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eien-no-gakusha · 2 years ago

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Outen no Mon/Deep Sea

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The Tale of Young Sugawara no Michizane

Outen no Mon the show made me want to read the manga. Reading the synopsis, I originally joked with friends that this was just another Heian era swashbuckling mystery thriller or Onmyoji knockoff sans magic. It is not just another Heian era swashbuckling mystery thriller, it is…different enough to be called unique. Where Onmyoji was basically tale of a smartass, debauched sorcerer and straightlaced warrior who overcome their differences to save Heian-kyo to comical effect; Outen no Mon is about a smartass, bookworm scholar and playboy warrior who overcome their differences to save Heian-kyo. As in any story set in Heian-kyo, it is haunted. No wonder onmyoji business was booming during that era. The difference is in Onmyoji the ghosts are real while in Outen no Mon the real danger lies in man. As for the chick in the team, the immortal priestess is replaced with an imports and antique dealer who is probably also running a sweatshop of counterfeit goods. But she has a good heart and uses her talents in service of the protagonists so don’t worry about it.

Characters:

In summary we have the brains, the brawn, and the street smarts for our protagonist team of investigators. They can also be classified as middle class (Sugawara no Michizane), aristocrat (Ariwara no Narihira), and peasant (Shouki). They are performed by our triple moon tops: Tsukishiro Kanato, Houzuki An, and Umino Mitsuki respectively. (I just realized the tops and niibante of moon troupe all have moon in their name. Coincidence? ^^;) This is my second non-romantic Takarazuka show in a row. First I got a politically-charged Chinese historical fiction and now I got a politically-charged Japanese historical fiction. In other words, this show tends to focus on the mystery and we follow the friendship of Michizane and Narihira more closely than anything Shouki is doing. Reiko and Chinatsu portrayed their respective roles and contrasted each other admirably. Michizane as a character is a shut-in bookworm and apathetic to the machinations of the court, choosing to mingle with the commoners whom he feels kinship with. This often manifests as dressing casually to see the Emperor. In the manga, he is a classic shounen hero with a difficult, socially awkward personality but still a morally upstanding citizen. Reiko’s version is a bit more socially competent and suave because she is a Takarazuka hero. Her Michizane comes across as an introverted and introspective youth rather than full hikikomori. Since we aren’t privy to internal monologue in this staging, this is probably a better approach for presenting the main character.

Then we have Chinatsu as Narihira, resident playboy and military officer responsible for the safety of Heian-kyo. While being a nepo-baby nobleman, he does take his job seriously and is open-minded. His haughtiness and discrimination against the peasants is a result of ignorance rather than him being a dick and his friendship with Michizane begins with him opening his eyes to the plight of the disenfranchised. I feel the fanservice was toned down compared to usual Takarazuka fare. Narihira is so blasé about his charms. Instead of a dramatic pose or drawn out moment where he puts his flirt on, he’s just going about his day and doing his job. He just throws out a wink or wave while on patrol but marches professionally on when he’s on the clock even if fangirls are present. That strikes me as a different portrayal of playboy from the norm. Houzuki An is certainly one who would know she is suave without overcompensating. XD Her makeup didn’t photograph well in some angles and I think she was attempting an old man but sexy look as Narihira is considerably older than Michizane. Chinatsu’s voice is divine and it’s strong enough to carry. Couple times she nearly blew out her mic in both the show and revue. Also, I swear she had more costume changes than the Top Star since she’s playing a man of society so we saw her in dress uniform, street uniform, casual ensemble, etc. On the other hand, Michizane is a maverick scholar known to be a slob who even dares to come to court in the Heian version of sweatpants and T-shirt so Tsukishiro Kanato is usually in the same outfit.

As the political intrigue features heavily in the story, the show is a bit of a sausage fest so there isn’t much for musumeyaku to do. There are only three named female roles of note so it makes sense that Eri would take the biggest female role. Shouki is a fun character in her own right and has no romantic subplot as a shrewd businesswoman and an equal member of our intrepid trio. She is the ingenious friend who provides the resources to make Michizane’s plans a reality. It is a refreshing role for a musumeyaku, who usually get stuck as love interests. Of course, there is star-crossed romance on the side in case seinen is not your genre. Narihira and Takako were lovers who tried to elope in their youth but circumstances of birth have rendered their relationship forbidden. They resolve this the mature, Japanese way (those of you who watch Japanese historical dramas know what I’m talking about). For a side character and love interest, Takako is a complex character with her own personality and drive despite her vulnerable social circumstances that Amashi Juri brought to life. Generally, the female characters were well-developed and interesting even if sparse.

Kazama Yuno as Fujiwara no Mototsune is practically a lead character and a complicated antagonist. He doesn’t have much depth to him as cold and calculating Fujiwara Jr who does most of foster dad’s dirty work. However, his relationship with everyone else makes him interesting. He had a not-negative acquaintance with Kisshoumaru, Michizane’s deceased older brother. However, his younger brothers were responsible for Kisshoumaru’s death. Thus, Mototsune and Michizane’s relationship is awkward to say the least. If his solo number is any indication, he really did consider the Sugawara brothers as friends and misses their childhood romps while regretful about the harm his dick younger brothers inflicted. Mototsune hasn’t completely gone to the dark side yet, perhaps due to him being a distant relative adopted into the main branch of the Fujiwaras or his youth. Him and Takako are on the same boat as adoptees from a lesser branch of the family so he is more sympathetic and softer towards her. He’s also willing to give respect when it is due, even if it is for the opposition.

Those are the characters worth mentioning. The supporting cast do their jobs. The two child characters are comic relief running around to sing the praises of Michizane’s genius. Groups of women serve to showcase how corruption has disenfranchised the poor or as fangirls to promote Narihira’s star stud status. The Sugawara household are a wholesome and supportive family who are scholarly and down to earth. The Fujiwara household is…evil. I joke but they portray a toxic and strained family. Half are spoiled, despotic fools hiding behind the family name while the other half are miserable, calculating souls forced to make sacrifices and make up the slack of the former. The emperor is young, naïve, and weak. But he is always that way in any media featuring the corrupt Fujiwara puppeteering the throne (an actual stretch of history Japanese media love to defer to). Overall, a strong cast from Tsukigumi!

Plot:

Story wise, it was a good opening but as the manga is ongoing and probably quite lengthy, it feels like we just completed an arc. The arc is specifically about a demon parade harassing the streets of Heian-kyo that kills hapless citizens caught in its path. By imperial decree among other circumstances, our main characters find themselves working together to stop the murders and uncover the truth of the matter. The mystery of murder-ghosts was resolved but a lot of the interpersonal conflicts remained open-ended. And what I mean by resolution is the streets are safe again now that the murderers are arrested but we never learn the motive or discover the mastermind. In this respect, the musical did end a bit abruptly. Regardless, I enjoyed the pacing, intrigue, and story immensely.

The plot was quite rich. There is the main plot of why there’s a demon parade abducting people at night. Michizane deduces this is a more earthly problem and together with his crew they catch the culprits. Additionally, we are given lots of political intrigue with a naïve young Emperor being controlled by the Fujiwara clan. Papa-Fujiwara is such a social climber he’s adopting all his country bumpkin relatives to be his pawns in court. His heir is an adopted son and now he’s acquired a new daughter he’s trying to shove into the emperor’s harem. Someone wants the emperor dead and someone is using the emperor for their own ends, all fingers point to the Fujiwaras but they are untouchable. There are many layers to this show.

The character relationships are also complicated and the conflicts hit in the feels. The main character is disenchanted with the Japanese court and is struck with wanderlust so strong he wants to go abroad and explore broader horizons. He has big dreams and genius to match but is hampered by politics and domestic issues. Reiko explains all of this in song form! You have hard-working and practical Shouki who may be doing some shady business but the economy is bad and the system is against her. Narihira and Takako are pining for each other, but are unable to reconcile their duty to family and their own pride. Theirs is a bittersweet ending. Mototsune has a lot of internal conflict to sort through but being a corrupt politician is hard work. The list goes on. I wasn’t moved to tears but was invested in the characters.

The musical is definitely plot driven. I had more of an impression of that and the character development than I did of the musical numbers, which informed the story rather than serve as earworms. The diegetic dance sequence in the imperial court was the only memorable number. This was a grand dance number where Takako was meant to perform and seduce the emperor. Then it transitions to the investigating trio being forced to duet together while they try to protect the emperor from assassination without ruining the banquet. Lots of flashy bird costumes in this scene. The court ladies are doing some sort of crane or heron dance with not-Takako at the center in a silver crane costume equipped with anachronistically showgirl style headdress. Then Michizane and Shouki perform what appears to be a mandarin duck dance (based on the costume) but are interrupted due to Murphy’s law and lots of plots so Narihira has no choice but to take Shouki’s place. Read into that what you will. While the emperor has his attention on the stage within the stage, the audience is focused on the surrounding intrigue.

Overall, I quite liked it. Now I will go read the manga and see how it compares.

The Carnival of the Sea Gods

After such an amazing show, I was underwhelmed by the revue. Deep Sea? More like “Glitter Cabaret.” The theme was very subtle, which can be creative genius or WTF. It was leaning towards the latter for me. There were some ideas I liked such as the jellyfish tailcoats and personified pearls representing inspiration, courage, and hope. The Mariana Trench episode was an interesting direction… Not all the ideas hit. There were some snappy tunes but nothing memorable. Lots of spicy Latin flavor such as tango, frills, spurned lovers, etc as advertised. This revue was very shiny. Blindingly so at times. That is my biggest impression of it.

The revue was a hit-or-miss, but that is just my opinion. My neighbors were significantly more impressed. Amazingly enough, I was surrounded by sweaty dudes. One grandpa was camped out with all his binoculars including a piece of equipment fit for birdwatching. He was regularly switching between binoculars during both show and revue. Another gentleman was clearly looking for a specific seito, perking up at specific times. All the gentlemen fans noticeably leaned forward during the rockettes number. No judgment there, Takarazuka entertains all!

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