopeless romantic self-insert, and when Kijima’s POV flirting videos were published, I got confirmation why.

The producers of ‘Top Knife’ want to market this skirt-chaser-to-be-conquered-by-the-right-girl, while also throwing Watcher x Kijima videos at us, making us all know that besides Sachiko, Kijima will also flirt with any watcher. They really are trying to eat the cake and have the cake >.>

Conclusion

I hate Kijima with a fiery passion, but I am grateful that Furukawa sees the problem of this character and is giving it his all to make it obvious how obnoxious skirt-chasers like Kijima Tatsuya are. I am laughing at the irony of ntv thinking to have cast the charming Prince of TOHO for this role, but then ending up with exactly what they didn’t know they had ordered.

[chibimyumi]

‘Prince Furucowa Yuta of Nose-Gargle Era’ featured in Omoshii Mag Vol. 17

Gloves in hand, majestic pose, sepia background? Hmmm, I see what they did there. This gotta be the most presumptuous move of selling Furukawa I’ve seen. Don’t get me wrong, I love it. He is the Imperial Theatre’s Prince, and people should know it.

[chibimyumi]

Hi Chibi! why do you think they don't give Yuta leading roles in movies or dramas? Thank you

Dear Anon,

Japanese theatre and movie industries may have some overlap, but they are not the same. Whether a theatre performer plays in movies or dramas depends heavily on whether they are interested in acting outside their specialised art.

In the case of Furukawa, only now is he really trying to find new comfort in recorded media (i.e. films and dramas). He used to play in quite many films, but that was before his huge ‘transformation’ in 2013. After his traumatic experience of getting dismissed by the Imperial theatre he became an entirely different person, and - believe it or not - developed camera fright. With his camera fright going on, playing supporting roles is already quite a step for him in my opinion.

But perhaps someday Furukawa will play the lead role in a film or drama, who knows! TOHO is milking him so bad within the theatre department, who knows when the company will also expand business using him in their movie department (which is still TOHO’s biggest department)

[chibimyumi]

Dear Chibi. 1- Does Yun has haters or bad coments like some bands in the kpop world? 2- Dose he has a theater critics who don't like his work And (it's okay not to like everyone) but what are the criticisms that they do to him? Im curious to know what theater critics are like in Japan? Thanks you Take care

Dear Anon,

Thank you very much for your interesting question! I must say, it was as painful as it was interesting to do research on what criticisms there are flying around about my son (;;≽▽≼;;)

Japanese Fandoms

Japanese fandoms are usually less verbally aggressive than English speaking fandoms in general. There is a larger focus on the positive sides than negative, because in Japanese culture it is considered very tasteless to publicly shit on stuff too much. In public spaces usually when Japanese people don’t like something, they just rather not say anything, or say: “personally it’s not my cup of tea.” That, or they go very roundabout to excessively praise the things that they do like (Yana is the textbook definition of this type of person). As such, there is less ‘hate’ going on. This of course is mostly positive, but it does come with people not being able to know what people really think about something.

Past Criticism

The most common criticism (professional and otherwise) against Furukawa is that his singing voice lacks volume and power. By this, I do not mean that he does not produce enough decibels.

The first impression most people got of Furukawa at TOHO is Rudolf in Elisabeth, 2012. During his duet with Der Tod, Furukawa’s voice was almost entirely drowned out by his co-stars.

Furukawa has always been the least confident about his singing, and at the time he was even more timid about going out of his comfort-zone (which was incredibly narrow). Some people criticised his singing for sounding like but a melodic mumble. I have to say, at the time Furukawa’s voice really was very weak, and it indeed lacked any volume.

The meanest critique I’ve read so far is that it seemed like TOHO only recruited Furukawa for his good looks, but that otherwise he did not manage to live up to the expectations that go with a proper grand musical.

Nowadays however, most people agree that Furukawa’s singing has improved a lot. Many people were stunned by his performance in ‘Mozart!’, his ‘Ogosho’ debut. Mozart has many songs that require a lot of volume, and there is unanimous agreement that “Furukawa’s hard work paid off“.

I have to agree. Furukawa’s vocals are still nowhere comparable to the rich opera voices many of his TOHO colleagues have (Inoue, Yamazaki, Tashiro, Watanabe, Urai, etc. etc.). But he did work to achieve the volume and star power in his singing that befits a first tier actor of a grand theatre.

Recent Criticism

Furukawa’s face has been plastered all over the place, from front pages of everything, to even the Hankyu Department Store and central station. TOHO has been marketing the hell out of their favourite cow. Of course it’s not like everyone thinks he deserves this attention (himself included ≽ω≼).

Some people expressed that it’s not like they like or dislike Furukawa, it’s just that they really don’t like how he’s being so aggressively promoted/shoved in everyone’s faces. Some people think that Furukawa has not really done anything that earned him this enormous publicity, let alone the honorary title of ‘Ogosho’.

More negative people criticise him for not only lacking power in his voice, but also physical power (click here and here for examples of him being Prince Noodlearms). Some are of the opinion that it makes his movements look very weak, while others think it’s ‘unmanly’ how he can hardly pick up children, let alone women. (From what I know alone, in ‘Elisabeth 2019′ he dropped Sissi at least once, and almost dropped her a few other times. He did not lift Rudolf during Mayerling like other Der Tods do either.)

Slightly kinder theatre fans say that Furukawa is an actor ‘with potential’, but that so far he’s only been given roles that were not optimal to let him shine. They say that they look forward to seeing him in a role that would be better suited (← This is what I mean by ‘roundabout praising’).

I hope this answers a few questions and may give you a small glimpse of things ^^;; Sorry I could not be more concrete. You take care too!! 💗

[chibimyumi]

It’s self explanatory.

[chibimyumi]

Wait - so if I got this right, Furukawa is tohos favourite cow and he belongs to their company. And they're paying a lot for kuromyu. So why do they let him continue in a musical, which basically can't afford anything and would go down without him? As far as I understood, Toho gains as much as nothing from that. So couldn't it be as well possible to tell Furukawa to stop playing Sebas or is this his own desicion wether to do that or not? Greetings from a confuzzled fan °A°/

【Related Post】

Dear anonymous confuzzled fan,

It seems like you understood it perfectly! Furukawa is indeed TOHO’s favourite cow. My friends and I call him “Furucowa”, he has played “Moowzart”, starred in “Lady Bessie”, and is most well known as “Sebessie” in this fandom.

Okay, okay sorry, I’ll be more serious now.

Why does TOHO let Furucowa continue in Kuromyu?

Despite the Imperial Theatre’s esteem as the most elite form of entertainment, the fanbase is - though incredibly loyal - still relatively small. TOHO is not very accessible, and they only have Tokyo and Osaka as their theatre bases. So even if people would like to see a TOHO production, they’d still have to travel all the way to either Tokyo or Osaka. Japan is a big country; most people have to book a plane/shinkansen ticket and a hotel to watch theatre. The traveling costs on top of the expensive ticket can quickly become an astronomical sum.

In contrast, manga and anime are very accessible. Compared to the fanbase manga has, theatre’s is but a niche minority.

Though theatre is niche, Kuromyu can ride the tailcoats of the manga/anime’s immense success. Most people did not see Kuromyu because they are theatre fans, but because they are Kuroshitsuji fans.

By letting Furukawa partake in Kuroshitsuji, TOHO managed to market Furukawa not just in the niche world of theatre, but also in the wide world of manga. Indeed, after Furukawa’s major success in Lycoris 2015, the Imperial Theatre noticeably gained an increase in spectators; most of these were Kuroshitsuji fans. (When I went to Romeo & Juliette in 2017, half of the people standing in front of me had the Kuromyu Tote bag.)

Not only did TOHO manage to gain more customers whenever Furukawa is performing, but Furukawa also became the gateway for many manga-fans to liking theatre in general. Ever since Furukawa’s skyrocketing success, TOHO also began to aim their marketing strategies at late teens and young adults. Before, it were mostly rich madams who set foot in the Imperial Theatre, but nowadays we see increasingly more young people attend as well. Furukawa has managed to widen the age demographics of theatregoers.

Symbiosis - TOHO’s Side

Even though TOHO spends quite a fortune on sponsoring MKP (Musical Kuroshitsuji Project), that money is basically their payment for grandiose advertisement.

No matter how many posts TOHO would make on social media, on their own they could never beat the publicity gained from a praising tweet by Yana herself, and they don’t even have to pay Yana a single yen for that!

The reason TOHO does not often produce DVDs is because they usually lose money on the sales. However, when the Romeo & Juliette 2019 Black Version DVD with Furukawa was released on August 1st, it sold out almost immediately, whereas White Version (Ohno Takuro’s Romeo) didn’t. A DVD being quickly sold out was unprecedented for TOHO. They were not prepared for this, so they had to rush the reprint. This again was evidence for TOHO that Furukawa is indeed their best cow.

Like I said before, it seems like MKP is going to struggle very hard without TOHO’s aid now, simply because the bar has now been raised too high for MKP to reach on their own. As it is now, TOHO has demonstrated just how powerful they are, how much of a difference they can make. Besides, they also won the reputation as ‘the charitable senpai who looked out for poor little 2.5D kouhai’. Perhaps they will also lend their other cows to other manga franchises in future. Who knows?

No matter how much they spent on MKP, TOHO probably earned that back multifold.

Symbiosis - MKP’s Side

Even though it is a risk to rely on TOHO, MKP did manage to make a noteworthy break through a glass ceiling; the glass ceiling of 2.5D theate’s reputation of being amateurish. Even now, Kuromyu is acknowledged to be one of 2.5D’s leading productions. Though the risk was high, the fame they got in return was phenomenal. What other “amateurish” 2.5D can say they have had the honour of starring actors from the esteemed Imperial Theatre? What other 2.5D could say their Troupe Lead is THE Prince of the Imperial Theatre?

Furucowa’s Decision

Furukawa honestly loves Sebastian from the bottom of his heart, and he did once say that as long as the material is canon and things within his power, he would guard the role of Sebastian like a mad dog.

Ever since he played Sebas he has changed for the better. He has come to see the source of many social judgements stemming from other people’s insecurities, for example. Playing Sebas taught him how to objectively assess human behaviour, allowing him to better deal with anxiety.

As an additional bonus, he also shared with us how this new skill of objective observation turned out very helpful in studying and interpreting different roles. Nowadays, Furukawa often drops phrasings like: “humans this, humans that”… It is truly beautiful how much Sebas still lives in Furukawa.

I am not sure whether TOHO has the right to “make Furukawa STOP” playing in Kuromyu. But again, as long as the material is from canon, it would probably be very hard for anybody to actually make him give up on Sebastian.

[chibimyumi]

Hello!! How do you feel about the Elisabeth 2020 cast? I hope you'll share your perspective!!

Dear Publicschoolarc,

I’ve been sitting here all day, trying to compute what I just saw óÔ I was flabbergasted when the new cast was announced, but I thought it’d wear off in a few hours. Now hours later, I’m still equally flabbergasted.

Before I start, let us first look at the new cast:

Elisabeth: Manaki Reika, Hanafusa Mari

Der Tod: Inoue Yoshio, Furukawa Yuta, Yamazaki Ikusaburo

Lucheni: Onoe Matsuya, Kamiyama Ryuji, Kuroba Mario

Franz: Tashiro Mario, Sato Takanori

Rudolf: Miura Ryosuke

So, why was I flabbergasted?

1. Yamazaki???

Of course I am very happy that Furukawa will be returning to us as Der Tod, and to a certain extent I think I trusted him to. I entirely had no idea whether Inoue-senpai would be recast, but either way would have been within my expectation as well. On the one hand, he is the unofficial ‘King’ of the musical world and a much beloved Der Tod, and on the other, he has been Der Tod so often now, it wouldn’t have been weird if he decided it’s enough. But then again, that did not stop Hanafusa either.

Yamazaki Ikusaburo though. Last time Yamazaki said that it was time for him to retire from Lucheni. I was sad, but after playing Lucheni for three times, I understand why he would. Lucheni is one of the three mains of ‘Elisabeth’, and these three roles are only granted to the highest ranking actors at TOHO.

Usually any other role in ‘Elisabeth’ is like a stepping stone towards the three mains. Once you’ve achieved the role as one of the three, generally that is already the end goal. Except for that one time in Takarazuka that Sena Jun played all three mains, it is unprecedented that somebody who played Lucheni can become Der Tod.

The usual progress is either from Rudolf to Der Tod (Furukawa and Inoue), or Franz to Der Tod.

Furthermore, I just have a LOT of trouble imagining Yamazaki as Der Tod. He is a great actor, but he does always have this playfully drunk flair about him, and that’s just unlike anything I can imagine for this role. But we shall see!

2. The Triple Cast Schedule

I am also really taken aback by the schedule of this triple cast. Furukawa is the youngest and also the most junior of the three actors of Der Tods. But Inoue-senpai will NOT participate in the Tokyo Imperial Theatre run, and Yamazaki-senpai will ONLY play in Tokyo, while Furukawa is the only Der Tod who will be on national tour, representing TOHO????????????

I knew Furucowa is TOHO’s current favourite cow, but dayum... they sure put a LOT on this cow’s plate.

3. Kuroba Mario as Lucheni????

Kuroba Mario is a second tier actor at TOHO, and it is fairly unusual for such a young and inexperienced actor to get the role of Lucheni. Like I said, this role is usually only given to the highest tiered actors. Miura Ryosuke is a second tier actor like Kuroba; in ‘Romeo & Juliette’ for example, they both had roles of the same ‘ranking’.

Many people (myself included) are enthusiastic about Kuroba’s performance, but the consensus is that it might have been better if he started as Rudolf in ‘Elisabeth’ - THE Grand Musical of TOHO.

Rank aside, I do think Kuroba’s style might befit Lucheni better than Rudolf, though I trusted his acting skills to be good enough to pull Rudolf off wonderfully. My only concern is really his age. In the past when young actors played Lucheni, their youth realllllly shone through ... in a bad way. But I hope Kuroba can be an exception ^^

4. SO, what about our DVD?

So, after the debacle from this year (’19) about the DVD and Karma biting TOHO’s ass, it really is very likely that this time there will be a DVD, finally.

But there are THREE Der Tods now. TOHO has never produced three DVD versions of the same production before. So are they going to start doing it now? Probably not; it did not happen with other triple cast productions either, and TOHO is too wussy to embrace change.

Usually when there’s a triple cast, the third person gets a digest video on the bonus DVD. So the question is, “who is ‘the third’”?

Inoue Yoshio? He is already on the 2016 DVD, so it is perhaps fairest to make him ‘the third’. But he is also the most senior and highest ranking actor, would that be okay? Would that not cause outrage among TOHO fans (most of whom are very strict about the TOHO hierarchy)? If Furukawa had been in this position, he might have volunteered being the third; it is entirely within his personality to yield the spotlights at all times, after all. Inoue-senpai however is not that type of person.

Furukawa Yuta? Erm....... he IS the most junior actor and does not belong to an agency for which TOHO does not have the rights... so hierarchy- AND situation-wise, it would be him. But that was exactly what the debacle mentioned above was about, so I think if they announced Furukawa to be ‘the third’, the tomato-farmers and the cleaning team would have a LOT of work to do next year.

Yamazaki Ikusaburo? Well... as Furukawa’s senpai, his situation is a bit similar to Inoue-senpai’s, though he does not have a DVD already. He is the only one without experience as Der Tod, but would it be alright to make him ‘the third’ instead of his junior?? I do think that regardless of who will be ‘the third’, there will be outrage...

AAAGHGHGHGHGHGHHGHHI guess I’ll have to settle with: Bonus DVD digest material is better than NOTHING at all.

[chibimyumi]

Hi!! I've read Furukawa's interview and your view of Der Tod. Yuta never disappoints. He always gives the unexpected and the beautiful one to us. He's doing his best and he deserves to be a Prince of Imperial Theatre👑💪 And thank you so much for giving your time and effort for us ❤ These days I became a Mozart trash and I know he played Mozart as well. I would like to know his Mozart too 🎼🎵 If it's not a problem could you please share how Yuta thinks of Mozart?

Dear Anon,

Furukawa indeed never disappoints 💖 He is indeed duly the Prince of the Imperial Theatre. I am both grateful as resentful towards TOHO for milking Furucowa so bad. Whenever Furukawa is busy, I just go: “TOHO NOOOO, let my son rest!!! He neeeeds it!”, but whenever he’s off radar, I just go: “TOHO!!! GIMME MORE FURUKAWA!”

What Furukawa thinks of ‘Mozart!’

Mozart was a very special role for Furukawa, but also the biggest source of his anxiety.

Not long after Furukawa’s promotion to First Tier, it was already announced that he would be awarded the title of ‘Ogosho’. The role of Mozart was given to him to prove whether he’d be worthy of the title, hence the great pressure. (Originally he’d be awarded the title only if he succeeded, but TOHO farm was a bit too eager to boast the birth of their new Prince, so they already stamped him with the title on the first day of ‘Mozart!’…)

Ctrl + F “Fear” → 🌋💥

I was re-reading the private interview about ‘Mozart!’, and the keyword ‘fear’ just popped up so often I wondered what the text would have looked like if I Ctrl + F’ed it.

‘Mozart!’ did quite a number on Furukawa mentally. It was his first lead role at the Imperial Theatre’s main hall (that faces the actual Imperial Palace), and he said that the prospect of it alone was enough to give him so much nervousness, anxiety and pressure he couldn’t breathe, let alone actually standing there.

Singing

Furukawa described Mozart as the hardest role he could imagine at the time. He said that once Mozart makes his entrance, he basically stays on stage until the finale. For that sake, Furukawa doubled his muscle-training routine to increase his stamina. Furthermore, Mozart was not just any namesake role; he was THE musical genius Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart! For Furukawa whose biggest struggle was singing, he felt really inadequate for the role. So on top of increasing his exercises, he also retook singing class.

At the beginning, Furukawa was so overwhelmed by everything, he gambled with his life just trying to hit the notes alone. More than singing, he was just desperately “chasing the notes”, he said. However, by the middle of the run, he received the criticism of: “you can sing to a certain degree, but you are not really Mozart”. It wasn’t until this feedback that he realised he had not inserted any emotion into the acting, and started re-studying the role.

Mental Health

Prince Impostor Syndrome just never seemed content with himself, and he said that mentally he was basically dead. There had been times he was so anxious and scared he sank into depression. Furukawa said that thankfully he had his Yamazaki Ikusaburo-senpai (his Troupe Lead and double-cast for Mozart).

He said that Yamazaki held him so tight at all times that even though he sank into depression, he never slipped away, and was able to climb out very quickly thanks to him. Furukawa said that Yamazaki’s presence made him strong enough to overcome.

A little fan-blurt about Yamazaki. He is the perfect Troupe Lead if you ask me. Furukawa once said that he really looked up to Yamazaki for his amazing talent, and lamented how he himself could never be good enough to stand at the top.

To which Yamazaki replied: “No, on the contrary; you have it in you. Besides, a Troupe Lead should not stand at the top and become everyone else’s ceiling; they should stand at the very bottom and push everyone up!”

Some wise words!!! Excuse me, I need to cry for a bit. (´；ω；`)ｳｯ…💖

Well, Furu, I think you’re a perfect Troupe Lead yourself too. If you weren’t already, then you certainly learned from the best 💗