#Yuka Yamauchi

[landofanimes]

Ouran High School Host Club Fine Musical  

Some of the actors took pictures with their portraits at the theater's hall

[xxxdoppel]

I think about how Yuka Yamauchi ATE this performance every day.

[empty-movement]

Happy Birthday, Anthy!

February 29, 2024

Reblog this with your favorite Anthy thing! Repeats allowed, multiple things allowed, fanart allowed, official art allowed, essays/meta allowed, fanfic allowed-- just lovingly place some Anthy in here and reblog it so that someone else does the same!

I'll kick it off with a couple things:

Yuka Yamauchi had an AMAZING take on Anthy in the new musicals and I honestly wish I could just get a cd of her alone singing the tracks-- her voice is gorgeous! Well, either that or a ten hour remix of her Anthy laugh, which is terrifying and yet somehow inspiring.

(picture source)

Hoo boy. I remember when this video came out. You would NOT believe just how much Evanescence was the soundtrack to the early fandom. Pretty much as soon as Evanescence's debut, Fallen, dropped, aaaaaaaalllllllll the Utena fans ran to their writing programs to write songfics. Still, I've always loved the choices the creator made in this particular video, and despite being potato quality, I think it still holds up.

Your turn! Put some Anthy in here to celebrate her birthday! Uh, you don't have to write them up like I did though, I'm just yappy.

[sepyana]

Some thoughts about RGU: Blooming Rose of Deepest Black

I've been an Utena fan for a while but I just watched the musicals and I love them, I need to talk to people about it I'm gonna explode

All my thoughts are under the cut. We'll go character by character analysing the differences between their TV and Musical counterparts.

Utena

She and Anthy take the backseat a lil bit. She is great as always though.

Ami Noujo is quite popular, I can definitely see why. She is funny, incredibly charming and sweet. She was recast from the last musical like all the others.

She tries to set up Anthy and Miki together. Miki is less creepy about his crush so it does come off as kinda wholesome.

I absolutely adore the cheesy ass friendship song she has with Wakaba.

Her most iconic scene is definitely the one at the very end where she hugs Anthy in an almost possessive manner, saying she is here for her. And Anthy just looks like she is dying inside haha. The ominous bells and Akio in the back don't really help things either.

Not really much to say about her, she is the same as her show self.

Anthy

Yuka Yamauchi is, again, great. Anthy is somewhat different from her show version. Not worse, just different.

Musical Anthy is generally nicer(i think.??). Whenever Show Anthy is alone with Utena, she seems disinterested in the people around her. Musical Anthy compliments Miki on his piano skills, for example.

She comforts Juri during the Shiori duel. I genuinely can't tell if this is wholesome or eerie.

In the show, she doesn't care about the black rose duelists (other than telling Mikage he is cruel for making Tsuwabuki duel.) She feels guilt about the whole situation here.

She still has her laugh from the first musical! Giving her this almost condescending laugh is a fun take on her character. She almost dies of laughter when Utena asks if the projector is her brother. I love her so much it's unreal. I will talk about her a lot more if I do a white bud post.

Akio

Speaking of her brother, Akio is also here.

Yu Yoshioka is definitely a standout. His mannerisms and posture show Akio's character brilliantly. It's pretty exaggerated, that's expected from a stage play. I think he is my favourite in the musical.

Akio acts really disinterested in what's happening. He has an air of superiority around him. He carries this vibe for the whole musical.

He is always slouching a bit. He walks slowly, he has one of his hands at his pocket at all times. It really gives him this aloof vibe. There is more but. Someone else can analyze Akio's body language way better than I can.

One thing he does is push people in and out of scenes. Mikage and Mamiya also do this. It shows them being "puppeteers" really well. The most unsettling one is after the first song, as characters are leaving, when he forcefully holds Utena's arm so she can start her scene.

He holds Tokiko's head almost forcefully has he kisses her. Really unsettling.

He also always seems to be standing a bit too close. His scenes with Utena are the best examples of this. Anthy (and Mamiya) also has some scenes like that.

This Akio is less friendly then the one we know. They also toned down the incest stuff. Interesting changes for sure. This musical is mostly for people who have already watched the show, so they have decided to show Akio's actual nature earlier.

Akio sometimes says a character's line with them. It's a cool way to show how he is the puppet master of the story.

Wakaba

Yume Takeuchi absolutely crushed it in the first musical. She continues to be amazing here. I cannot stress enough how much I love Wakaba in this.

She seems sadder in the musical. Almost like she knows her moment od being special will not last long...

Her black rose duel is absolutely heart wrenching. The student council and the school body taunting her during the battle is horrible. My girl doesn't deserve this. Crying and shaking.

Her after the duel scenes are expanded upon. After the battle she goes missing for a few days. During that time, she was making stew for Utena but couldn't perfect it so she took a few days off. I'm sure she is really tired (both mentally and physically) even though she doesn't remember what happened.

And then they have this cheesy song I mentioned before. You could argue it doesn't fit Utena but I enjoyed it. Wakaba even makes Anthy join in too.

It's a minor scene but, I find it absolutely hilarious how she screams upon seeing the exam schedule so hard Utena thinks something happened to her. If I saw English and Math were in the same day I'd scream too. This is right after Mamiya stabs Kozue btw.

They have the prince giving Utena the rose ring and Saionji giving Wakaba the hair clip at the same time. Wow they really did that.

Her elevator scene is my favourite. She is letting it all out. Screaming and crying and the venom in her voice whilte talking about Anthy and Saionji. It's so much.

Saionji

The most pathetic cringefail man in all of Ohtori. I like Tsubasa Yoshizawa's performance overall.

I didn't pay much attention to him. They don't really change anything about his scenes. (Except for the Wakaba duel)

I will give him this, he is pretty funny. His scenes are funny but also seeing saionjeans dancing in ensambles is just. so fucking hilarious to me.

Kozue

Marina Tanoue's acting was okay. Good stuff.

She comes off as a bit more awkward here. Which makes a lot of sense imo. She is messing around with boys a lot but she is only 13. Her awkwardness show up in her hookup scenes too. The boys are a lot more touchy with her.

They toned down the incest in favor of Kozue just wanting to protect Miki. Incest is still there but their relationship is not the same.

She is our first black rose duelist instead of Kanae. Kanae is not that well written in the show so this was for the best.

Miki

Bit of an unpopular opinion, I liked Natsuki Osaki's performance in the first musical. Yuta Higuchi's performance is better but I also like the first Miki too. I am not the biggest Miki fan but the musical definitely made me warm up to him more.

Wow the pedo teacher is so much more creepy here. Seeing real people play these scenes makes them feel even worse. He is a lot more touchy here and Miki actually reacts to him.

I like the part where he is playing music on the side during Nanami's song it's kinda cute.

Nanami

I can't believe they casted the actual Nanami Kiryuu to play herself. Ok fr real tho, Arisa Suzuki is amazing in this.

I'm gonna get burned at the stake for this but I don't like most of the Nanami episodes. I actually really like Nanami being the comic relief, the jokes just don't land for me... But I did actually like the cowbell song she has. She has a cowbell song. She has a co-

I personally found her talking to Juri and Miki part more funny.

There is a scene where she takes Miki's watch and accidentally stops all three of them in time so Wakaba can have her part talking to Saionji. Laughed out loud at that part.

She is exclusively comic relief here. There isn't much she can do outside of that anyways. Touga is not in this and her story line so dependent on him.

Juri

Riona Tatemichi please take my hand in marriage thank you

Juri is the same personality wise as her TV version, other than being slightly gayer. This is a musical after all.

There is a scene where is imagining dancing with Shiori (Shiori also has a scene similar to this).

Juri and Shiori actually kiss??!? It's pretty brief because Utena and Dios slashes their kneecaps. Oh, yeah, during the duels whoever's sword the duelist is using shows up.

I love that instead of working together they end up knocking off each other's roses. That's so in character for them. Also hilarious.

Shiori

Fuyuna Asakura. She might be the best actor in the musical. Because wow, wow. She is a sickeningly sweet type of character. One that turns out to be horrible.

She is way more cartoonish but I don't think that's a bad thing! It's so fun watching her on the stage do her thing. People who didn't like TV Shiori might like this version more. Shiori is one of my faves, I was already primed to like this version of her too.

Each black rose duelist has a scene where they are stabbed by the black rose. Strangely, Shiori is the only person to not scream during it. It just goes to show how little of a push she needed.

She is a lot more shocked about learning she is Juri's crush. The whole situation feels even more tense than the TV version.

My favourite moments of Shiori are in the Akio arc. I don't like Ruka's character, I think he made Juri's story line worse... Buuut I liked watching his dynamic with Shiori. Hopefully we'll get to see Fuyuna Asakura again if another musical happens.

I loved how they handled the Juri/Shiori story line. It's one of my favourite side plots.

And that leaves us with the boys of the black rose. I am gonna talk about them the longest:

Mamiya

I think Mamiya is underrated as hell in this. I haven't heard people talk about the musical but when they do they don't mention him all that much. Yohdi Kondo works so well as him.

He is a lot more active compared to his TV counterpart, If that's the right way to put it. We see him do stuff. He stabs the black rose duelists. He and Mikage work together to make plans more compared to the anime. He is the one responsible for putting Juri's locket in the vase. I appreciate them being more like a duo.

He comes off as a lot more intimidating here too. Him not looking like a 13yo plays a big part, but his mannerisms play a role too. The Kozue scene shows this really well.

What I most like about him though, is how they show Anthy and Mamiya being the same person. They replace each other from scene to scene constantly. My favourite example is when he takes her place when she is playing the piano. Mamiya is behind her when they're both on stage. They circle around each other at the start too.

He moves around in a similar way to Anthy. He is a lil bit scary in the same way Anthy is. Anthy is my favourite character so i definitely enjoy this a lot.

Also have I mentioned the fact that Akio and Tokiko fuck on his bed. While Mamiya is talking to Mikage in the rose garden, we see the shadows of Akio and Tokiko in a loving embrace on top of his bed. I hope that is not literal. Because if they actually fucked on that bed that would be insane. There are a few ways to interpret this.

There is a theory about how Mikage seeing those two is preceded by Mamiya's death. I think it's true because it doesn't make sense to me how that was enough for Mikage go set the fire. We know Mamiya is dead by this point. He is completely codependent on those two emotionally, he would not take seeing Tokiko with a man right after (maybe a month? Who knows) Mamiya's death well. Merging the imagery together makes a lot of sense.

I didn't think of this at all before but the "Imagine me & Utena" podcast (It's a pretty good podcast!) pointed this out: this is suppose to hint at Mikage and Mamiya's relationship. The sexual/romantic side of their relationship is sort of hinted in the anime and the musical. I could see this being true. This is a really important moment for Mikage. In the anime, we see the cursor point at the leaf during it. You can't have that in the musical. You could have this though.

I also found it funny how Akio's shadow wakes up Mamiya lol.

Mikage

He is the closest thing the musical has to a protagonist. He is in most of the scenes, directly or indirectly. So we spend a lot of time with Hidenori Tokuyama, and I am really torn on him. I'm not really sure if it's his fault either. Mikage is a really subtle character, it's always the little things with this guy. That kind of personality is hard to translate onto stage. You can't see his change in expression when he sees Tokiko and Mamiya talk. You can't see he has a picture of Mamiya on his desk etc etc.

He gets better as we get to the end. Mikage gets a lot more unhinged towards the end, less "subtle" if you get what I mean. Don't get me wrong. I like Hidenori Tokuyama a lot. I just can't connect with him all that much.

There are some notable changes done to him. Mikage as a character always stood out to me from the other men in the show. His much shorter stature is the obvious thing (I don't care about that being represented tbh, he is shorter than Akio and Saionji, that's all you need) but another thing is how he is not violently misogynistic like them. He still is misogynistic, he uses the internalized misogyny of the girls to make them hate Anthy instead of the man in their lives. He would not be able to do what he did without exploiting the harmful systems of Ohtori. He could definitely be interpreted incel-like with his relationship to Tokiko and Mamiya. I guess he is just not as obvious about it? He doesn't show interest in any of the girls. He is obsessed with Tokiko but doesn't even realize she is walking past him. This is pretty noticeably changed in the musical.

He straight up hits on Utena. It's incredibly uncomfortable (as it was meant to be). With Tsuwabuki gone, all of his victims are women. His crush on Tokiko is shown a lot more. It's a lot more sus. I don't see this as a negative change. I like Anime Mikage more but I see the value in making him feel closer to how the other men are.

There are some more minor differences.

Sometimes when he says his lines, Akio says it along with him. For example during his talk with Saionji,

Saionji:  And what do you want from me in return?

Mikage:  Good question...

Mikage:  There's one item that I want from you.

Mikage:  A trifle, really...

There is more of this in the exact same scene btw.

His mannerisms are a bit different too. In the anime, he is approachable but you can tell there is something weird with him. In the Musical, you can tell he is obviously trying to manipulate you. He isn't as charismatic as his TV version. And I kinda like that honestly. It makes it easier for me to connect Nemuro and Mikage in my mind.

[putschki1969]

Hikaru at today’s LADY BEYOND event

The artists in order of appearance:  GARNiDELiA, Hikaru, 春奈るな, NightOwl, START TO BLING. Seems like Hikaru sang six songs in total. The full setlist was finally posted by Hikaru (it’s a good thing to see her sing H-el-ical// songs, none of her anisongs though)

Hikaru’s Setlist Ambient Border I am me 千日紅 drizzle Existence pulsation

Tweet by Hikaru | Tweet by START TO BLING

The event was over 4 hours long which is crazy considering it’s a week day!  And it looks like there’s another event coming up on December 3! Hikaru is set to be one of the main acts:

START TO BLING presents "The Pride" 　 supported by LADY BEYOND

『Ambient Border -DAWN-』Pre-Event

On December 17, 2022 (Sat) a special pre-event will be held at “Akihabara Talk Live BAR from scratch” to celebrate the upcoming run of the “Ambient Border” play.(Source)

Event title: "Ambient Border -DAWN-" Venue: Akihabara Talk Live BAR from scratch Date: December 17 【Day】OPEN 14:30 / START 15:00 (~2h) 【Night】OPEN 18:30 / START 19:00 (~2h) Tickets: Ticket with XMAS Present:¥4,000＋１drink(￥500) Pre-order ticket: ¥3,000＋１drink(￥500) Door ticket：¥4,000＋１drink(￥500)

During a second round of announcements, it has been revealed that Hikaru will participate in the event! Takeshi Kato (Gekidan GAIA_crew) will be in charge of the script of the spin-off work that will be performed during the event! In addition, a food menu and drinks inspired by the “Ambient Border” characters will be on sale!

■Performers [Guests] Yuki Sasaki, Hikaru, Iori Nomizu, Kei Kawamoto, Yuka Yasukawa (Beacon Labo Co., Ltd.), Naru, Yoshiki Kohata, Yuya Kuroe (-ROMAND-), Masaru Kanba, Yurie Mitsumine, Keisuke Ando [CC] Takahiro Murakami, Hiroyuki Kosuge, Takuma Tanaka, Shinpachi, Yutaro Adachi, Mariko, Yumi Agawa, Marina Hamada, Risa Yamauchi, Kenichiro Bitani

■ Event details �� Live performance of the performers' tie-in songs and their own songs ・Performance of spin-off work ・Special talk show ・Reveal of main costumes ・Original food and drinks related to the characters

■ Benefits of Christmas ticket A4 portrait designed for everyone's character Priority entrance

Note: I wonder if I should try to get a ticket for this..? Looks a bit intimidating and I have no idea how much of Hikaru I would actually get to see but I am tempted...

[beibiipinku]

I finally watched the first Utena musical yayyy!!!

I had wanted to watch it for a long time, but I was always late to @empty-movement streams and I couldn’t find any other place to watch it... until today... (๑>◡<๑)

As with Three sisters, I made some gifs and I’m gonna say some things about the musical( ^ω^ ) (I think this will become a habit here on my blog hehe)!!!

LET’S BEGIN🌷✨

first we have UTENAAAA played by AMI NOUJOUUUU, who I really love!!! I met her as Jupiter and I’m really happy to see her again as UTENAAAA(*≧∀≦*) She played her so good, she really reminded me of her��💗

then we have YUKA ANGEL VOICE YAMAUCHI who played Anthy😩💕I met her in NogiMyu as well, but she doesn’t get any chance to sing properly😞BUT HAVE YOU HEARD THE COVERS SHE POSTS ON INSTAGRAM????? ALSO, she’s literally Anthyyyyy(*´꒳`*)I love her sm

next one is Touuuuga, played by Kimito Totani, (whom I didn’t know before this hehe) I don’t know what to say haha, he was great... it’s been a long time since I saw men acting so it was strange haha😛my mom said he was handsome(´･_･`) and I was like ಠ_ಠ but yeah... let’s continue

*sigh*( ´ ▽ ` ) saionjiiiiiiii (played by Shoujirou Yokoi) I loved him, I really did, I liked this Saionji better than the anime one (obviously) His voice was so so good, I really really liked it!!! Too bad they changed him for the second musical T^T

next one is Mikiiii (played by Natsuki Osaki) okay, so, first I’m gonna say that I would have casted a girl to play Miki, (Come on, am I the only one who thought Miki was a woman when he first appeared on the anime?) Natsuki was good, he’s a great actor, I liked him, but his voice just didn’t sound like Miki’s (>_<) (I’m just a little bit glad they changed him for the second musical, even though I don’t know yet how Yuta is as Miki)🤔

next is: JURIONAAAA \(//∇//)\

No, I’m not done with Riona yet!!!

RIONA MAKES MY HEART MELT EVERY TIME I SEE HER (〃ω〃) IM SO HAPPY TO FINALLY LISTEN TO RIONA’S VOICE!!! cause in Sera Myu she never sings alone🥺AND I AM AMAZED, HER VOICE IS WONDERFUL😩💗😍💕🥰

Then we have the THE QUEEN Arisa Suzukiiiii!!!!💛💛💛Omg SHE IS NANAMI, she literally IS(*^◯^*) I love her so much!!!! And her voice ahhh(*´꒳`*)

And last but not least we have: Yumeeee MY SWEET YUMEEEE, WHO better to play Wakaba than YUME TAKEUCHI? (´・ω・) now she just turned (along with Riona) into the person I’ve seen the most in musicals and plays!!!! And I’m so happy bout it T^T cause I really really really love Yume, she is so sweet and her voice is so PERFECT, it leaves me shocked every time I hear it!!!(●´ω｀●)

So yeah that’s it, on Tuesday we’ll be watching the second musical yayyy!!!! So look forward for other one of these(*^ω^*)

[myu-photos]

[fymyu]

[seramyuconfessions]

I never liked Naru in the anime and wasn't too excited when they announced that Naru and Umino would be part of NogiMyu but in fact I really enjoyed watching them! They were so cute! <3.

[jewlwpet]

Messages from the cast and crew of the new Utena musical

(from the website musical-utena.com)

Ami Noujo (Utena Tenjou):

Revolutionary Girl Utena was broadcasted 20 years ago. For this work to be newly set on stage in a musical makes me very happy. I’m a bit nervous because the duel scenes are my first time doing stage combat, but since Utena is a heroic and stylish girl, I want to deliver you a splendid performance.

I’ll do my best so that this Revolutionary Girl Utena musical will be loved by everyone, both by the fans of the original and by those who now have the chance to experience Utena for the first time, so please come to the theatre by all means. We’re looking forward to it.

Yuka Yamauchi (Anthy):

I am so happy that I can be a part of such a deep work of love (edit: deeply loved work). To feel like something is about to break at any moment, but still to have strength: This delicate worldview took a tight hold of my heart. I think this work will be revolutionary for myself along with Anthy, so I would like to meet it with great care.

Koutaru Yoshitani (playwrite/director):

There are many fans of Revolutionary Girl Utena around me, so the announcement of this musical adaptation has been very well-received. I feel a great honor and a great responsibility in being given charge of the script and direction of this astounding and beautiful work.

Ms. Noujo, who plays Utena, decided to go into show business when she was very a child from the longing she felt watching a musical*. What that “longing” means is to have strong will in the present. To devote yourself to the harsh world of an “idol” means to train your senses and abilities, which is in synch with Utena overthrowing the fate that approaches.

Before Ms. Yamauchi was cast as Anthy, she was in the ensemble. I ask for the highest level of performance from the ensemble in the productions entrusted to me as a director. With her high abilities, she is sure to create a splendid Anthy.

The Dueslists and other characters will also be played by actors of great skill.

We’ll deliver to everyone the world of Revolutionary Girl Utena and the Rose Seal, the Shadow Play Girls, and the End of the World, with all the intensity of life packed into the space of the theater. Please look forward to it.

Note: Since I was on her wikipedia.jp page earlier today, I can add that the musical that inspired Ami Noujo to start acting was the Sailor Moon musical Shin Densetsu Kourin. She wanted to be just like Chibiusa.

[landofanimes]

Ouran High School Host Club Fine Musical  

Main cast

[empty-movement]

Good morning, Europe!! I might be in NA, but I'm a nightshift worker, so I slept in until midnight and have my coffee made and ready! Let's have a good one, and meet up in about seven hours to watch the Utena musicals! :D

This mug was made by Anthy's actress, Yuka Yamauchi, during the pandemic. The Anthy vibes are OFF THE CHARTS, and it's obvious in both things like this and posts she made around the musical that this role especially meant a LOT to her. I ordered several, and when I couldn't check out, I messaged the webmaster....which was her. She kindly did the order manually, including the packing and shipping to Canada. It's now my 'Time to Empty Movement' mug.

Musical Utena Twitch Streams this Summer!!!

Empty Movement yields at last to the frenzied public demand for more streams!!

An event a fan likened to 'the Utena fandom's version of Rocky Horror watches' returns once again this summer! We used to stream the musicals very regularly, but at this point, most people have seen them, and uh, slime tutorials of our streams are already available on YouTube, haha. But there are always a few people new to this religion, and even if not, it's been a while since we've worshipped as a group, no?

For the uninitiated, we play these two ~2 hour musicals back to back, usually with some random stuff a bit before and after. (Another opportunity to stream amazing tight rope Utena cosplay?)

Spread the word, and get hyped! We're looking forward to having fun with y'all!

[leenaevilin]

[Update] ミュージカル「ピオフィオーレの晩鐘」(musical piofiore no banshou)

cast update under the cut^^

Cast:

Itou Yui as Liliana Adornato (リリアーナ・アドルナート)

Shinzato Kouta as Dante Falzone (ダンテ・ファルツォーネ)

Satonaka Masamichi as Gilbert Redfort (ギルバート・レッドフォード)

Yokoi Shoujirou as Yang (楊)

Chiba Mizuki as Nicola Francesca (ニコラ・フランチェスカ)

Nagae Ryouki as Orlok (オルロック)

Iwata Haruki as Lan (ラン)

Yamauchi Yuka as Fei (フェイ)

Tomizono Rikiya as Leo Cavagnis (レオ・カヴァニス)

Satou Hiroki as Oliver Haas (オリヴァー・ハース)

Takagi Shunsuke as Lee Hsi-shan (リー・シーシャン)

Kudou Hiromu as Roberto de Feo (ロベルト・デ・フェオ)

Horinouchi Hitoshi as Emilio (エミリオ)

Okuda Tsutomu as Marco Calderoni (マルコ・カルデローニ) Takano Kenya as Josef von Roseberg (ヨゼフ・フォン・ロズベルグ) Takahashi Hanako as Sophia (ソフィア) Kubo Sarina as ???

Washio Shuuto as Direttore (ディレットーレ)

homepage twitter natalie

[to-revolutionize-my-world]

[yurigoggles]

West North West [J-Movie]

Yeah...you'll definitely need a few drinks with this one!

Read more...

[myu-photos]